Death Watch

'Death Watch' (1980)

Directed by Bertrand Tavernier
Cast: Harvey Keitel, Romy Schneider, Harry Dean Stanton, Max von Sydow, Therese Liotard, Vadim Glowna, Bernard Wicki

Max plays Gerald Mortenhoe

Synopsis
In the not-too-distant future all disease can be cured, so the fatal illness of a young woman makes sensational TV. But her dying days are not filmed by a film crew, but by Roddy, a 'cameraman' with a camera implanted into his eye.

Review
This strange, highly incongruous film may remind modern viewers of 'The Truman Show'. Shot entirely on location in Scotland, as a Glaswegian myself I was distracted by the wierd, distinctly un-Glaswegian feel the city was given by director Tavernier. The strange mix of accents may be meant to evoke a more mixed society of the future, but there really is no getting away from how 80s everything looks!

Though slow to start, there are some twists along the way even if the final outcome is a bit pessimistic. There are fine performances from leads Schneider and Keitel (looking young with long hair) and the film rightly deserves its reputation as a curious hotch-potch that weaves an original tale. It perhaps suffers, though, from a ridiculously over-bearing soundtrack.

Max

'Death Watch' is another classic example of one of those films where most of the film 'leads up' to Max's appearence on screen, like the director keeps his best asset till last. Yes, you'd expect such a comment from the MvS Shrine, but Max really does work some magic with his relatively short screen time!

He plays Gerald Mortenhoe, the ex-husband of Katherine and a teacher on sabbatical in the country. I should perhaps point out here that of all the place names bandied about, the 'countryside' were Mortenhoe stays was filmed in the Mull of Kintire in Scotland and not in one of various dubious English places mentioned.

There, he seems to listen to music and think intelligent thoughts, rather like a less grumpy Fredrick from 'Hannah and Her Sisters' of 6 years later. I must admit that it was especially charming to hear Max deliver lines about Scotland and it's always nice to think he's admired the scenery in my part of the world!

He delivers, as usual, a sterling performance that is full of compassion yet a pleasing contrast to his ex-wife's emotional state. All in all, Max's appearence fits in remarkably well in a film that bears no hallmarks of something he might be associated with. It is also amusing to think that not long after filming was completed, that surely only took a few days for Max's part, his beard and shock of blonde hair had given way to the bald Emperor Ming in 'Flash Gordon'!

Trivia

Watch out for a split-second appearence by Scottish actor Robbie Coltraine. This was his first ever film - his second was a similarly fleeting appearence in 'Flash Gordon', also filmed in Scotland. Could Max have recommended him...?

The similarities between 'Death Watch' (1980) and 'Until the End of the World' (1991) are pointed out in this interesting piece.