Cul-de-Sac
Encyclopedia
Cul-de-sac is a 1966 British psychological thriller
directed by the Franco-
Polish
director Roman Polanski
. It was Polański's second film in English
, written by himself and Gérard Brach
. Produced by Gene Gutowski
.
The cast includes Donald Pleasence
, Françoise Dorléac
, Lionel Stander
, Jack MacGowran
, Iain Quarrier, Geoffrey Sumner
, Renee Houston
, William Franklyn
, Trevor Delaney, Marie Kean
and Mariloup Wolfe
. It also features Jacqueline Bisset
in a small role, in her second film appearance. The black and white cinematography
is by Gil Taylor.
) pushing his broken-down car through rising seawater while his companion Albie (MacGowran
) lies inside, bleeding from a gunshot wound after a bungled robbery. Cut off by the unexpected rising tide, they are on the only road to a bleak and remote tidal island where, in a dark castle on a hilltop, the effeminate and neurotic George (Pleasence
) lives with his luscious young wife Teresa (Dorléac
). Dickie then proceeds to hold the two hostage while awaiting rescue by his boss, the mysterious Katelbach, even throughout an unexpected visit from one of George's old work colleagues.
, it explores themes of horror, frustrated sexuality and alienation, which have become characteristic of most of Polański's films, notably Rosemary's Baby
and The Tenant
.
Cul-de-Sac has been compared in tone and theme with the works of Harold Pinter
and Samuel Beckett
; Jack MacGowran
was renowned for his stage performances of Beckett's plays. The film's German title is Wenn Katelbach kommt (When Katelbach Comes).
(also known as Holy Island) off the coast of Northumberland
, England
. Lindisfarne Castle
, which served as the home in the film, is now a National Trust property and can be toured by the public; despite the passage of forty years, the building and its surroundings are largely unchanged.
at the 16th Berlin International Film Festival
.
Psychological thriller
Psychological thriller is a specific sub-genre of the broad ranged thriller with heavy focus on characters. However, it often incorporates elements from the mystery and drama genre, along with the typical traits of the thriller genre...
directed by the Franco-
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
Polish
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
director Roman Polanski
Roman Polanski
Roman Polanski is a French-Polish film director, producer, writer and actor. Having made films in Poland, Britain, France and the USA, he is considered one of the few "truly international filmmakers."...
. It was Polański's second film in English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
, written by himself and Gérard Brach
Gérard Brach
Gérard Brach was a French screenwriter best known for his collaborations with the film directors Roman Polanski and Jean-Jacques Annaud...
. Produced by Gene Gutowski
Gene Gutowski
Gene Gutowski born as Witold Bardach Son of Julius Bardach and Anna Bardach ....
.
The cast includes Donald Pleasence
Donald Pleasence
Sir Donald Henry Pleasence, OBE, was a British actor who gained more than 200 screen credits during a career which spanned over four decades...
, Françoise Dorléac
Françoise Dorléac
Françoise Dorléac was a French actress. Born in Paris, she was the daughter of screen actor Maurice Dorléac and Renée Deneuve, and was the elder sister of Catherine Deneuve. The two sisters starred together in the 1967 musical, The Young Girls of Rochefort...
, Lionel Stander
Lionel Stander
Lionel Jay Stander was an American actor in films, radio, theater and television.-Early life and career:Lionel Stander was born in The Bronx, New York, to Russian Jewish immigrants, the first of three children...
, Jack MacGowran
Jack MacGowran
John Joseph "Jack" MacGowran was an Irish character actor, whose last film role was as the alcoholic director Burke Dennings in The Exorcist. He was probably best known for his work with Samuel Beckett.-Stage career:...
, Iain Quarrier, Geoffrey Sumner
Geoffrey Sumner
Geoffrey Sumner was a British actor. As well as appearing in a number of films, he was also a commentator for British Movietone News.-Selected filmography:* Too Many Husbands * - narrator* Helter Skelter...
, Renee Houston
Renee Houston
Renée Houston was a Scottish comedy actor and revue artist who appeared in television and film roles.Born in Johnstone, Renfrewshire, as Katherina Houston Gibbin, she toured music halls and revue with her sister Billie Houston as the Houston Sisters.In 1926, the sisters made a short musical film,...
, William Franklyn
William Franklyn
William Leo Franklyn was a British actor, perhaps best known for voicing the "Schhh... You Know Who" adverts for Schweppes from 1965 to 1973...
, Trevor Delaney, Marie Kean
Marie Kean
Marie Kean was an Irish actress of stage and screen whose career spanned over 40 years.Kean grew up in the village of Rush, County Dublin and was educated at Loreto College, North Great George's Street, Dublin...
and Mariloup Wolfe
Mariloup Wolfe
Mariloup Wolfe is a Canadian actress and award-winning film director. She went to F.A.C.E. school, an art school in Montreal where she learned to act, for secondary school. She holds a major in Film Production from Concordia University and a minor in Cultural Studies from McGill University...
. It also features Jacqueline Bisset
Jacqueline Bisset
Jacqueline Bisset is an English actress. She has been nominated for four Golden Globe Awards and an Emmy Award. She is known for her roles in the films Bullitt , Airport , The Deep , Class , and the TV series Nip/Tuck in 2006...
in a small role, in her second film appearance. The black and white cinematography
Cinematography
Cinematography is the making of lighting and camera choices when recording photographic images for cinema. It is closely related to the art of still photography...
is by Gil Taylor.
Synopsis
The film begins with gangster Dickie (StanderLionel Stander
Lionel Jay Stander was an American actor in films, radio, theater and television.-Early life and career:Lionel Stander was born in The Bronx, New York, to Russian Jewish immigrants, the first of three children...
) pushing his broken-down car through rising seawater while his companion Albie (MacGowran
Jack MacGowran
John Joseph "Jack" MacGowran was an Irish character actor, whose last film role was as the alcoholic director Burke Dennings in The Exorcist. He was probably best known for his work with Samuel Beckett.-Stage career:...
) lies inside, bleeding from a gunshot wound after a bungled robbery. Cut off by the unexpected rising tide, they are on the only road to a bleak and remote tidal island where, in a dark castle on a hilltop, the effeminate and neurotic George (Pleasence
Donald Pleasence
Sir Donald Henry Pleasence, OBE, was a British actor who gained more than 200 screen credits during a career which spanned over four decades...
) lives with his luscious young wife Teresa (Dorléac
Françoise Dorléac
Françoise Dorléac was a French actress. Born in Paris, she was the daughter of screen actor Maurice Dorléac and Renée Deneuve, and was the elder sister of Catherine Deneuve. The two sisters starred together in the 1967 musical, The Young Girls of Rochefort...
). Dickie then proceeds to hold the two hostage while awaiting rescue by his boss, the mysterious Katelbach, even throughout an unexpected visit from one of George's old work colleagues.
Cast
- Donald PleasenceDonald PleasenceSir Donald Henry Pleasence, OBE, was a British actor who gained more than 200 screen credits during a career which spanned over four decades...
as George - Françoise DorléacFrançoise DorléacFrançoise Dorléac was a French actress. Born in Paris, she was the daughter of screen actor Maurice Dorléac and Renée Deneuve, and was the elder sister of Catherine Deneuve. The two sisters starred together in the 1967 musical, The Young Girls of Rochefort...
as Teresa - Lionel StanderLionel StanderLionel Jay Stander was an American actor in films, radio, theater and television.-Early life and career:Lionel Stander was born in The Bronx, New York, to Russian Jewish immigrants, the first of three children...
as Richard - Jack MacGowranJack MacGowranJohn Joseph "Jack" MacGowran was an Irish character actor, whose last film role was as the alcoholic director Burke Dennings in The Exorcist. He was probably best known for his work with Samuel Beckett.-Stage career:...
as Albie - Iain Quarrier as Christopher
- Geoffrey SumnerGeoffrey SumnerGeoffrey Sumner was a British actor. As well as appearing in a number of films, he was also a commentator for British Movietone News.-Selected filmography:* Too Many Husbands * - narrator* Helter Skelter...
as Christopher's father - Renee HoustonRenee HoustonRenée Houston was a Scottish comedy actor and revue artist who appeared in television and film roles.Born in Johnstone, Renfrewshire, as Katherina Houston Gibbin, she toured music halls and revue with her sister Billie Houston as the Houston Sisters.In 1926, the sisters made a short musical film,...
as Christopher's mother - Robert DorningRobert DorningRobert Dorning was a musician, dance band vocalist, ballet dancer, and actor. He is known to have performed in at least seventy-seven television and film productions between 1940 and 1988....
as Philip Fairweather - Marie KeanMarie KeanMarie Kean was an Irish actress of stage and screen whose career spanned over 40 years.Kean grew up in the village of Rush, County Dublin and was educated at Loreto College, North Great George's Street, Dublin...
as Marion Fairweather - William FranklynWilliam FranklynWilliam Leo Franklyn was a British actor, perhaps best known for voicing the "Schhh... You Know Who" adverts for Schweppes from 1965 to 1973...
as Cecil - Jacqueline BissetJacqueline BissetJacqueline Bisset is an English actress. She has been nominated for four Golden Globe Awards and an Emmy Award. She is known for her roles in the films Bullitt , Airport , The Deep , Class , and the TV series Nip/Tuck in 2006...
as Jacqueline - Trevor Delaney as Nicholas
Connections with other works
Like his previous film RepulsionRepulsion
Repulsion is a 1965 British psychological thriller film directed by Roman Polanski, based on a scenario by Gérard Brach and Roman Polanski. It was Polanski's first English language film, and was shot in Britain, as such being his second film made outside his native Poland. The cast includes...
, it explores themes of horror, frustrated sexuality and alienation, which have become characteristic of most of Polański's films, notably Rosemary's Baby
Rosemary's Baby (film)
Rosemary's Baby is a 1968 American horror film written and directed by Roman Polanski, based on the bestselling 1967 novel Rosemary's Baby by Ira Levin...
and The Tenant
The Tenant
The Tenant is a 1976 psychological thriller/horror film directed by and starring Roman Polanski based upon the 1964 novel Le locataire chimérique by Roland Topor. It is also known under the French title Le Locataire. It co-stars actress Isabelle Adjani. It is the last film in Polanski's "Apartment...
.
Cul-de-Sac has been compared in tone and theme with the works of Harold Pinter
Harold Pinter
Harold Pinter, CH, CBE was a Nobel Prize–winning English playwright and screenwriter. One of the most influential modern British dramatists, his writing career spanned more than 50 years. His best-known plays include The Birthday Party , The Homecoming , and Betrayal , each of which he adapted to...
and Samuel Beckett
Samuel Beckett
Samuel Barclay Beckett was an Irish avant-garde novelist, playwright, theatre director, and poet. He wrote both in English and French. His work offers a bleak, tragicomic outlook on human nature, often coupled with black comedy and gallows humour.Beckett is widely regarded as among the most...
; Jack MacGowran
Jack MacGowran
John Joseph "Jack" MacGowran was an Irish character actor, whose last film role was as the alcoholic director Burke Dennings in The Exorcist. He was probably best known for his work with Samuel Beckett.-Stage career:...
was renowned for his stage performances of Beckett's plays. The film's German title is Wenn Katelbach kommt (When Katelbach Comes).
Production
The film was shot in 1965 on location on the island of LindisfarneLindisfarne
Lindisfarne is a tidal island off the north-east coast of England. It is also known as Holy Island and constitutes a civil parish in Northumberland...
(also known as Holy Island) off the coast of Northumberland
Northumberland
Northumberland is the northernmost ceremonial county and a unitary district in North East England. For Eurostat purposes Northumberland is a NUTS 3 region and is one of three boroughs or unitary districts that comprise the "Northumberland and Tyne and Wear" NUTS 2 region...
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
. Lindisfarne Castle
Lindisfarne Castle
Lindisfarne Castle is a 16th-century castle located on Holy Island, near Berwick-upon-Tweed, Northumberland, England, much altered by Sir Edwin Lutyens in 1901. The island is accessible from the mainland at low tide by means of a causeway.-History:...
, which served as the home in the film, is now a National Trust property and can be toured by the public; despite the passage of forty years, the building and its surroundings are largely unchanged.
Awards
Cul-de-sac was awarded the 1966 Golden BearGolden Bear
According to legend, the Golden Bear was a large golden Ursus arctos. Members of the Ursus arctos species can reach masses of . The Grizzly Bear and the Kodiak Bear are North American subspecies of the Brown Bear....
at the 16th Berlin International Film Festival
16th Berlin International Film Festival
The 16th annual Berlin International Film Festival was held from June 24 to July 5, 1966.-Jury:* Pierre Braunberger * Franz Seitz* Emilio Villalba Welsh* Khwaja Ahmad Abbas* Pier Paolo Pasolini* Lars Forssell* Hollis Alpert...
.
External links
- Cul-de-Sac at the BFI
- Cul-de-Sac, an article by Christopher Weedman, at Senses of Cinema