Starts out very strong, and you can tell pretty quickly that De Palma is already a far stronger director than he was when he made Murder A La Mod just a few years prior.
The mystery is initially interesting, and the extended sequence where split screens are used is also great (if a little gimmicky, but it's a fun gimmick, and probably far less common back in the 1970s).
Unfortunately it lost steam for me in the second half. It starts to really emphasise the "psychological" part of psychological thriller, and I don't think it does so particularly well. The theme of doubles/pairs is often popular in thrillers, but I didn't think it was too well-explored here. By the end, it was difficult to feel very invested in the way things wrapped up.
But as far as early De Palma goes, this might be the earliest film of his I've seen that definitely feels very "De Palma", in the sense that it has his distinct visual style already quite well defined.
It's worth a watch for those stylish visuals and the strong first half, but in the end it was still a very slight disappointment.
The mystery is initially interesting, and the extended sequence where split screens are used is also great (if a little gimmicky, but it's a fun gimmick, and probably far less common back in the 1970s).
Unfortunately it lost steam for me in the second half. It starts to really emphasise the "psychological" part of psychological thriller, and I don't think it does so particularly well. The theme of doubles/pairs is often popular in thrillers, but I didn't think it was too well-explored here. By the end, it was difficult to feel very invested in the way things wrapped up.
But as far as early De Palma goes, this might be the earliest film of his I've seen that definitely feels very "De Palma", in the sense that it has his distinct visual style already quite well defined.
It's worth a watch for those stylish visuals and the strong first half, but in the end it was still a very slight disappointment.