After meeting during the taping of a TV show, Philip (Lisle Wilson) and Danielle (Margaret Kidder) go out for a date.
Returning to her apartment, Philip realises they are not alone - there appears to be someone else staying there. Danielle reassures her new beau that her sister is visiting.
After spending the night together, something changes - and Philip ends up murdered.
Terrified that her sister has murdered her lover, Danielle calls her ex-husband Emil (William Finley) to help dispose of the body.
The only problem for the pair is that there was a witness to Philip's murder: one of Danielle's neighbours, tenacious reporter Grace Collier (Jennifer Salt)...
As a kid, I was obsessed with Hitchcock so naturally that led me to read about Brian De Palma.
Yes, read, not watch.
I could not access his movies so aside from a few big hits (Carrie, Mission Impossible), my exposure to him was the criticism around his work in interviews, various articles and essays.
Last year, I finally did a deep dive on the chunk of his career I most wanted to see, the thrillers. Of these movies, the only one I had previously seen was Blow Out, and I was so young at the time I think I was too young to fully appreciate it.
I recorded it off the TV late one night when I was still in high school, and was so depressed after watching it, I held off watching more De Palma.
For context, I watched Murder ala Mod before sisters.
It was refreshing to watch this after that movie - it was a little too silly and drawn out.
The opening of this film feels like a jumping-off point from Murder ala Mod, starting with a voyeuristic in-joke: what feels like the intro to a peeping tom (or an adult film) turns out to be a game show.
It is an idea that De Palma will return to again, and again - do not believe what you are seeing.
In contrast to its more rough, ready predecessor, Sisters is more of a traditional thriller.
It takes the Psycho template and has fun with it, from the extended fake-out opening to the twist ending.
De Palma’s mastery of cinematic language is evident immediately - the moving camera and the use of split screen showing both his ability to create an emotional reaction while never hiding his hand.
I recall the De Palma interview in which he talked about trying to convey the twins’ history visually. He called it a response to the un-cinematic way Norman Bates' origins are unveiled: Simon Oakland’s extended monologue at the end of Psycho.
Shot on grainy 16 millimetre, the finale is a surreal nightmare. It is De Palma to a T - take the Hitchcockian mode of suspense, the repressed desire and obscured violence, and strip away the innuendo.
The film is filled with great, darkly comic moments (Emil tripping over while trying to clean up the murder scene; Grace describing the cake as being lettered by a child while talking to the baker who did said writing).
One of the film's major assets is Bernard Hermann’s score. It is so straight it rides the right line of supporting the onscreen action without coming off as pure pastiche.
The film's ironic edge extends to its portrayal of women's roles. So many of the struggles the characters face are based in the conflicts of the time - despite her career, Grace’s mother is obsessed with marriage.
She is also not being taken seriously by the police, which prevents an early discovery of Philip's body.
And then there is Danielle’s attempt to build an independent life, while still dependent on her ex-husband for help with her body.
Margot Kidder is effective as Danielle - even playing an ingenue, she brings a teasing self-awareness, showing the characters intelligence despite her limited facility with English.
William Finley, one of De Palma’s stock company is unsettling. Despite his love for Danielle, it is based on a possessiveness and selfishness.
I am slowly growing to like De Palma more and more. I was never really a fan before. I always wanted a little more functionality to the story. With Sisters, the narrative is relatively simple, which anchors De Palma's various coup de cinema.
I find I am less interested in plot logic as I grow older, and that probably explains my growing affinity for him.
Sisters is not the best of De Palma's Hitchcock riffs (my personal favourite is Body Double), but it is good starting point.
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