''Cul-de-sac'' is a 1966 British

psychological Psychology is the scientific study of mind and behavior. Psychology includes the study of conscious and unconscious phenomena, including feelings and thoughts. It is an academic discipline of immense scope, crossing the boundaries bet ...

comedy thriller film directed by

Roman Polanski Raymond Roman Thierry Polański , group=lower-alpha, name=note_a ( né Liebling; 18 August 1933) is a French-Polish film director, producer, screenwriter, and actor. He is the recipient of numerous accolades, including an Academy Award, tw ...

, written by Polanski and Gérard Brach, and starring

Donald Pleasence Donald Henry Pleasence (; 5 October 1919 – 2 February 1995) was an English actor. He began his career on stage in the West End before transitioning into a screen career, where he played numerous supporting and character roles including RAF ...

, Françoise Dorléac,

Lionel Stander Lionel Jay Stander (January 11, 1908 – November 30, 1994) was an American actor in films, radio, theater and television. He is best remembered for his role as majordomo Max on the 1980s mystery television series '' Hart to Hart''. Early ...

Jack MacGowran John Joseph MacGowran (13 October 1918 – 30 January 1973) was an Irish actor, probably best known for his work with Samuel Beckett. Stage career MacGowran was born on 13 October 1918 in Dublin, and educated at Synge Street CBS. He establi ...

Iain Quarrier Iain Quarrier (April 12, 1941 – 2016) was a Canadian actor. He appeared in only five movies in the mid- to late 1960s before retiring from the film business following the murder of his close friend Sharon Tate in 1969. Career Quarrier began his ...

, Geoffrey Sumner,

Renée Houston Renée Houston (born Katherina Rita Murphy Gribbin; 24 July 1902 – 9 February 1980) was a Scottish comedy actress and revue artist who appeared in television and film roles. Biography Born in Johnstone, Renfrewshire, into a theatrical famil ...

, William Franklyn, Trevor Delaney, and

Marie Kean Marie Kean (27 June 1918 – 29 December 1993) was an Irish actress of stage and screen whose career spanned over 40 years. ''The Stage'' called her one of Ireland's most impressive actresses, and "an artist of considerable emotional depth and ...

. It also features

Jacqueline Bisset Winifred Jacqueline Fraser Bisset ( ; born 13 September 1944) is a British actress. She began her film career in 1965 and first came to prominence in 1968 with roles in '' The Detective'', ''Bullitt'', and ''The Sweet Ride'', for which she rec ...

(credited as Jackie Bisset) in a small role, in her second film appearance. Polanski's second English-language feature, it follows two injured American

gangster A gangster is a criminal who is a member of a gang. Most gangs are considered to be part of organized crime. Gangsters are also called mobsters, a term derived from '' mob'' and the suffix '' -ster''. Gangs provide a level of organization and ...

s who take refuge in the remote island castle of a young British couple in the north of England, spurring a series of mind games and violent altercations. The

black and white Black-and-white (B&W or B/W) images combine black and white in a continuous spectrum, producing a range of shades of grey. Media The history of various visual media began with black and white, and as technology improved, altered to color. ...

cinematography Cinematography (from ancient Greek κίνημα, ''kìnema'' "movement" and γράφειν, ''gràphein'' "to write") is the art of motion picture (and more recently, electronic video camera) photography. Cinematographers use a lens to focu ...

is by

Gil Taylor Gilbert Taylor, B.S.C. (12 April 1914 – 23 August 2013) was a British cinematographer, best known for his work on films such as ''Dr. Strangelove'', '' A Hard Day's Night'' (both 1964), ''Repulsion'' (1965), ''The Omen'' (1976), and '' Star ...

Plot

Gruff American gangster Dickey pushes his broken-down car along a

causeway A causeway is a track, road or railway on the upper point of an embankment across "a low, or wet place, or piece of water". It can be constructed of earth, masonry, wood, or concrete. One of the earliest known wooden causeways is the Sweet Tr ...

through rising seawater while his eccentric companion Albie 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 (

Lindisfarne Lindisfarne, also called Holy Island, is a tidal island off the northeast coast of England, which constitutes the civil parish of Holy Island in Northumberland. Holy Island has a recorded history from the 6th century AD; it was an important ...

Northumberland Northumberland () is a county in Northern England, one of two counties in England which border with Scotland. Notable landmarks in the county include Alnwick Castle, Bamburgh Castle, Hadrian's Wall and Hexham Abbey. It is bordered by land ...

), where, in a dark castle on a hilltop, a deeply neurotic and effeminate middle-aged Englishman named George lives with his second wife, the young and promiscuous Teresa. Dickey breaks into the castle and telephones his underworld boss, Katelbach, to send someone to get him and Albie. He then disconnects the phone lines and proceeds to hold the couple hostage while awaiting the arrival of Katelbach the next day. When Albie dies from his injuries, Dickey forces Teresa and George to dig his grave. They then hold a wake, with Dickey and George getting drunk together on the beach while Teresa swims nude in the ocean. The next morning, a car approaches the castle – but instead of Katelbach, it turns out to be some of George's obnoxious friends who have showed up at the castle unannounced. Dickey poses as a servant while Teresa begins to flirt with one of the guests, Cecil, and George does his best to get rid of the guests as quickly as possible. Cecil leaves quickly, forgetting his hunting rifle in the hall; however, it is unloaded and there is no ammunition for it, rendering it useless. Teresa steals Dickey's pistol from his coat pocket and gives it to George. Dickey eventually gets word that his boss Katelbach is not going to come and prepares to take George's car to drive to the mainland by causeway. George refuses, and a fight ensues. George fatally shoots Dickey with his own gun. Before dying, Dickey manages to retrieve his tommy gun from his broken-down car, which he had hidden away in the

chicken house Poultry farming is the form of animal husbandry which raises domesticated birds such as chickens, ducks, turkeys and geese to produce meat or eggs for food. Poultry – mostly chickens – are farmed in great numbers. More than 60 billion chick ...

. Too weak to fire the gun at George, Dickey collapses to the ground and the automatic discharge from the weapon causes George's car to explode in flames. Fearful of being implicated in the killing (and of possible reprisals from Katelbach's other henchmen), Teresa frantically insists that she and George abandon the castle together. But George is in a state of shock and seems unable to move. Suddenly, they hear a car approaching. Not knowing that Dickey's boss had abandoned him, they assume it is Katelbach. Desperate and afraid, Teresa runs off by herself and hides in a cupboard. The car arrives, and it turns out to be Cecil, who had returned to retrieve his rifle. Cecil offers to take them to the police, but George refuses to go. He watches as Cecil and Teresa drive off into the night, leaving George in his ruined castle with his car still on fire. Now utterly alone, George goes on a rampage, running out of the castle and down to the beach. As day breaks, he finally sits down on a rock in the

fetal position Fetal position (British English: also foetal) is the positioning of the body of a prenatal fetus as it develops. In this position, the back is curved, the head is bowed, and the limbs are bent and drawn up to the torso. A compact position i ...

and weeps hysterically, shouting out the name of his first wife, as the early morning tide rises around him.

Cast

Production

The film was shot on location in 1965 on the island of

(also known as Holy Island) off the coast of

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...

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. H ...

, which served as the home in the film, is now a

National Trust The National Trust, formally the National Trust for Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty, is a charity and membership organisation for heritage conservation in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. In Scotland, there is a separate and ...

property and can be toured by the public; despite the passage of time, the building and its surroundings are largely unchanged.

Interpretation

Like Polanski's previous film '' Repulsion'', released the previous year, it explores themes of horror, frustrated sexuality and alienation, which have become characteristic of many of the director's films, especially '' Rosemary's Baby'' and ''

The Tenant ''The Tenant'' (French: ''Le locataire'') is a 1976 psychological horror film set in France but filmed in English and directed by Roman Polanski, starring Polanski, Isabelle Adjani, Melvyn Douglas, and Shelley Winters. It is based upon the 196 ...

''. ''Cul-de-sac'' has been compared in tone and theme with the works of

Samuel Beckett Samuel Barclay Beckett (; 13 April 1906 – 22 December 1989) was an Irish novelist, dramatist, short story writer, theatre director, poet, and literary translator. His literary and theatrical work features bleak, impersonal and Tragicomedy, tr ...

and

Harold Pinter Harold Pinter (; 10 October 1930 – 24 December 2008) was a British playwright, screenwriter, director and actor. A Nobel Prize winner, Pinter was one of the most influential modern British dramatists with a writing career that span ...

, and these similarities are underscored by the casting of two principal roles in the film:

was renowned for his stage performances of Beckett's plays and

originated the role of Davies in Pinter's ''

The Caretaker ''The Caretaker'' is a play in three acts by Harold Pinter. Although it was the sixth of his major works for stage and television, this psychological study of the confluence of power, allegiance, innocence, and corruption among two brothers a ...

''. The film's German title is ''Wenn Katelbach kommt'' (''When Katelbach Comes''). Christopher Weedman also notes the film's similarities with "such hard-edged

Humphrey Bogart Humphrey DeForest Bogart (; December 25, 1899 – January 14, 1957), nicknamed Bogie, was an American film and stage actor. His performances in Classical Hollywood cinema films made him an American cultural icon. In 1999, the American Film In ...

hostage thrillers as ''

The Petrified Forest ''The Petrified Forest'' is a 1936 American film directed by Archie Mayo and based on Robert E. Sherwood's 1935 Broadway drama of the same name. The motion picture stars Leslie Howard, Bette Davis and Humphrey Bogart. The screenplay was writ ...

'' (

Archie Mayo Archibald L. Mayo (January 29, 1891 – December 4, 1968) was a film director, screenwriter and actor. Early years The son of a tailor, Mayo was born in New York City. After attending the city's public schools, he studied at Columbia Unive ...

, 1936), ''

Key Largo Key Largo ( es, Cayo Largo) is an island in the upper Florida Keys archipelago and is the largest section of the keys, at long. It is one of the northernmost of the Florida Keys in Monroe County, and the northernmost of the keys connected by ...

'' (

John Huston John Marcellus Huston ( ; August 5, 1906 – August 28, 1987) was an American film director, screenwriter, actor and visual artist. He wrote the screenplays for most of the 37 feature films he directed, many of which are today considered ...

, 1948), and '' The Desperate Hours'' (

William Wyler William Wyler (; born Willi Wyler (); July 1, 1902 – July 27, 1981) was a Swiss-German-American film director and producer who won the Academy Award for Best Director three times, those being for '' Mrs. Miniver'' (1942), '' The Best Years o ...

, 1955)."

Awards and reputation

''Cul-de-sac'' was awarded the 1966

Golden Bear The Golden Bear (german: Goldener Bär) is the highest prize awarded for the best film at the Berlin International Film Festival. The bear is the heraldic animal of Berlin, featured on both the coat of arms and flag of Berlin. History The win ...

at the

16th Berlin International Film Festival The 16th annual Berlin International Film Festival was held from 24 June – 5 July 1966. The Golden Bear was awarded to the British film ''Cul-de-sac'' directed by Roman Polanski. Jury The following people were announced as being on the jury f ...

. ''Cul-de-sac'' currently (May 2020) holds an 83% approval rating on the film

review aggregator A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews of products and services (such as films, books, video games, software, hardware, and cars). This system stores the reviews and uses them for purposes such as supporting a website where users ...

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wan ...

, based on 23 reviews.

References

Bibliography

* * *

External links

* * * *
''Cul-de-sac''
– an article by Christopher Weedman at ''

Senses of Cinema ''Senses of Cinema'' is a quarterly online film magazine founded in 1999 by filmmaker Bill Mousoulis. Based in Melbourne, Australia, ''Senses of Cinema'' publishes work by film critics from all over the world, including critical essays, career ...

''
''Cul-de-sac: High Tides''
– an essay by David Thompson at the

Criterion Collection The Criterion Collection, Inc. (or simply Criterion) is an American home-video distribution company that focuses on licensing, restoring and distributing "important classic and contemporary films." Criterion serves film and media scholars, cine ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cul-De-Sac 1966 films 1966 comedy-drama films 1966 independent films 1966 thriller films 1960s comedy thriller films 1960s English-language films 1960s psychological thriller films 1960s thriller drama films British black-and-white films British comedy-drama films British comedy thriller films British independent films British psychological thriller films British thriller drama films Films directed by Roman Polanski Films scored by Krzysztof Komeda Films set in castles Films set on islands Films shot in Northumberland Films with screenplays by Gérard Brach Films with screenplays by Roman Polanski Golden Bear winners Home invasions in film Lindisfarne 1960s British films