feedingbrett’s review published on Letterboxd:
Included In Lists:
Criterion Collection - #577
Review In A Nutshell:
Tired, wounded, and lost. Cul-De-Sac showcases suffocating claustrophobia and the deterioration of the human mentality. As the characters are further forced to challenge and confront one another, the greater the toll on their sanity, relationship dynamics, and the potential for fatality. The film plays itself out with a loose structure, creating an air of unpredictability and suspense without having to necessarily endure through contrived roads to achieve synonymous results. Polanski captures a vibe that recalls the visual cues of Michelangelo Antonioni’s L’Avventura and blends it with the punishing cruelty that is similar to some of Godard’s films. Though I found some of its pacing to be stretched and certain character dynamics requiring a little more emphasis, but all in all, its dark humour and its depiction of human frailty is both subtle and eye-catching. Certainly not as accomplished as some of Polanski’s later efforts, some of which are personal favourites of mine, but I can see myself returning to this in a filmography retrospective sometime in the future.