**** (out of ****)
Watching Robert Altman's "Images" (1972) you never know what is real and what isn't. That is mostly because the lead character doesn't know what is reality and fantasy.
I must be honest and fully disclose, I cannot with any confidence state I know what "Images" is about. I'm not sure I am able to "read" the movie and "decode" it. But, that is what makes the movie so enjoyable to me. It is one hell of a ride. Some of the fun watching it, is trying to figure it all out.
"Images" was released at a time when the public was just starting to notice Robert Altman. By 1972 Altman had completed "M*A*S*H" (1970) and "McCabe & Mrs. Miller" (1971), two hallmarks of the 70s. But "Images" was dismissed by much of the public upon its initial release and today is a lesser known Altman movie that gets lost in the shuffle of what was clearly a decade when Altman was at his creative peak. Although Susannah York won a best actress award at the Cannes Film Festival for her performance.
In the wonderful book by David Thompson, "Altman on Altman", the two men discuss Altman's career film by film, ending with the television series, "Tanner on Tanner" (2004). Altman says the idea for "Images" was one that had been floating around in his head since 1968 and he originally wanted Sandy Dennis for the lead. Over the years, other actresses considered for the role were Julie Christie and Sophia Loren.
It is no accident Altman conceived the idea of the movie after Ingmar Bergman's "Persona" (1967) was released in America. Altman admits in the book "Persona" was an influence stating the movie impressed him a lot. "I'm sure that film was largely responsible for Images and 3 Women. There was a power in Persona". And like "Persona", I believe "Images" is largely about a traumatic sexual experience. For me, "Persona" is about guilt associated with a woman's choice to have an abortion. In "Images" there is talk about a woman wanting to have children and it is hinted at she may have had a daughter outside of her marriage. At the very least "Images" is a story about a woman's guilt in having an extramarital affair.
Altman presents these ideas within the confines of a psychological suspense film as we follow Cathryn (York) a middle-aged woman who seems to be spiraling into madness. It all begins late one night when she is home alone. The telephone rings and another woman is on the other line. The woman implies Cathryn's husband, Hugh (Rene Auberjonois) is cheating on her.
From this moment on the movie begins its descent into Cathryn's disturbed mind as she and Hugh head for their secluded cabin where Cathryn can finish a children's book she is writing and rest. Characters are introduced to the story that we are never sure if they are real or not. One is supposed to be a dead lover, Rene (Marcel Bozzuffi) and the other a friend of the couple, who it is implied had an affair with Cathryn, Marcel (Hugh Millais). Do you see how Altman is adding to the confusion naming characters after the actors? Cathryn even sees her own doppelganger, who at one point in the movie we follow and switch point of view.
What is so impressive about Ms. York's performance is we can see the terror and confusion on her face as she struggles to determine what is real and what isn't. Many times while talking to her husband his appearance will change into one of the other men causing her to scream in horror. This is a demanding role which is tricky to play because so much of the movie is about the character's mind and her psychology. That is not always easy to translate on the screen.
This leads to some very suspenseful sequences. In one scene Cathryn kills Marcel, or at least his apparition, late at night after Marcel makes sexual advances at her. The next morning we see Marcel's bloody body lying on the floor. Did she really kill Marcel? We know Cathryn can see Marcel's body, as she walks over him to get to the kitchen to make her morning tea, but she is purposely avoiding the body. Soon people approach the home, a local elderly man and his dog and Marcel's teen daughter, Susannah (Cathryn Harrison). Cathryn invites them all inside for a drink. We sit in anticipation. What is Cathryn doing? She is going to be discovered. She killed a man.
Altman throws visual clues and metaphors at us, one of which is a puzzle, what is exactly what this movie is. Some of the characters try to put together a puzzle they have found in the cabin. The puzzle represents Cathryn, something that is fragmented and needs to be arranged in order to create an coherent image. Before the puzzle is assembled it is disjointed pieces, just like Cathryn's mind and the pieces are the characters in her head.
The fragmented quality is also present in the Oscar nominated score by John Williams which isn't melodic and lyrical but rather the score is comprised of fragmented "sounds" and sound effects. The score really heightens our suspense and involvement in the movie.
It should be rather obvious but this is not your typical Robert Altman picture. It doesn't have a large ensemble cast. It doesn't have that wonderful overlapping, seemingly improvised dialogue. And it isn't the antithesis of its genre the way "McCabe & Mrs. Miller" was to the western or "Popeye" (1980) the musical. "Images" works rather well in the thriller / suspense genre.
"Images" is better, much better than the movie going public will have you believe. It doesn't deserve to be seen as a "lesser" Robert Altman movie. You can't even buy a new copy of it on amazon. You can't rent it on Netflix and it is not streaming on their site. "Images" is a bit of a challenging movie but that shouldn't scare an audience away. This is a well made, wonderfully acted and photographed movie. This is first-rate filmmaking. For me, it is one of Altman's best. Try and find a copy of it.
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