Sisters – The Criterion Collection (Blu-ray)

Theatrical Release Date: USA, 1972
Director: Brian De Palma
Writers: Brian De Palma, Louisa Rose
Cast: Margot Kidder, Jennifer Salt, Charles Durning, William Finley, Lisle Wilson, Barnard Hughes, Mary Davenport, Dolph Sweet

Release Date: October 23rd, 2018
Approximate Running Time: 92 Minutes 42 Seconds
Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1 Widescreen / 1080 Progressive / MPEG-4 AVC
Rating: R
Sound: LPCM Mono English
Subtitles: English SDH
Region Coding: Region A
Retail Price: $39.95

"Margot Kidder is Danielle, a beautiful model separated from her Siamese twin, Dominique. When a hotshot reporter (Jennifer Salt) suspects Dominique of a brutal murder, she becomes dangerously ensnared in the sisters’ insidious sibling bond." - synopsis provided by the distributor

Video: 5/5

Here’s the information provided about this release's transfer, "This new digital transfer was created in 16-bit 4K resolution on a Lasergraphics Director film scanner from the 35mm original camera negative. Thousands of instances of dirt, debris, scratches, splices, and warps were manually removed using MTI Fim's DRS, while Digital Vision's Phoenix was used for jitter, flicker, small dirt, grain, and noise management."

Sisters comes on a 50 GB dual layer Blu-ray.

Disc Size: 40.2 GB

Feature: 25.2 GB

The source looks excellent; colors are nicely saturated, image clarity, black levels and compression are solid and the image retains an organic look.

Audio: 5/5

This release comes with one audio option, a LPCM mono mix in English with removable English SDH. The audio is in great shape; dialog comes through clearly, and everything sounds balanced. Range-wise ambient sounds are well-represented, and the score sounds robust.

Extras:

Extras for this release include an image gallery with music from the film playing in the background, radio spots (3 minutes 31 seconds, Dolby Digital mono English, no subtitles), an appearance from 1970 by actress Margot Kidder on The Dick Cavett Show (8 minutes 56 seconds, Dolby Digital mono English, no subtitles), an interview with actress Jennifer Salt (24 minutes 7 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo English, no subtitles), an archival featurette titled The Autopsy with actors Bill Finley and Charles Durning, editor Paul Hirsch, and producer Edward R. Pressman (26 minutes 32 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo English, no subtitles), audio from a 1973 discussion with De Palma at the American Film Institute (92 minutes 42 seconds, Dolby Digital mono English, no subtitles), and a 36-page booklet with cast & crew information, an essay titled “Psycho-Thriller, Qu’est-ce Que C’est?,’ written by Carrie Rickey, an archival interview with Brian De Palma conducted by Richard Rubinstein, “ Murder by Moog: Scoring the Chill.” written by Brian De Palma, and information about the transfer.

Summary:

A beautiful young woman’s past comes back to haunt her when her estranged sister resurfaces.

What a shock it must have been to see Sisters upon its first arrival, since up to that point, Brian De Palma was primarily known as a director of comedy films. Though Sisters' opening setup is in line with the type of films Brian De Palma had made up to that point, it is a textbook example of his ability to execute moments of misdirection. It is a tongue-in-cheek sequence about a peeping game show in which deception is central to what's unfolding. These moments before Sisters morphs into a thriller/horror film are integral to the story at hand and make the first act of violence more potent.

Brian De Palma has always proudly worn his cinema influences, specifically the films of Alfred Hitchcock. In the case of Sisters, he borrows heavily from Psycho and Rear Window; notably, the way he kills off a main character in the opening act and a character with a different personality are personal nods to Psycho. The nosy neighbor who witnesses the murder is a nod to Rear Window. That said, there are many other Hitchcockian moments in Sisters; these are just the more prominent ones.

Influences aside, to further heighten the tension, Brian De Palma takes full advantage of the split-screen technique. He employs to great effect—a long out-of-use camera effect—the iris camera technique that was prevalent back in the days of silent cinema; this technique is used during the flashback sequences that provide character backstory. That said, Brian De Palma’s films are known for their visuals, and Sisters is a film overflowing with visually arresting moments.

Performance-wise, as great as all of the cast are, they all pale in comparison to Margot Kidder’s (Black Christmas) portrayal of Siamese twin sisters Danielle and Dominique. She creates two distinctively different personalities, and the result is arguably her best performance. Another performance of note is William Finley (Phantom of the Paradise) as Emil Breton, the former doctor of Danielle and Dominique, who went on to marry Danielle after their separation. Though he gives a low-key performance, it perfectly counters Margot Kidder’s manic performance.

Though the narrative starts off slowly, things pick up considerably after the murder. From there, the narrative moves at a brisk momentum that becomes more frantic in its final moments. Another way that Sisters connects to the cinema of Alfred Hitchcock is composer Bernard Herrmann. He delivers an outstanding score that ranks among the best work of his storied career as a composer. Brian De Palma, like Alfred Hitchcock, understands the importance of a score; Bernard Herrmann’s score is reminiscent of how his score for Psycho impacts a film. Ultimately, Brian De Palma found his voice with Sisters, a film that has not lost any of its potency after all these years.

Sisters gets an exceptional release from The Criterion Collection that comes with a solid audio/video presentation and insightful extras, highly recommended.

Written by Michael Den Boer