Sisters

"They were joined at birth by the devil and the evil never left them!"

1973 1h 33m EN

👍

6.7

SOLID

★6.7TMDB · 461

ThrillerHorrorMystery

Synopsis

Spoiler shield

Inquisitive journalist Grace Collier is horrified when she witnesses her neighbor, fashion model Danielle Breton, violently murder a man. Panicking, she calls the police. But when the detective arrives at the scene and finds nothing amiss, Grace is forced to take matters into her own hands. Her first move is to recruit private investigator Joseph Larch, who helps her to uncover a secret about Danielle's past that has them both seeing double.

“They were joined at birth by the devil and the evil never left them!”

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Where to watch · US

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Cast

Margot Kidder
Danielle Breton / Dominique Blanchion
Jennifer Salt
Grace Collier
Charles Durning
Joseph Larch
William Finley
Emil Breton
Lisle Wilson
Phillip Woode
Barnard Hughes
Arthur McLennen
Mary Davenport
Mrs. Collier
Dolph Sweet
Detective Kelly

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: Brian De Palma
Writers: Brian De Palma, Louisa Rose, Brian De Palma
Languages: English, French
Countries: United States of America

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 8

MONEY

Did you know

Shot for just $0.5M — micro-budget by Hollywood standards.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 8

ERA

Did you know

53 years old — a genuine piece of film history.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 8

WORLD

Did you know

Dialogue crosses 2 languages: English, French.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Directed by Brian De Palma, shot by Gregory Sandor. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Original score by Bernard Herrmann. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Editor Paul Hirsch shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 8

CAST

Did you know

Margot Kidder and Jennifer Salt and Charles Durning carry the top of the cast.

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

8 / 8

FACT

Did you know

Marketing tagline: "They were joined at birth by the devil and the evil never left them!".

MoodPlayr · trivia#08

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Brian De Palma directs. Gregory Sandor behind the camera. Bernard Herrmann scores. Paul Hirsch cuts. Runs lean at under 100 minutes. Profitable at the box office. Produced in United States of America. Dialogue in English, French.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

1Shot for just $0.5M — micro-budget by Hollywood standards.
253 years old — a genuine piece of film history.
3Dialogue crosses 2 languages: English, French.
4Directed by Brian De Palma, shot by Gregory Sandor. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
5Original score by Bernard Herrmann. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
6Editor Paul Hirsch shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
7Margot Kidder and Jennifer Salt and Charles Durning carry the top of the cast.
8Marketing tagline: "They were joined at birth by the devil and the evil never left them!".
9IMDB entry: tt0070698 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
10Classified under 12 themes, including "police", "insanity", "detective", "hallucination".
11Released under 13 different titles around the world.

The technical file

Cinematography: Gregory Sandor
Original score: Bernard Herrmann
Editing: Paul Hirsch
Production design: Gary Weist
Makeup / hair: Jeanne Richmond
Runtime: 93 min · 1h 33m
Aspect ratio (typical): 1.37:1 (Academy)
Status: Released
Budget: $500,000
Box office: $1,000,000
Return: 200% of budget
Original language: EN
Certification (US): R
IMDB: Sisters (1973)

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Brian De Palma

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Community reviews

What people are saying

John Chard2015-03-29
★ 8/10
Sisters are doing it for themselves… Sisters is directed by Brain De Palma who also co-writes the screenplay with Louisa Rose. It stars Margot Kidder, Jennifer Salt, Charles Durning, Lisle Wilson and William Finley. Music is by Bernard Herrmann and cinematography by Gregory Sandor. When newspaper reporter Grace Collier (Salt) observes what she perceives to be a murder in the apartment across the street from her own, it proves to be the catalyst for a trip down a dark psychologically damaged street. To be honest here, the continuous complaints about De Palma being a Hitchcock clone got boring around about the mid eighties. As Hitch is my personal favourite director it has never bothered me one bit that he homaged and borrowed from the great man's cannon, in fact I have always found that when on form it was great to have someone like De Palma to keep the suspense thriller genre going. It's not as if he's the only one who owes his career to director's from the past really is it? Sisters is a wonderfully trippy suspenser, where De Palma lifts from some great Hitchcock motifs to portray a clinically edgy story based around an article he read about Siamese twins Masha and Dasha Krivoshlyapova. Infused with technical flourishes such as split screens, POV filming and close quarter framing, the director is donating his own blood for the veins of the piece. Suspense is rarely far away, be it characters in some sort of danger, or the possible discovery of a body, there is no pause for pointless filler fodder. While twists and revelations engage the brain instead of insulting it, something many of today's horror/thriller directors could learn to "homage" from actually, and a nightmare section of film literally unfurled out of the minds eye is top draw. Herrmann was enticed out of near retirement to score the music, the genre and themes at work in the story ready made for his skilled compositions. The score in all essence is lifted from his own major works for Hitchcock, with added sections taken from Jason and the Argonauts and Mysterious Island, but reworked in such away it drifts a perfectly off-kilter vibe across production. Kidder and Salt do great work in tricky roles, and Finley is suitably edgy. Durning is a little wasted, though, but it's a small complaint in the acting area. There's a couple of plot holes and one turn of events that just doesn't make sense, but this is a prime De Palma thriller and a good starting point for anyone interested in his work. And yes! For anyone who really isn't bothered about someone homaging a past master. 8/10

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