Emily (Talia Shire) arrives home at night to find a man in her apartment who roughs her up and forces her to make sexual sounds for a tape recorder. Her neighbor Andrea (Elizabeth Ashley) tries to help, but Emily opts to move from Brooklyn Heights to Manhattan
Soon after, we see Andrea sitting in the back of a taxi cab, listening to the tape recording the intruder recorded. Andrea continues to find moments with Emily, helping her move and inviting her for drinks. Her involvement and motivation are blatant — the question is the lengths she will go to get it
The only film Gordon Willis directed — he was the cinematographer for the Godfather trilogy, several Woody Allen films, and others. He later regretted making this, if only because he hated the emotional intelligence and time required for directing the actors. But what did he expect with such an emotionally fraught movie subject?
Of course, the movie looks remarkable — the close-up compositions provide subtext, and the camera deftly dictates space according to the character’s emotional condition. There’s a crossfade between a telescope view and slow-motion footage of a black-and-white romance that has major Lynch vibes
Talia Shire gives a heartbreaking performance despite being given little to work with. Elizabeth Ashley is appropriately horrifying, but why she does any of this is a mystery — the script seems to have little on its mind except “scary lesbian.”
The climax is way too long and silly — this didn’t have a landing to stick, but it could have bowed out more gracefully than this
Overall, it’s a beautifully rendered and homophobic dud