Death Watch Reviews

For followers of Bertrand Tavernier who know the director only through A SUNDAY IN THE COUNTRY or 'ROUND MIDNIGHT, the very realistic science-fiction film DEATH WATCH may come as a surprise. Set in Glasgow, the film takes place in a not-too-distant future when nearly all diseases have been conquered by medical science, leaving natural causes as society's prime killer. Katherine (Romy Schneider) is an independent, sensitive, and beautiful woman who has contracted a terminal disease; Vincent Ferriman (Harry Dean Stanton) is a crass television producer who finds her imminent demise perfect entertainment for a society that can't get enough of death; and Roddy (Harvey Keitel) is an employee who had a video camera implanted in his head, sending everything he sees back to the TV station for editing and broadcast. As Roddy follows Katherine through the countryside, in effect shooting a narrative film, he finds himself becoming attracted to her. More than just a simple attack on electronic information in a modern technological society, DEATH WATCH (which can been seen as Tavernier's PEEPING TOM) also addresses the issue of the objectification of women and depersonalization of death via the (implicitly male-oriented) media.