Rent Cul-De-Sac (1966)

Black Comedy. - Cul-De-Sac review by Steve

Offbeat black comedy which was a change of direction for Roman Polanski after his critical hit with Repulsion. Its most memorable aspect is the location shoot on grey, rainy Holy Island, Lindisfarne, including the sixteenth century castle, which gives the film a particular aura of end-of-the-world desolation.

There's the obvious influence of Harold Pinter in the caustic menace of the script. And a thread of absurdity. A pair of bankrobbers (Lionel Stander and Jack MacGowran) attempt to take refuge with a middle class couple (Donald Pleasance and Françoise Dorléac)- at gunpoint. But get entangled in the bitter conflict of their marriage.

While it's an original screenplay, there's the impression of a stage play barely opened up for the screen. Polanski would work on that smaller scale many times over the years. Once MacGowran has been buried in a shallow grave it's mostly a three hander with Pleasence the standout as an effete artist of rather vague accomplishments.

It's more eccentric than purely entertaining, but it is a thrill to witness the technique of a great director. There's a feeling of liberation in the virtuosity of Polanski's style, which includes a famous unbroken eight minute edit. But his best creative decision was to set the film in the windswept seclusion of the stark Northumbrian coast.