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| Death
and the Maiden DVD Review |
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Order this DVD from Amazon.com
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Death
and the Maiden
(New Line Home Entertainment)
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| DVD
Release Date:
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June
3, 2003
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Length:
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139 mins.
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| Rated:
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R
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| Format:
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Widescreen (1.85:1)
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Audio:
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English
2.0 Stereo
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| Subtitles:
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English, Closed-Captioned
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| Extras:
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DVD-Rom
Features, Theatrical Trailers
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What a movie. I heard about this film a
couple of years ago, and wanted to see it. Thankfully, I was recently
given the opportunity to watch it on DVD. It is a character driven
movie with only three actors in the film, and in addition, just about
the entire movie takes place in one house. Movies like this only come
along once in a while, mainly because it is tough to pull off. This
one does.
Starring Sigourney Weaver, Ben Kingsley and Stuart Wilson, Death and
the Maiden is about a stranger (Kingsley) who gives a lawyer (Wilson)
a ride to his isolated house after getting a flat tire. The lawyer's
wife (Weaver) recognizes the stranger's voice as being the doctor who
tortured and raped her fifteen years earlier. Blindfolded during her
ordeal, Weaver's character, Paulina Escobar, is sure that she
recognizes not only Kingsley's voice, but his body odor as well.
Obviously a little bitter and without any solid proof, she takes
Kingsley captive and tries to convince her husband that this is the
man who tortured her.
At times, there are a few lulls in the dialogue, which is to be
expected in a film with this structure, but the rest of the intensity
in the film makes up for that. Stand out performances by all three
actors. Kingsley is mesmerizing to watch. He makes you wait on every
sentence to listen to what he is going to say next. Weaver transcends
her hatred for Kinglsey so well that you can feel it. And Wilson's
performance of doubt keeps the viewers themselves questioning until
the very end of the movie. And possibly even after the film has ended.
There are DVD-ROM features and a theatrical trailer that are offered
as special features, and that's about it. Sound and image quality are
the average DVD level. If I would offer a criticism to the special
features, it is that a featurette regarding the ending of the movie
would have been helpful, because I'm still trying to figure it out.
The DVD lacks special features, but purchasing or renting the DVD is
worth it because the film is highly entertaining with gripping
dialogue and a suspenseful plot that keeps you thinking and guessing
all the way through.
| The Movie: |
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8/10 |
| The
Extras: |
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1/10 |
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did you think?
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Eli Dingle - Contributor
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