Strictly speaking, "Klute" is a thriller and suspense film full of cold temperament, in addition to some noir films. The content of the story is not too new. It tells that Brie, as a call girl, was involved in the disappearance of her former employer. The private investigator John who came to investigate couldn’t help but fall in love with Brie in the process of handling the case. Here, as the investigation progressed, the disappearance case began to turn into a homicide case, and finally after a careful investigation, the true culprit also surfaced. It’s just such a movie whose plot is nothing new in any era, but under the guidance of Alan J. Pakula, it produced the unique charm of the 70s, making this movie with a plain plot even if it was released. It is equally impressive today. The reason "Klute" is said to be an atypical detective film is because the director Alan J. Pakula did not fully describe the whole process of solving a case in the movie. Although the development of the case is the main line of the whole movie, But at the same time, clues such as love and women's self-growth are also interspersed. The characters in the play have bright personalities and rich details, and the whole movie has a strong literary atmosphere. The strong literary atmosphere dilutes the intense and exciting atmosphere in ordinary detective films, so "Klute" is very different in the same type of film.
There are two things about the movie that impressed me. The first is the large number of sexual acts involved in the film. Although they are all expressed through lines, they were still quite bold in the 1970s. But this also coincides with the theme of innovation and breakthrough the limitations of the times expressed by the new Hollywood movies. Because Jane Fonda played a senior call girl in the movie, the director passed us a lot of information about this and various sexual cues through film lines. The most obvious is the perverted preference for sexual abuse in the movie. This can be said to be a bold attempt and innovation of the director in content. The second is that the last murderer in traditional detective movies is often revealed at the last minute, and the suspense will remain until the end. But in "Klute", only about 30 minutes from the beginning of the film, the director has already revealed the answer to us. Although it didn't make it clear, but with such a large amount of information, it is believed that the audience is already aware of it at this time. In the subsequent content, the director wanted to show women's struggle and growth, and to leave us with thoughts about sex and abnormal behavior. Because in everyone’s heart there will be a dark side that is not well known, and more people have not turned it into actual action. There are a small number of people who expose their dark side to the sun. They It is what we commonly call the pervert. And this is the dividing line that distinguishes a person from being abnormal or not. I think this is the real content the director wants to convey to us.
Films in the 70s are different from black-and-white movies in their unique image quality, wide-screen magnified projection, and voyeuristic shooting methods, and they still have a fascinating charm to this day. And Jane Fonda and Donald Sutherland are fully equipped with the unique star temperament of that era. Jane Fonda, who came from a family of performing arts, performed the call girls in the movie very well, and the moving performance at the fruit stand for more than a minute was enough to take a photo history. Jane also won the Oscar for the first time with this film. Many people say that Donald Sutherland belongs to the 70s. I very much agree that only the 70s film can perfectly present Donald Sutherland's temperament on the big screen. If you like movies from the 70s, this one must not be missed.
View more about Klute reviews