Sophie and Otto Bentwood are a middle-aged, middle class, childless Brooklyn Heights couple trapped in a loveless marriage. He is an attorney, she a translator of books. Their existence is affected not only by their disintegrating relationship but by the threats of urban crime and vandalism that surround them everywhere they turn, leaving them feeling paranoid, scared, and desperately helpless.
Acting
MacLaine's brittle fragility — every micro-expression a tiny tragedy.
Direction
Gilroy traps you in claustrophobic silences that scream.
Director
Frank D. Gilroy
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Frank D. Gilroy won a Pulitzer for his play 'The Subject Was Roses' but never directed another film after this commercial failure.
The Bentwoods' brownstone becomes a character itself — every broken window and graffiti tag externalizing their internal decay.
US
