Images

I enjoyed this, but I think I prefer something a little more grounded. It's a descent into madness film driven by a great lead performance from York with some really good moments and masterful direction from Altman, fitting all the pieces together just right to craft a bitter and surreal mood. As much as we learn about the lead, it all seems to amount to nothing on inspection, though.

I wasn't sure to expect here, but I really liked this. It's beautifully made on all fronts, notably the terrific cinematography, the committed performance from York, and the non-standard John Williams score. It's unsettling, creepy, ambiguous and compelling, and manages to throw in a couple of shocks along the way. Definitely worth another look.

Altman liked subverting genres, but Images, at least on the surface, doesn't appear to be doing anything especially new, even if it's incredibly well executed. It's a moody descent into madness anchored by a strong performance by York as the afflicted woman and Zsigmond's vivid cinematography which creates a claustrophobic atmosphere both in indoor and outdoor settings, magnifying York's sense of isolation. Some scenes are too pointedly symbolic, but the overall effect is tense and unsettling.

The founding idea of turning back to your lover only to discover with horror someone else in their place, and the madness of which it could be a symptom, would 28 years later become the founding idea of LOST HIGHWAY. Lots of interesting shots and generally effective, but perhaps a little thin in ideas. Altman would make a better Bergmanesque film five years later with the excellent 3 WOMEN. Second movie of Hugh Millais (great grandson of John Everett Millais): almost as menacing as in his first.

Altman tends to make movies I like but not love. At last, here's one that I love. I like my movies a little on the weird side, and Images is weird in spades. Offbeat and creepy and damn unsettling. The ending totally caught me off guard. John Williams turns in a surprisingly unconventional score. Very cool flick.

Altman's small and intimate psychological horror film. Imaginative in the way it builds up the suspense, but at the same time a bit too obvious from the very beginning - the film loses much of it's momentum before the last third. A pleasure and a pain to watch Susannah York's anguished role.

Cinematography and sound design are cool and evoke a ghostly mood most of the time, though this story feels ridiculously familiar and rehashed -- maybe not back in the day, but it still feels like it's doing nothing new and nothing interesting. Some pretty funny twists along the road, but I felt restless watching this unfolding story that was stretched too thin.

This creepy, hallucinatory thriller is definitely one of the best films Robert Altman has made. I wonder why he didn't do more films like this, because he really has a knack for it - then again, this kind of thing all but died out after the 70's. Susannah York gives a great performance. I'm not schizophrenic but I hear this is a pretty accurate representation, too.

Incredibly creepy with some truly beautiful shots.

For a director renowned for his sprawling ensemble casts, Altman seems perfectly at ease here with a cast of like 5 or 6, and in a film where much of the action takes place inside one woman's mind. The score is brilliant and yet no jury in the world would convict John Williams of having composed it. Most "psychological horrors" strain one's suspension of disbelief to the breaking point, but this remains indelibly granular and plausibly disturbing throughout.

I guess 1972 was a good year for movies about neglected wives of socially normative, functional psychopaths. With Season of the Witch its main competitor, it's unclear how Altman's take on Repulsion does anything any differently than the Polanski flick--Season of the Witch, at least, had a little black magic. Still, Images is a decently made, though somewhat dated piece of classic cinema.

I think Altman was at his best when he made genre movies, and Images is a psychological thriller in the vein of Roman Polanski in particular (especially Repulsion). We figure out that the heroine's increasingly disturbing fantasies seep into what we see, and this is a familiar element of the genre, but the beauty is that as the film progresses its mysteries don't appear to unravel, we aren't given a logical key to decode what is what. Ultimately satisfying, and very well directed.

It looks good, but the plot is awful.

The best part about this movie is the score. Experimental and haunting.

It's almost hard to believe this is an Altman film as Images lacks many of his trademarks. The film looks great and the mood is right, but the plot is enigmatic and is hard to definitively nail down (on one watch at least). I've definitely seen films worse in that regard, but might have enjoyed this more had I been able to piece it together better. York is good and John Williams delivers an uncharacteristic score. I liked it more than 3 Women at least.

A very good depiction of how someone gradually loses touch with reality by slowly accepting hallucinations and acting according to them. Susannah York is great in the lead.

71.500

watched: 2014, 2021

The lens/reflection theme is heavy-handed but this has great tension and even after watching it, I'm still not sure how it's going to end!

Excellent depiction of mental illness with a superb creepy seventies atmosphere. Really creative editing, cinematography and sound. John William's score is pretty out there too. Why isn't this better known?

The worst thing about this film is that it's relatively unknown. Altman's gem, multidimensional, hypnotic, engaging.

gorgeous film

67.500

Couple notches down REPULSION way, and you won't believe what John Williams did.

Bergman, Polanski and Bunuel? Yes, but I would say "Just Altman".

As a mere genre movie without much of a vision, it feels anachronistic today. But, without transcending, it fulfills it's psychological thriller purpose well, and i'm a sucker for the genre. What particularly impressed me is how Altman can make you fear something only by letting you know his star is afraid of it.