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a review
This movie came out in 1981. I've seen it a couple of times and really liked it. Recently I wondered if it was based on a book. I looked and found this; bought it on a whim. This appears to be the screenplay adapted to book form. It is very short and a quick read. I was surprised by how well it read as a novel, it is not simply a reprint of the screenplay.

The writing is quite good with decent character development and interesting and descriptions of scene. The plot definitely moves along. The book is also set in 1981 and there are plenty of fun elements that remind one of that time almost thirty years ago. No cell phones for example. People actually have to sit by a phone waiting for a call. Small things like that are a lot of fun.

I certainly recommend the book as a light entertaining read. It is out of print but can be had used for pennies. ... Read more

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Brian De Palma (b. 1940) isn't your average Hollywood director.

For years he reigned as the "master of the macabre," the man who massacred the class of '76 in Carrie and stalked Angie Dickinson in Dressed to Kill. By the mid-1980s De Palma found himself assaulting his audience and critics, daring them to watch a chainsaw enter a man's skull in Scarface and a power drill disembowel a defenseless woman in Body Double.

What drove De Palma to such extremes? In the late 1960s, he wanted to be the next Jean-Luc Godard and revolutionize American cinema. Instead, he found himself ostracized when Warner Bros. removed him from Get to Know Your Rabbit, his first Hollywood feature. De Palma sought the refuge of Alfred Hitchcock until the late 1970s (Sisters, Obsession), when his surreal approach to horror became a genre unto itself (Carrie, The Fury, Dressed to Kill). Ironically, just as De Palma achieved the success that his fellow Movie Brats George Lucas, Martin Scorsese, and Steven Spielberg had enjoyed since the mid-1970s, he could not hide his resentment toward Hollywood. After battling with the MPAA in the 1980s, he gradually became part of the mainstream with the success of The Untouchables and Mission: Impossible, although he never suppressed his desire to make audiences aware of his camera-eye and his dark, penetrating worldview.

Brian De Palma: Interviews follows De Palma's fortunes as he makes the difficult transition from underground filmmaker to celebrity auteur. In profiles and q&a interviews, he emerges as a fascinating figure of excess and ambivalence. De Palma is not afraid to share his opinions about censorship, violence, feminism, American culture, and the fate of cinema in the twenty-first century.

Laurence F. Knapp, an instructor of film studies at Northwestern University, is the author of Directed by Clint Eastwood. ... Read more

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A MUST for De Palma fans!
There aren't too many books out there on De Palma, so when I saw this one I was very excited. I must say, I wasn't disappointed when I got it. Great interviews that are very informative, covering the majority of his films throughout his fascinating career. De Palma comes off as a very intelligent, humourous man, and his thoughts on films and directing are refreshingly frank and wise. A must-own companion to "The Devil's Candy" and "Double De Palma", this book should be on every film buff's nightstand. Except the ones who suck. ... Read more

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Pathbreaking, Challenging, and Superb
Though increasing in number (largely thanks to the work of Stanley Cavell, one of the key influences on this new book), legitimately philosophical accounts of film can be hard to come by, and many of those which are available offer either reductive flavors of 'philosophy' or tout the depth of particular films while giving short shrift to the philosophical issues they supposedly address. Against this backdrop, Eyal Peretz, who received a PhD in Comparative Literature from Yale and who is currently teaching at the University of Indiana, has set out for himself the ambitious task of studying a set of films (those of Brian De Palma) while simultaneously remaining soberly philosophical and rigorously attentive to the spirit of the films themselves. This is no simple task, yet Eyal Peretz's 'Becoming Visionary' is, in a single word, a triumph.

'Becoming Visionary' showcases in-depth readings of four particular De Palma films - the horror classic 'Carrie', the Antonioni-homage/thriller 'Blow-Out', the Kirk Douglas sci-fi family drama 'The Fury', and the recent neo-noir 'Femme Fatale' - and relates each of these to specific philosophical and theoretical concerns, including the notion of contingency, the sensation of horror, the relation of visual perception to meaning, and the role of paranoia and visions of false causality in creating narrative. Each of these readings is focused and nuanced, and all give considerable support to Peretz's designation of De Palma as an auteur uniquely sensitive to the uncanny dimensions of his medium. Whereas some might initially dismiss De Palma's work as B-grade or somehow undeserving of thoughtful attention, for Peretz, De Palma's films offer virgin ground for critical inquiry, and enter into philosophical dialogue on equal footing with blue-chip directors like Hitchchock. It is to Peretz's credit that, after reading 'Becoming Visionary', one can only agree with him.

Yet much more is it stake in 'Becoming Visionary' than a reading of a specific set of films, or even an elevation of De Palma's work to a new plane of artistic legitimacy. Peretz instead sets out to create a novel and systematic engagement with the philosophical relevance of cinema itself. Neither philosophy nor film studies suffers in this project: moments like Peretz's synopsis, early on, of the Platonic problematic of ideality versus representation are as lucid and insightful as his survey and critique of different Film Studies accounts of the suture and the frame.At both of these points in particular, a handful of Peretz's pages provides an incredibly sophisticated, clear, and fair take on topics that present several book-length 'introductions' (which you'll find separately shelved under 'Film' and 'Philosophy') a serious one-up in terms of impact, clarity, and analysis. This knack for consistent clarity and precision coexists in 'Becoming Visionary' with an earnest refusal to sidestep complex issues, or to tone down challenging points in Peretz's own analysis. Peretz's willingness to problematize and render more complex the models he suggests - by regularly engaging the idea of a division within the seeing eye, of competing conceptions of the frame, and so forth - is truly impressive, and contributes to construction of a remarkably comprehensive account of film, one that stands solidly alongside the conceptual edifices of Deleuze or Cavell, and which retains a pedagogical forcefulness all its own.

Hopefully, the discussion around 'Becoming Visionary' is just beginning. Peretz's book contains many things - a much-needed scholarly appraisal of a filmmaker often neglected by academics, thoughtful rejoinders and additions to several heated questions in modern film criticism, and a set of elegant reflections that draw in equal parts on Plato, Deleuze, Lacan, and Cavell. But 'Becoming Visionary' is one thing above all others: it is a sustained and effective object lesson in a revolutionary way of reading films philosophically. Indeed, unlike many philosophically inclined writers, who take cinema as simple fodder for analyses in which films instantiate philosophically weighted scenarios and provide merely anecdotal supplements to illustrate philosophical arguments, Peretz proposes and performs a difficult praxis that instead allows films to stage their own, unique way of philosophizing. Benefitting from Peretz's restrained and sensitive guidance, 'Becoming Visionary' shows how films can pose deeply philosophical questions through strategies and devices that, for all their 'filmic' artifice, throw open radically new perspectives on how meaning is constructed, on how we engage our senses - and not just the visual -, and on how we as subjects process representation, narrative, and experience itself. 'Becoming Visionary' is thus a welcome addition to Stanford's Cultural Memory in the Present series, and is a work that students, teachers, and those interested in disciplines from Literature to Cultural Studies to Media & Film alike would do well to read and heed.
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Customer Reviews (1)

Wonderfully delicious...
I bought this book back in college after seeing the movieBody Double.I highly recommend picking up this movie.This reminds me of the way DVD's are now with their extra content and special features.

Pick this one up.You won't be sorry.

MC White said:Check it out! ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Above-average film tie-in that stands on its own
Though De Palma receives top billing, this book was written by the English novelist Campbell Black, adapted for De Palma's film (which is basically a re-telling of 'Psycho' in modern Manhattan, with the sex and violence quotient quadrupled). The novel tells the same story as the film, but differs entirely in style: whereas the film is a very black comedy (as was 'Psycho'), the tone of the novel is rather bleak and morose, more a reflection of Campbell Black's English sensibility than De Palma's playful manipulative (and distinctly American) style. The film is pure visual cinema, while the novel is a more internalized psychological thriller that delves into the neurosis and motivations of each of the characters (including Bobbi - the razor-weilding blonde transvestite whose grisly murder of a sad, adulterous housewife is the centerpiece of the both the film and the book.) ... Read more

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Mission: Impossible is an 1996 action thriller directed by Brian De Palma and stars Tom Cruise as Ethan Hunt. The plot follows Hunt's (Tom Cruise) mission to uncover the mole within the CIA who has framed him for the murders of his entire IMF team. Work on the script had begun early with late filmmaker Sydney Pollack on board, before De Palma, Steven Zaillian, David Koepp, and Robert Towne were brought in. In fact, the film went into pre-production without a shooting script. De Palma came up with some action sequences, but neither Koepp nor Towne were satisfied with the story that leads up to these events. U2 band members Larry Mullen Jr. and Adam Clayton produced their own version of the original theme song. The song went into top ten charts around the world and was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Pop Instrumental Performance. The movie was the third highest grossing of the year. ... Read more

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Word count: 5352. ... Read more

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Les achats comprennent une adhésion à l'essai gratuite au club de livres de l'éditeur, dans lequel vous pouvez choisir parmi plus d'un million d'ouvrages, sans frais. Le livre consiste d'articles Wikipedia sur : Brian de Palma, Scarface (Film, 1983), Body Double, Carrie Au Bal Du Diable, Mission Impossible, L'impasse, Phantom of the Paradise, Les Incorruptibles (Film, 1987), Pulsions, Femme Fatale (Film, 2002), le Bûcher Des Vanités, Outrages, Redacted, le Dahlia Noir, Blow Out, Snake Eyes (Film, 1998), Furie (Film, 1978), Sœurs de Sang, Hi, Mom!, Home Movies, L'esprit de Caïn, Dionysus in '69, Mission to Mars, Mafia Salad, Murder à La Mod, Obsession, Greetings, Attention Au Lapin, the Wedding Party, the Untouchables : Capone Rising, the Responsive Eye, Icarus. Non illustré. Mises à jour gratuites en ligne. Extrait : Brian De Palma, de son vrai nom Brian Russell DePalma, est un cinéaste américain d'origine italienne né le 11 septembre 1940 à Newark, New Jersey, États-Unis. Il est considéré par beaucoup comme le digne héritier d'Alfred Hitchcock tant pour la qualité de ses œuvres, le suspense et sa maestria. On doit aussi noter une certaine ressemblance avec le style de Dario Argento, cinéaste italien qui popularisa le Giallo, par ses plans séquences complexes intimement liés à la musique. Brian De Palma a su donner un nouveau souffle aux films de genre, particulièrement dans les domaines du suspense et du fantastique. Il n'hésite pas à afficher clairement ses influences, reprenant des thèmes voire des scènes de ses cinéastes préférés (Hitchcock principalement) en allant même jusqu'à les reproduire dans ses films : l'un des exemples les plus marquants est cette scène des Incorruptibles (The Untouchables, 1987) où l'on trouve une allusion à la scène des escaliers d'Odessa du Cuirassé Potemkine (Sergueï Eisenstein, 1925). Le cinéma de De Palma allie outrance et virtuosité, revendiquant un lyrisme exacerbé, dont les dernières œuv...http://booksllc.net/?l=fr ... Read more

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This digital document is an article from Film Comment, published by Film Society of Lincoln Center on November 1, 2002. The length of the article is 3128 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: Dream project: the name of the game is deja vu in Femme Fatale: Brian De Palma's best film in 20 years.
Author: Gavin Smith
Publication: Film Comment (Magazine/Journal)
Date: November 1, 2002
Publisher: Film Society of Lincoln Center
Volume: 38Issue: 6Page: 28(4)

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This digital document is an article from Siempre!, published by Edicional Siempre on May 4, 2003. The length of the article is 766 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: La mujer fatal de Brian de Palma. (Cine).(Reseña de película)
Author: Tomás Pérez Turrent
Publication: Siempre! (Refereed)
Date: May 4, 2003
Publisher: Edicional Siempre
Volume: 49Issue: 2603Page: 78(1)

Article Type: Reseña de película

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Chapters: Brian de Palma, Clive Barker, David Cronenberg, F. W. Murnau, John Carpenter, Sam Raimi, James Whale, Tod Browning, Roger Corman, Antonio Margheriti, Wes Craven, John Landis, Uwe Boll, Eli Roth, Rob Zombie, Takashi Miike, Joe D'amato, Dario Argento, Mario Bava, José Mojica Marins, Lloyd Kaufman, Tobe Hooper, Charles Band, Jesús Franco, Tom Savini, George A. Romero, Park Chan-Wook, Lucio Fulci, William Castle, Bob Clark, Herschell Gordon Lewis, Pupi Avati, Robert Kurtzman, Joe Dante, Ernest Dickerson, Pang Brothers, William Friedkin, Larry Cohen, Creep Creepersin, Adam Green, Freddie Francis, Neil Marshall, Herman Yau, Danny Lee Sau-Yin, Umberto Lenzi, Stuart Gordon, Ulli Lommel, Bruno Mattei, Fred Olen Ray, Tommy Lee Wallace, Jonathan Liebesman, Lamberto Bava, Bert I. Gordon, Julian Richards, Alexandre Aja, James Wan, Andreas Schnaas, Don Coscarelli, Amando de Ossorio, Brian Yuzna, Fruit Chan, Marcus Nispel, Roy Ward Baker, Ryuhei Kitamura, Michele Soavi, Darren Lynn Bousman, Ruggero Deodato, William Girdler, Sergio Martino, Peter Medak, Brad Anderson, Marino Girolami, Terence Fisher, Frank Henenlotter, Hideo Nakata, Pete Walker, Fred Dekker, Douglas Buck, Lucky Mckee, Ovidio G. Assonitis, Scott Spiegel, Pascal Laugier, Steve Miner, Jean Rollin, Mick Garris, Tom Holland, Greg Mclean, Anthony Hickox, William Malone, William Lustig, Ronny Yu, Mary Lambert, Tony Randel, Takashi Shimizu, Chuck Russell, Juan Piquer Simón, Jeff Burr, Rupert Wainwright, Lewis Teague, Joseph Zito, Jack Sholder, Brian Trenchard-Smith, Claudio Fragasso, Mario Caiano, Olaf Ittenbach, Kevin S. Tenney, Ken Wiederhorn, Tsuruta Norio, Rob Schmidt, S. F. Brownrigg, Tom Mcloughlin, Jorge Grau, Jeff Lieberman. Source: Wikipedia. Pages: 562. Not illustrated. Free updates online. Purchase includes a free trial membership in the publisher's book club where you can select from more than a million books without charge. Excerpt: James Whale (22 July 1889 2...More: http://booksllc.net/?id=16074 ... Read more