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[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/image_866.jpeg]]

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[[quoteright:300:https://static.[[quoteright:310:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/image_866.jpeg]]



John and Laura Baxter (Creator/DonaldSutherland, Creator/JulieChristie) are mourning the death of their young daughter Christine, who drowned in a pond outside their house, wearing a bright red raincoat. The Baxters travel to Venice, where John is leading the restoration project on an old church. While there, they meet two elderly sisters, Heather (Hilary Mason) and Wendy (Clelia Matania). Heather is blind, but claims to have [[BlindSeer "second sight"]], and says that she saw the spirit of Christine with her parents. Heather further suggests that Christine is trying to warn her parents of impending danger, and that John himself has clairvoyant powers.

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John and Laura Baxter (Creator/DonaldSutherland, (Creator/DonaldSutherland and Creator/JulieChristie) are mourning the death of their young daughter Christine, who drowned in a pond outside their house, wearing a bright red raincoat. The Baxters travel to Venice, While in UsefulNotes/{{Venice}}, where John is leading the restoration project on an old church. While there, they church, the Baxters meet two elderly sisters, Heather (Hilary Mason) and Wendy (Clelia Matania). Heather is blind, but claims to have [[BlindSeer "second sight"]], and says that she saw the spirit of Christine with her parents. Heather further suggests that Christine is trying to warn her parents of impending danger, and that John himself has clairvoyant powers.

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''Don't Look Now'' is a 1973 horror/thriller film directed by Creator/NicolasRoeg, based on a 1971 short story by Daphne du Maurier.

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''Don't Look Now'' is a 1973 horror/thriller film directed by Creator/NicolasRoeg, based on a 1971 short story by Daphne du Maurier.
Creator/DaphneDuMaurier.
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* MeaningfulBackgroundEvent: Subverted. Christine Baxter drowns while wearing a red raincoat in the film's opening, and the entire film suggests that she's trying to appear before the Baxters from the beyond [[spoiler: but it's really a midget in a red raincoat with a meat cleaver, who murders randomly.]]

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* MeaningfulBackgroundEvent: Subverted. Christine Baxter drowns while wearing a red raincoat in the film's opening, and the entire film suggests that she's trying to appear before the Baxters from the beyond [[spoiler: but it's really a midget dwarf in a red raincoat with a meat cleaver, who murders randomly.]]
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* TragicKeepsake: Laura has this relationship to Christine's old ball, and even sneaks it along in her suitcase for the trip to Venice. John is quite upset when he discovers this.
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* DoomedAppointment: Several times, mostly overlapping at the climax. John arranges to meet with Laura at their hotel. However, when Laura gets to the consulate, she discovers that John actually went with the sisters, so Laura goes there instead...and just misses John again, but arrives in time to hear the sisters' warning.
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* EvilOldFolks [[spoiler:When we finally get a look at the dwarf woman's face, she appears to be pretty up there in years.]]
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* PsychicPowers: Heather, John and the Bishop all seem to have them, but have differing attitudes toward them. Heather embraces it as a gift from God, John is in denial about it, and the Bishop seems to reluctantly acknowledge it ("I wish I didn't have to believe in prophecy. I do, but I wish I didn't have to").

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* PsychicPowers: Heather, John and the Bishop all seem to have them, but have differing attitudes toward them. Heather embraces it as a gift from God, John is in denial about it, "resisting it" (in Heather's words), and the Bishop seems to reluctantly acknowledge it ("I wish I didn't have to believe in prophecy. I do, but I wish I didn't have to").
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* ColorMotif: As summed up by the film's cinematographer Anthony Richmond.
-->"Obviously the girl who drowns is in a red raincoat and the shock at the end is in red. But you’ll notice most of the other red is taken out. There is no red in the costume, wardrobe or set dressing. Whenever red appears in the movie there is an element of danger.”

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* AdaptationExpansion: The film delves a bit more into the backstory and the relationship between the Baxters than the novella does.

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* AdaptationExpansion: The film delves a bit more into the backstory and the relationship between the Baxters than the novella does. Also, the bishop who employs John to restore the Venetian church (played by veteran Italian actor Massimo Serrato) was added as a character for the film.


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* PoliceAreUseless: After seeing Laura on the black boat with Heather and Wendy, John goes to the police, but they find ''him'' suspicious instead and start following him around the city.
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* MySignificanceSenseIsTingling:
** Even before he knows anything has happened to Christine, John suddenly rushes out to the pond when she drowns, which could be taken as a sign that he has PsychicPowers.
** At the climax [[spoiler:Heather and the Bishop both sense when John is killed]].

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%%* GainaxEnding

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%%* GainaxEnding* EekAMouse: Laura has this reaction when she encounters some rats playing in the canal water while she walks with John in Venice.


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* GainaxEnding: The climax is simple--[[spoiler:John gets murdered]]. But beginning with the grotesque situation of [[spoiler:the murderer being a frightening dwarf]], it leads into a series of quick [[CallBack Call Backs]] and cuts between John, Laura, Heather and the Bishop that complicate the question of whether this was all coincidence or the supernatural elements hinted at throughout the story were genuine. Then the film ends just as [[spoiler:John's funeral is starting]], leaving it up in the air what happens to the characters afterwards, including [[spoiler:whether the dwarf ever gets caught]].
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* PsychicPowers: Heather, John and the Bishop all seem to have them, but have differing attitudes toward them. Heather embraces it as a gift from God, John is in denial about it, and the Bishop seems to reluctantly acknowledge it ("I wish I didn't have to believe in prophecy. I do, but I wish I didn't have to").
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* OhCrap: John at the climax once he realizes [[spoiler:the figure in the red coat isn't his daughter, she's the SerialKiller who's been on a killing spree in Venice]].
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* DepravedDwarf: TheReveal. [[spoiler: The mysterious figure in a red-coat is not Christine. It is a grown female serial killer.]]

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* DepravedDwarf: TheReveal. [[spoiler: The mysterious figure in a red-coat red raincoat is not Christine. It is a grown female serial killer.]]
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* DepravedDwarf: TheReveal. [[The mysterious figure in a red-coat is not Christine. It is a grown female serial killer.]]

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* DepravedDwarf: TheReveal. [[The [[spoiler: The mysterious figure in a red-coat is not Christine. It is a grown female serial killer.]]
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* CreepyChild: Played with. John thinks he sees one, only he's not quite right.

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* CreepyChild: Played with. PlayedWith. [[spoiler: John thinks he sees one, only he's not quite right.]]



* DepravedDwarf: TheReveal. [[spoiler: The mysterious figure in a red-coat is not Christine. It is a grown female serial killer.]]

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* DepravedDwarf: *DepravedDwarf: TheReveal. [[spoiler: The [[The mysterious figure in a red-coat is not Christine. It is a grown female serial killer.]]
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* DepravedDwarf: TheReveal. [[The mysterious figure in a red-coat is not Christine. It is a grown female serial killer.]]

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* DepravedDwarf: TheReveal. [[The [[spoiler: The mysterious figure in a red-coat is not Christine. It is a grown female serial killer.]]
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*DepravedDwarf: TheReveal. [[The mysterious figure in a red-coat is not Christine. It is a grown female serial killer.]]
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the serial killer motive was there all the time


* DiabolusExNihilo: [[spoiler: No explanation or build up is given to the dwarf at the end.]]
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* MistakenFromBehind: The film ends with a horrific instance of this trope as the bereft parent thinks he can see his daughter [[spoiler:and she turns out to be a female dwarf in a red coat carrying a hunting knife, with which she attacks him]].

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* MistakenFromBehind: The film ends with a horrific instance of this trope as the bereft parent thinks he can see his daughter [[spoiler:and she turns out to be a female dwarf in a red coat carrying a hunting knife, with which she attacks kills him]].
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** If you know what kind of boat John has a vision of Christine riding on, you have an idea of what's going to happen, as it's [[spoiler:a funeral boat]].

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** If you know what kind of boat John has a vision of Christine Laura riding on, you have an idea of what's going to happen, as it's [[spoiler:a funeral boat]].

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* AsLongAsItSoundsForeign: The Italian characters all speak flawless Italian, but only a couple have a real Venetian accent.


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* MisplacedAccent: The Italian characters all speak flawless Italian, but only a couple have a real Venetian accent.
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John and Laura Baxter (Creator/DonaldSutherland, Julie Christie) are mourning the death of their young daughter Christine, who drowned in a pond outside their house, wearing a bright red raincoat. The Baxters travel to Venice, where John is leading the restoration project on an old church. While there, they meet two elderly sisters, Heather (Hilary Mason) and Wendy (Clelia Matania). Heather is blind, but claims to have [[BlindSeer "second sight"]], and says that she saw the spirit of Christine with her parents. Heather further suggests that Christine is trying to warn her parents of impending danger, and that John himself has clairvoyant powers.

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John and Laura Baxter (Creator/DonaldSutherland, Julie Christie) Creator/JulieChristie) are mourning the death of their young daughter Christine, who drowned in a pond outside their house, wearing a bright red raincoat. The Baxters travel to Venice, where John is leading the restoration project on an old church. While there, they meet two elderly sisters, Heather (Hilary Mason) and Wendy (Clelia Matania). Heather is blind, but claims to have [[BlindSeer "second sight"]], and says that she saw the spirit of Christine with her parents. Heather further suggests that Christine is trying to warn her parents of impending danger, and that John himself has clairvoyant powers.
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* TitleDrop: None in the film, but it's the opening line in the short story, spoken by John to Laura, referring to the sisters.

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* TitleDrop: None in the film, but it's the opening line in the short story, spoken by John to Laura, referring to the sisters.sisters watching them.
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* TitleDrop: None in the film, but it's the opening line in the short story, spoken by John to Laura, referring to the sisters.
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* VomitDiscretionShot: The shot stays on Laura while John has to run to the bathroom, but from the sounds he's making it's pretty clear he's not feeling too well.
-->'''John''': I wouldn't go in there for a couple of minutes if I were you.
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** All over the place, even things that don't seem very obvious at first.

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** All over the place, even things that don't seem very obvious important at first.

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* {{Foreshadowing}}: If you know what kind of boat John has a vision of Christine riding on, you have an idea of what's going to happen, as it's [[spoiler:a funeral boat]].

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* {{Foreshadowing}}: {{Foreshadowing}}:
** All over the place, even things that don't seem very obvious at first.
**
If you know what kind of boat John has a vision of Christine riding on, you have an idea of what's going to happen, as it's [[spoiler:a funeral boat]].
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John and Laura Baxter (Creator/DonaldSutherland, Julie Christie) are mourning the death of their young daughter Christine, who drowned in a pond outside their house, wearing a bright red raincoat. The Baxters travel to Venice, where John is leading the restoration project on an old church. While there, they meet two elderly sisters, Heather (Hilary Mason) and Wendy (Clelia Matania). Heather is blind, but claims to have [[BlindSeer "second sight"]], and says that she saw the spirit of Christine with her parents. She tries to warn John of impending danger. Meanwhile, John starts seeing a small figure in the same kind of red raincoat his daughter was wearing when she died. While John and Laura work through their grief and try to save their marriage, Venice is being terrorized by a series of murders.


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John and Laura Baxter (Creator/DonaldSutherland, Julie Christie) are mourning the death of their young daughter Christine, who drowned in a pond outside their house, wearing a bright red raincoat. The Baxters travel to Venice, where John is leading the restoration project on an old church. While there, they meet two elderly sisters, Heather (Hilary Mason) and Wendy (Clelia Matania). Heather is blind, but claims to have [[BlindSeer "second sight"]], and says that she saw the spirit of Christine with her parents. She tries Heather further suggests that Christine is trying to warn John her parents of impending danger. Meanwhile, danger, and that John starts seeing a small figure in himself has clairvoyant powers.

John is skeptical of all this, and thinks
the same kind of red raincoat sisters are trying to dupe his daughter was wearing when she died. emotionally-fragile wife. While John and Laura work through their grief and try to save their marriage, Venice is being terrorized by a series of murders.

murders. Then John notices a small figure darting around the city's alleys, wearing the same kind of coat Christine did when she died. But, as John himself observes, "Nothing is what it seems."

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* PragmaticAdaptation: The film sticks fairly close to the short story, but makes a couple key changes that heighten the drama: Christine dying in an accident rather than from meningitis, and the Baxters going to Venice for a work project rather than just a vacation.

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