An uneasy psychological thriller short on psychological insight and thrills and as gloomy as it's autumnal Canadian locations. Were the 1970s really this drab?
Kirk Douglas - in usual teeth-grinding style - is George, a biology teacher ridiculed by his pupils after failing to dissect a mouse and when his wife Laura divorces him he descends into a homicidal state.
Laura was pregnant when they met and her marriage to George has always been unhappy so when she leaves with her son to marry a prosperous architect, she looks forward to starting life in a new home... miles from anywhere... very remote. Can you guess what happens?
Daniel Petrie's uninspired direction leaves an interesting cast - John Vernon, Bessie Love, Sam Wanamaker, Beth Porter - struggling to bring life to stock characters.
Jean Seberg, in her last English-language film, is luminous in the gloom but is defeated by her under-written role.
Shelf or charity shop? Shelf... but only for Jean



