There’s something very eerie about a misty, green countryside and being alone in an old house. This is one aspect to the atmosphere of Images (1972), which Robert Altman directed after McCabe and Mrs Miller, an underrated psychological thriller that has gotten more attention in recent years. Susannah York plays Cathryn, an author of children’s books (one of her works, In Search Of Unicorns, we hear excerpts of in voice-over narration, and it was an actual children’s book that York wrote). We find her alone, trying to write one night in the apartment she shares with her husband, Hugh (René Auberjonois) and she starts receiving phone calls from a mystery woman claiming her husband is having an affair. She also starts to see things, and the movie plays with perspective, often bringing in an intruder into a scene or location, and we share the main character’s confusion: is this actually happening or is it all in her head? To find some peace of mind, the couple travel to their house out in the green, misty countryside (shot in County Wicklow, Ireland), Cathryn’s family childhood home, and the puzzle continues (also metaphorically acknowledged in a children’s puzzle that is brought out and pieced together throughout) with several guests dropping by, some real, some imagined. As a movie, Images taps into a dreamscape, psychological logic that preempts Altman’s later film, 3 Women. The cinematography by Vilmos Zsigmond is impressionistic with its use of darkness, light and shadows, finding ways of doubling images in mirrors and in edits. The unnerving tone is also expanded through composer John Williams’ use of folkish instruments and the clattering sound design organised by Japanese noise musician Stomu Yamashta. Susannah York is excellent, shifting from different states, fear, delight, desire, anger to occasionally returning the camera’s gaze. It is a puzzle movie that doesn’t resolve everything tidily and leaves a few horror flourishes in its wake; I was taken with its eerie, unsettling psychological journey. Available to stream on Tubi which uses the Arrow Video remastered version. Recommended.
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