Roman Polanski’s second British film, made in 1966, is a quirky comedy about a couple of criminals (Lionel Stander, Jack MacGowran) on the run who stumble upon the remotely located house owned by a troubled middle-aged man (Donald Pleasence) and his much younger French wife (Francoise Dorleac, the sister of Catherine Deneuve who appeared in Polanski’s previous film, Repulsion). The humiliation of the wretched man by both his wife and the unwelcome arrivals forms the basis for this strangely funny, oddly beautiful and genuinely original movie.
