A prior commentator in the reviews section here complemented the film as being like a bad dream that stays with you and that is a perfectly apt description for the atmosphere of this strange, moody mystery/thriller revolving around the supernatural belief of reincarnation. Michael Sarrazin is an academic plagued by vivid, surreal nightmares depicting the increasingly volatile relationship between a brutal wife-beater and his increasingly fearful spouse, which culminates in his murder while out on a nocturnal skinnydip. As Sarrazin starts to investigate the roots of these bizarre dreams, he comes to realize that the players in his dream have actual real life counterparts and comes to believe that he is the reincarnation of the doomed husband. As he discovers each new piece to the puzzle, certain parts of the dream vanish giving him a sense of peace. Unfortunately, his investigations bring him into contact with the man's (his own?) daughter, played by Jennifer O'Neill, with whom he falls into a romance, as well as the murderess herself (Margot Kidder), who begins to believe that there is something off about her daughter's new boyfriend. Director J. Lee Thompson ably conveys a surreal quality to the visions/dreams and injects the film with a sense of impending catastrophe that it fails to shake even after its lead starts regaining some peace of mind. However, the reincarnation aspect brings up questions that the film fails to address or even touch on. Most glaringly, why does Sarrazin's laid-back rather docile Peter Proud share so few personality traits with his violence-prone predecessor? Peter Proud is not depicted as either a woman-beater or especially violent about much of anything, so at what point did the "soul" which inhabits his body learn its lesson? Why does Sarrazin not feel uncomfortable with the ramifications of courting and having sex with a woman who is his predecessor's daughter? Granted, they are not blood related, but there seems something a bit incestuous about the whole romance. The acting contributes to the oddity of the film. Sarrazin's overly restrained acting always seems to keep Peter Proud as an aloof character, even during his more emotional moments. It is almost as though neither he nor the film want us to get too attached to Proud and his plight lest we be upset about what the film has in store for him. O'Neill is lovely, but again the romance between she and Sarrazin is surprisingly muted. By contrast, Margot Kidder is fairly terrific as the beleaguered battered wife who thinks she has gotten away with murder only to be confronted years later by the soul of her restless husband. Her increasing paranoia and desperation in the final scenes are almost palpable. Tony Stephano also pulls off a difficult passage as the "dream" man - a guy charming enough to make us believe that Kidder would fall for him, but with a hair-trigger temper that is truly frightening. An underrated film to watch out for, especially for those interested in the unusual.
Review of The Reincarnation of Peter Proud
