Klute, O Passado Condena

"Klute" appealed to me as a crime thriller (and with Alan Pakula's name attached, you know it's going to be good), and I'll freely admit that it took me a while into the movie's running time to realize that's not what the movie's really about. First off, Jane Fonda owns this movie (Sutherland, despite top billing and a title named for his character is the supporting player). It's really about her call girl character's feeling trapped in a world for which she has no love; the self-loathing and uncertainty, her very mental state are what make this an interesting character. And calling it a memorable performance is putting it lightly. In a movie that deserves attention for its lighting, atmosphere and twisty narrative, you can't get her out of your head.

7/10

"Klute" was a mixture of lone cop and private eye: a police officer who was hired privately to investigate somebody's disappearance… The trail led him deep into the world of New York call-girls, pimps and drug addicts… It was all shown, the vice, the degradation, but with intelligent compassion and honest humanity instead of the leer that so often sits on the face of the Seventies…

Although barely more talkative than "Dirty Harry," "Klute" emerged as a whole human being rather than as a robot programmed to shoot and hit…And as a high class hooker Bree Daniel, Jane Fonda achieved a characterization that has never been surpassed in all the abundant literature of tarts with hearts…

"Klute" was a modern, as honest and unflinching as any fanatic for realism could ask; yet it was never curious about sexuality, never needlessly violent, never brutal… And for complete, entertaining suspense, it was up there with the great ones: an enormous tribute to the producer-director Alan J. Pakula

In Pennsylvania, when his old friend, the laboratory engineer Tom Gruneman (Robert Mili), vanishes, detective John Klute (Donald Sutherland) is hired by Tom's colleague Peter Cable (Charles Cioffi) to search for him. The unique lead is an obscene letter written by Tom to a call-girl in New York called Bree Daniels (Jane Fonda), and Klute moves to the Apple city to investigate the disappearance of Tom. Klute blackmails Bree to help him to find other prostitutes that might have been with Tom using some tapes of her phone calls that he had secretly recorded. They realize that some is stalking Bree, while Klute falls in love for Dress, and she has some sort of feeling that she can not understand for him.

In 1971, Jane Fonda was a muse worshiped by many teenagers like me, and I was particularly following her work through the sexy and cult sci-fi "Barbarella" and "They Shoot Horses, Don't They", an excellent adaptation of Horace McCoy's novel of the same name that had impressed me a lot. "Klute" was considered erotic in those times and the scene where Dree fakes an orgasm while looking at her watch was a sensation. Later I saw this movie many times on VHS, and now I have just bought the DVD.

"Klute" is really a classic film-noir, one of my favorite movies ever, with an engaging story with thriller, crime and romance, magnificent direction and stunning performances of Jane Fonda and Donald Sutherland in the role of very believable characters. Jane Fonda deserved the Oscar perfectly playing a very complex character, strong and insensitive with her clients, fragile and confused with love. It is amazing how this movie has not aged and how much I like it every time I see it. My vote is nine.

Title (Brazil): "Klute, O Passado Condena" ("Klute, the Past Condemns")

Despite the rough-edges reputation of Pakula, he always manages to give us some beautifully shot, almost fragile images. Like Fonda pondering an envelope full of money and a blank invoice while surrounded by clothing-store dummies; or Sutherland choosing apricots by feel; or even Roy Scheider's silent acknowledgement that he is being used. And Fonda's artless performance is so unbelieveable, I couldn't believe it was her.

Terrifically acted - everyone takes just the right tone. My only quibble about the movie is how the mystery is solved. It's much too abrupt given the meandering pace of the rest of the movie. But the plot means nothing in this surprisingly delicate character study.

I agree with the commentator(s) who say the title of this film should be 'Bree' instead of 'Klute.' No offense to Donald Sutherland who is undoubtedly effective in his role, but it is Jane Fonda's wonderfully nuanced performance that really carries this film. What an incredible range this actress has and what an impressive résumé she has put together throughout her career! I can't wait to see her in Monster In Law. Jane Fonda definitely deserved the Oscar she got for this role. Her portrayal of Bree Daniels, a tragic heroine wracked by inner contradictions is one of cinema's most haunting characters not only in the context of the story but as the embodiment of the immediate post sexual revolution as well. Highly recommended!