Looking for dignity in all the wrong places

KLUTE (1971)

Reviewed by Jerry Saravia

"Klute" is an absorbing character study with thriller elements thrown in that make for a semi-off-balance and off-key experience. The two central actors are so damn good, such intuitively disciplined actors, that it doesn't matter much that the thriller aspects do not always mesh.

Jane Fonda is a New York City call girl, Bree, who has no emotional connection to any of her male clients. She does her job, pure sex for money (and hilariously checks her watch while faking orgasms) but deep down, she is a troubled soul. Bree has acting aspirations that get her nowhere so she plays the part of a call girl, thinks like one, yet comes home every night to an empty apartment with only a cat for company. She consults a psychiatrist she can barely afford, seeking help so she can feel something, some measure of emotion to keep her dignity.

Donald Sutherland is private detective Klute, a family friend of a businessman who has gone missing. Klute is hired to find him and his first clue are letters sent to Bree, rather obscene, unsavory letters. Bree brushes Klute off when he tries to interrogate her but she comes around, and a very moving and complicated relationship develops.

Directed by Alan J. Pakula, "Klute" is a film of silences, observations, voyeurism and an unsettling music score that occasionally creeps in. Klute discovers who might be responsible for the businessman's disappearance and it leads to a frightening climax involving reel-to-reel recordings and Bree's reaction that will linger long in your memory. But the investigation is far more interesting than the culprit, despite the stunning climax, and it appears that we learn who is responsible long before Klute does. The suspicious character intrudes the narrative, specifically the complex relationship between Bree and Klute that leaves us unsure of their commitment to each other.

Jane Fonda is a sparkling gem of an actress in this movie, giving Bree equal doses of strength and vulnerability and some heartbreaking passages with her psychiatrist (Fonda deservedly won the Oscar for Best Actress). Donald Sutherland is stoic yet sympathetic and nonjudgmental as the detective. Also worth noting is Roy Scheider as Bree's classy pimp who fortunately doesn't play the role with gimmicks or unrestraint.

"Klute" is a near-perfect film containing a villain that is a sop to conventionality, though it does climax beautifully. And the final ambiguous scene with Fonda's words of uncertainty will tear you up for days and months.