{{Short description|1995 British film by Nicolas Roeg}} {{more citations needed|date=April 2019}} {{Use dmy dates|date=June 2016}} {{Use British English|date=June 2016}} {{Infobox film | name = Two Deaths | image = TwoDeaths.jpg | caption = | director = [[Nicolas Roeg]] | producer = {{ubl|Carolyn Montagu|Luc Roeg}} | writer = [[Allan Scott (Scottish screenwriter)|Allan Scott]] | based_on = {{basedon|''The Two Deaths of Señora Puccini''|[[Stephen Dobyns]]}} | starring = {{ubl|[[Michael Gambon]]|[[Sônia Braga]]|[[Patrick Malahide]]|[[Nickolas Grace]]|[[Ion Caramitru]]}} | music = [[Hans Zimmer]] | cinematography = Witold Stok | editing = Tony Lawson | studio = [[BBC Films]] | distributor = [[Castle Hill Productions]] | released = {{film date|df=yes|1995|09|10}} | runtime = 102 minutes | country = United Kingdom | language = English | budget = | gross = }}

'''''Two Deaths''''' is a 1995 British drama film directed by [[Nicolas Roeg]] and starring [[Michael Gambon]], [[Sônia Braga]], and [[Patrick Malahide]].<ref name="BFIsearch">{{Cite web |title=Two Deaths |url=https://collections-search.bfi.org.uk/web/Details/ChoiceFilmWorks/150391244 |access-date=9 February 2024 |website=British Film Institute Collections Search}}</ref> It was written by [[Allan Scott (Scottish screenwriter)|Allan Scott]] based on the 1988 novel ''The Two Deaths of Señora Puccini'' by [[Stephen Dobyns]].

The film premiered at the [[Toronto International Film Festival]] in 1995 before having a wider release in 1996.

==Plot== On the eve of the 1989 [[Romanian Revolution|revolution in Romania]], Dr. Daniel Pavenic sits down to dinner with some friends and discusses his past and his obsession with his housekeeper. His shocking honesty eventually leads to his guests also disclosing some of their own secrets.

==Cast== * [[Michael Gambon]] as Daniel Pavenic * [[Sônia Braga]] as Ana Puscasu * [[Patrick Malahide]] as George Bucsan * [[Ion Caramitru]] as Carl Dalakis * [[Nickolas Grace]] as Marius Vernescu * [[John Shrapnel]] as Cinca * [[Ravil Isyanov]] as Lieutenant * [[Andrew Tiernan]] as Captain Jorgu * Sevilla Delofski as Elena * Matthew Terdre as Leon * Lisa Orgolini as Young Ana

== Production == [[Dora Gordine#Dorich House|Dorich House]] in [[Kingston Vale]], South West London, was used as the filming location for Pavenic's house.<ref>{{cite book |title=Dorich House Museum guidebook |date=2020 |publisher=Kingston University, London |page=56|oclc=1290782158}}</ref>

== Critical reception == ''The [[Radio Times]] Guide to Films'' gave the film 3/5 stars, writing: "Director Nicolas Roeg and screenwriter Allan Scott have shifted the scene from Chile to Romania for this adaptation of Stephen Dobyns's novel. This set-bound drama could be situated anywhere, however, and it would still have the same resonance. There's no escaping the theatricality of the piece, but the story that unfolds over dinner is both compelling and disturbing. Michael Gambon effortlessly conveys pride and regret as he reveals how he has mistreated his housekeeper, Sônia Braga, whose statuesque dignity masks a burning desire for revenge. Far from Roeg's best, but still solid."<ref>{{Cite book |title=Radio Times Guide to Films |publisher=[[Immediate Media Company]] |year=2017 |isbn=9780992936440 |edition=18th |location=London |pages=969}}</ref>

[[Los Angeles Daily News|''The Los Angeles Daily News'']] wrote: "Not since [[Roman Polanski]]'s ''[[Bitter Moon]]'' [1992] has a film offered such a pessimistic, mean-spirited vision of sexual relations as a brutal go-for-broke power struggle in which there are only ''two'' roles: victim and tormentor. Where ''Bitter Moon'' was shot through with a dark, Freudian humor and the sense of it all being a nasty practical joke, ''Two'' ''Deaths'' strains toward a heavy metaphorical resonance.&nbsp;... In a role one can imagine [[George Sanders]] would have relished, Gambon plays Daniel with such a disarming lightness that he is charming, despite his actions. The complicated responses his performance evokes lend the film a moral complexity that prevents the central equation from seeming thuddingly glib. ''Two'' ''Deaths'' gives a new and ugly meaning to cliches exalting 'the power of love'."<ref>{{Cite news |last=Holden |first=Stephen |date=7 June 1996 |title='Two Deaths' explores abuse of sexual power |url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/281794678 |access-date=9 February 2024 |work=[[Los Angeles Daily News]] |pages=L.6 |id={{ProQuest|281794678}} }}</ref>

''[[The Hollywood Reporter]]'' wrote: A disturbing and fascinating glimpse into the human psyche, ''Two Deaths'' is a masterful concoction from director Nicolas Roeg.&nbsp;...[who] has energized it with thematically apt dynamics. Colour-wise, it's a dank blend of muted tones, indicative of its perverse slants, and musically, it's an assemblage of astringent sounds, again dead on to its under-layers.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Byrge |first=Duane |date=17 October 1995 |title=Two Deaths |url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/2469272139/E057C5A4B1C34F97PQ/ |journal=[[The Hollywood Reporter]] |volume=339 |issue=22 |pages=10, 14 }}</ref>

''[[Variety (magazine)|Variety]]'' wrote: "When director Nicolas Roeg is on his game, there are few contemporary filmmakers who can (or would want to) match his ability to reveal his characters' fears, phobias and descents into brutality and madness. &nbsp;... While his gruelling new psychological drama ''Two Deaths'' does boast virtually all of the hallmarks of Roeg's peculiar canon, the pic's tough, bleak material will severely limit B.O. appeal. Roeg's ability to stitch together seemingly unconnected strands of story and minute visual details once again shines in ''Two Deaths''.&nbsp;... [his] unique sensibility and technical proficiency never have been stronger, from his intricate, baroque investigations of Pavenic's house, courtesy of cinematographer Witold Stok and production designer Don Taylor, to his hand with the actors, all of whom are chillingly effective."<ref>{{Cite journal |date=16 October 1995 |title=Two Deaths |url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/1286062809 |journal=[[Variety (magazine)|Variety]] |volume=360 |issue=11 |pages=96 |id={{ProQuest|1286062809}} }}</ref>

==References== {{reflist}}

==External links== * {{IMDb title|0117999}} * {{Rotten Tomatoes|two_deaths}} * {{TCMDb title|id=444122|title=Two Deaths}}

{{Nicolas Roeg}}

[[Category:1995 films]] [[Category:1995 drama films]] [[Category:Films directed by Nicolas Roeg]] [[Category:Films scored by Hans Zimmer]] [[Category:British drama films]] [[Category:Films based on American novels]] [[Category:Works about the Romanian revolution]] [[Category:1995 English-language films]] [[Category:1995 British films]] [[Category:English-language drama films]]

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