# Two Deaths > Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Two_Deaths > Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Two_Deaths.md > Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Two_Deaths > Source revision: 1339251223 > License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) 1995 British film by Nicolas Roeg This article needs more citations. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "Two Deaths" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (April 2019) (Learn how and when to remove this message) Two Deaths Directed by Nicolas Roeg Written by Allan Scott Based on The Two Deaths of Señora Puccini by Stephen Dobyns Produced by Carolyn Montagu Luc Roeg Starring Michael Gambon Sônia Braga Patrick Malahide Nickolas Grace Ion Caramitru Cinematography Witold Stok Edited by Tony Lawson Music by Hans Zimmer Production company BBC Films Distributed by Castle Hill Productions Release date 10 September 1995 (1995-09-10) Running time 102 minutes Country United Kingdom Language English ***Two Deaths*** is a 1995 British drama film directed by [Nicolas Roeg](/source/Nicolas_Roeg) and starring [Michael Gambon](/source/Michael_Gambon), [Sônia Braga](/source/S%C3%B4nia_Braga), and [Patrick Malahide](/source/Patrick_Malahide).[1] It was written by [Allan Scott](/source/Allan_Scott_(Scottish_screenwriter)) based on the 1988 novel *The Two Deaths of Señora Puccini* by [Stephen Dobyns](/source/Stephen_Dobyns). The film premiered at the [Toronto International Film Festival](/source/Toronto_International_Film_Festival) in 1995 before having a wider release in 1996. ## Plot On the eve of the 1989 [revolution in Romania](/source/Romanian_Revolution), 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](/source/Michael_Gambon) as Daniel Pavenic - [Sônia Braga](/source/S%C3%B4nia_Braga) as Ana Puscasu - [Patrick Malahide](/source/Patrick_Malahide) as George Bucsan - [Ion Caramitru](/source/Ion_Caramitru) as Carl Dalakis - [Nickolas Grace](/source/Nickolas_Grace) as Marius Vernescu - [John Shrapnel](/source/John_Shrapnel) as Cinca - [Ravil Isyanov](/source/Ravil_Isyanov) as Lieutenant - [Andrew Tiernan](/source/Andrew_Tiernan) as Captain Jorgu - Sevilla Delofski as Elena - Matthew Terdre as Leon - Lisa Orgolini as Young Ana ## Production [Dorich House](/source/Dora_Gordine#Dorich_House) in [Kingston Vale](/source/Kingston_Vale), South West London, was used as the filming location for Pavenic's house.[2] ## Critical reception *The [Radio Times](/source/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."[3] [*The Los Angeles Daily News*](/source/Los_Angeles_Daily_News) wrote: "Not since [Roman Polanski](/source/Roman_Polanski)'s *[Bitter Moon](/source/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. ... In a role one can imagine [George Sanders](/source/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'."[4] *[The Hollywood Reporter](/source/The_Hollywood_Reporter)* wrote: A disturbing and fascinating glimpse into the human psyche, *Two Deaths* is a masterful concoction from director Nicolas Roeg. ...[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.[5] *[Variety](/source/Variety_(magazine))* 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. ... 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*. ... [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."[6] ## References 1. **[^](#cite_ref-BFIsearch_1-0)** ["Two Deaths"](https://collections-search.bfi.org.uk/web/Details/ChoiceFilmWorks/150391244). *British Film Institute Collections Search*. Retrieved 9 February 2024. 1. **[^](#cite_ref-2)** *Dorich House Museum guidebook*. Kingston University, London. 2020. p. 56. [OCLC](/source/OCLC_(identifier)) [1290782158](https://search.worldcat.org/oclc/1290782158). 1. **[^](#cite_ref-3)** *Radio Times Guide to Films* (18th ed.). London: [Immediate Media Company](/source/Immediate_Media_Company). 2017. p. 969. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [9780992936440](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/9780992936440). 1. **[^](#cite_ref-4)** Holden, Stephen (7 June 1996). ["'Two Deaths' explores abuse of sexual power"](https://www.proquest.com/docview/281794678). *[Los Angeles Daily News](/source/Los_Angeles_Daily_News)*. pp. L.6. [ProQuest](/source/ProQuest) [281794678](https://www.proquest.com/docview/281794678). Retrieved 9 February 2024. 1. **[^](#cite_ref-5)** Byrge, Duane (17 October 1995). ["Two Deaths"](https://www.proquest.com/docview/2469272139/E057C5A4B1C34F97PQ/). *[The Hollywood Reporter](/source/The_Hollywood_Reporter)*. **339** (22): 10, 14. 1. **[^](#cite_ref-6)** ["Two Deaths"](https://www.proquest.com/docview/1286062809). *[Variety](/source/Variety_(magazine))*. **360** (11): 96. 16 October 1995. [ProQuest](/source/ProQuest) [1286062809](https://www.proquest.com/docview/1286062809). ## External links - [*Two Deaths*](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0117999/) at [IMDb](/source/IMDb_(identifier)) - [*Two Deaths*](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/two_deaths) at [Rotten Tomatoes](/source/Rotten_Tomatoes) - [*Two Deaths*](https://web.archive.org/web/1/https://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/title/444122/enwp) at the [TCM Movie Database](/source/Turner_Classic_Movies#TCMdb) (archived) v t e Films directed by Nicolas Roeg Feature films Performance (1970) Walkabout (1971) Don't Look Now (1973) The Man Who Fell to Earth (1976) Bad Timing (1980) Eureka (1983) Insignificance (1985) Castaway (1986) Track 29 (1988) The Witches (1990) Cold Heaven (1991) Two Deaths (1995) Puffball (2007) Short films Un Ballo in Maschera (1987) Hotel Paradise (1995) Documentaries Glastonbury Fayre (1972) Television Sweet Bird of Youth (1989) Heart of Darkness (1994) Full Body Massage (1995) Samson and Delilah (1996) This article related to a British film of the 1990s is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by adding missing information. - [v](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Template:1990s-UK-film-stub) - [t](/source/Template_talk%3A1990s-UK-film-stub) - [e](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:EditPage/Template:1990s-UK-film-stub) --- Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Two Deaths](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Two_Deaths) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Two_Deaths?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.