This is a relatively low budget sci-fi film set in what should be the distant future. And in this future, diseases have mostly been eliminated. However, it's strange that the entire picture looks like Britain circa 1980! It reminds me a bit of "Gattaca" where the astronauts are shown boarding the ship in black suits--presumably because space suits would have cost a lot! This is not a major problem...but a problem.In this futuristic world, folks are intrigued by any death that occurs to a young person...since they happen so infrequently. And, because of this, a sleazy TV show wants to follow someone as they die...because, as one of the execs says, "death is the new porn"! And, that person they've chosen (Romy Schneider) wants nothing to do with fame or money...she just wants to die in peace. And, she eventually flees to the poor part of town...where she can blend in and be anonymous. So, they use their newest invention to follow her surreptitiously...a camera embedded into a reporter's skull (Harvey Keitel). So, what he sees, the world sees as well.In some ways, the film is very prescient. After all, in this future, reality television is king...just like it is today. It's also a bit like watching "Network". But you can't help but think that for folks to be unfamiliar with death you'd THINK the world would have changed in some way...with newer styles of clothes, cars and buildings. I think this film is worth watching. However, I also think Bernard Tavernier's direction is, at times, rather slow...not bad but slow. And, at the end it becomes glacially slow!! Because of that, as well as the constricted affect of most of the actors (definitely NOT Keitel), the impact of the film is lessened and the film loses steam. Overall, good but not great.

In a bland, sterile, heavily automated future where dying from terminal illness has become virtually obsolete, the fact that best-selling writer Katherine Mortenhoe (a fabulously fiery, feisty turn by Romy Schneider) has a rare mortal sickness that will bring about her untimely demise makes her a prime subject for a tasteless mondo-style live atrocity TV show. But the fiercely proud and self-sufficient Katherine refuses to prostitute her impending death into a hideous spectacle for a jaded audience's sick enjoyment. So amoral, opportunistic director Vincent (a sleazily appealing Harry Dean Stanton), the man responsible for the lurid, top-rated "Death Watch" series, has cameras implanted behind the eyes of eager beaver reporter Roddy (the one and only Harvey Keitel, who's excellent as usual). Roddy befriends the unsuspecting Katherine and secretly records her final days in all their ghastly intimacy.Directed in a crisp, low-key, thoughtful manner by Bertrand Taverneir, with a lucid, intelligent, provocative script by Taverneir and David Rayfiel, sumptuous, prowling, appropriately voyeuristic cinematography by Pierre William Glenn, a beautifully melancholy tone, a frantic screaming violins classical music score by Antoine Duhamel, a deliberately gradual pace, and a lovely cameo by Max Von Sydow as Katherine's wise, reclusive schoolteacher father, this eerily prophetic and gravely philosophical film ruminates on a compelling variety of very timely and topical post-modern issues: technological advancements making it easier to invade a person's privacy and causing creativity to stagnate (Katherine's novels are actually written by a computer that she strictly programs ideas into), technology overwhelming mankind so greatly that it causes people to become unfeeling, dispassionate automatons, the morbidly irresistible allure of real life tragedy, man's denial of his own mortality, journalistic ethics, dying with your dignity intact, even fate vs. free will. A brilliant, moving, and most accomplished thinking man's science fiction gem.

In what is said to be a tragically prophetic role, Romy Schneider gives a superb performance as a dying woman at the mercy of a voyeuristic society presided over by a greedy television executive (coldly played by the brilliant Harry Dean Stanton). Also of note is an elegant cameo by the legendary Max von Sydow.Why this movie has yet to get a rerelease is entirely beyond me. It doesn't help that it's nearly impossible to find in terms of both rental and sale. If you are able to track it down, then do not pass up the chance to see it.

When I first saw this film at the age of seven, I was left highly impressed. From that moment on, Death Watch (La Mort en Direct) has been one of my favourite films. Although there are some weaker moments (a dull voice-over from a supporting actress, a climax that does not really hit the spot, French opening titles) the acting, the dialogues, haunting soundtrack and the charisma of Schneider and Keitel make watching this film a very good experience. Credit also to the director of photography and his camera crew, whose wonderful style may remind you of Dean Cundey's work on Halloween (1978).