I saw Klute in the mid '70s, (not when it came out in 1971 because I was still in junior high then) and found it disturbing and fascinating. Before this rewatch, I barely remembered any of it beyond Jane Fonda crying and dripping snot, and the sense that this went far beyond the usual portrayals of prostitution.
I found it gripping, although not as viscerally compelling as the first time because I'm not the naive person I was then, and because the small laptop just doesn't do justice to the amazing cinematography that is such a powerful part of this film.
Gordon Willis' cinematography is so well described here by Mark Harris:
"Enveloping Bree in a blackness that always seems on the verge of devouring her completely, Willis makes her the constant center of our attention by implicitly threatening to obliterate her. In an early scene in which Bree opens up to Klute about her past, Willis fills the frame with Klute’s back, a mass of undifferentiated black that turns Bree into a small light in danger of being snuffed out by everything around her. Willis could transform Bree’s apartment from a comfortable place to nestle at night into a warren of ominous shadows. Unsparingly (but never misogynistically), he isolates Bree, cuts her in half, shrinks her—and the more he does, the more we lean in to the screen, determined to hold on to her, to try to see her."
I agree with those who think that the neo-noir detective thriller plot takes a backseat to the character study of Bree Daniel. Klute was a big hit for director Alan J. Pakula. Jane Fonda won an Oscar, and Donald Sutherland is a great partner for her amazing performance. Roy Scheider is also perfect in his smaller role as a sleazy pimp, and Jean Stapleton is terrific in her scenes as Mr. Goldfarb's protective secretary. Round-up of interviews: here.
The score by Michael Small is very effective. The aura of paranoia and the moody score made me want to re-watch The Conversation.
The costume design by New Yorker Ann Roth is thoroughly analyzed by Amy Fine Collins, here in this short film on the Criterion site, and is also reviewed by Christopher Laverty, of the Clothes on Film blog :
The short film Klute in New York details the New York locations, from the seedy decaying Hell's Kitchen location of Bree's studio apartment to the skyscraper with views of the World Trade Center towers under construction.
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