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Movie of the Year: 1971

Klute

Why Klute Still Captivates Audiences

In this episode of Movie of the Year, Ryan, Greg, and Mike examine Klute, Alan J. Pakula’s groundbreaking 1971 thriller that fused noir, feminist character study, and political paranoia into a single atmospheric masterpiece. From its haunting portrayal of loneliness to its razor-sharp critique of power and control, Klute remains one of the most influential films of the 1970s — a tense, stylish, and unsettling work anchored by unforgettable performances.

The Taste Buds explore how Klute uses mood, silence, and perspective to reimagine what a thriller can be, and why its themes still resonate decades later.

Pakula and Willis: Crafting the Look and Fear of Klute

Alan J. Pakula, working with cinematographer Gordon Willis, created in Klute what would become the visual and tonal blueprint for 1970s paranoia cinema. The Taste Buds discuss how the Pakula/Willis partnership shaped not only this film, but future classics as well.

• Pakula’s direction emphasizes psychological distance, moral ambiguity, and bureaucratic dread.
• Willis — the legendary “Prince of Darkness” — saturates the film with deep shadows, cold light, and voyeuristic framing that makes the audience feel watched.
• The collaboration results in a thriller where silence is suspense, space is threat, and every frame hints at danger you can’t quite see.

This visual strategy becomes the DNA of Pakula’s later films, but Klute is where the paranoia begins.

Bree Daniels: Jane Fonda’s Defining Performance

No element of Klute is more celebrated than Jane Fonda’s performance as Bree Daniels, a character whose complexity transformed the possibilities for female roles in crime and thriller cinema.

Ryan, Greg, and Mike explore how Bree’s character:

• serves as the emotional center of Klute
• navigates trauma, agency, sexuality, and survival
• resists the stereotypes typically imposed on sex workers
• expresses her inner life most vividly in her therapy scenes, where the film slows down and lets Bree define herself in her own words

Fonda delivers a portrait of a woman who is both vulnerable and fiercely self-aware — a character fighting for autonomy in a world designed to control her.

John Klute: Donald Sutherland’s Quiet Detective

While Bree is the heart of the film, Donald Sutherland’s John Klute is the unstable axis around which the mystery turns. His restrained, almost withdrawn performance contrasts sharply with Bree’s vivid emotional life.

The Taste Buds discuss how John Klute:

• subverts noir detective tropes by being passive rather than dominant
• reflects the unease and disillusionment of early 1970s masculinity
• becomes both protector and threat, comfort and menace
• heightens the film’s tension simply by what he doesn’t say

His quietness becomes the film’s most unsettling element — the fear that danger might come not from action, but from inaction.

Klute's Themes: Power, Paranoia, and the Performance of Identity

The Taste Buds analyze the movie as a story deeply invested in the forces that shape who we become and how we behave:

• Power — who has it, who wants it, who is crushed by it
• Paranoia — the constant hum of surveillance that defines the film’s world
• Identity and performance — especially in Bree’s...