The theme of identity in Nicolas Roeg's DONT' LOOK NOW

The theme of identity in Nicolas Roeg's DONT' LOOK NOW
by Mitch Walrath
The theme of identity in Nicolas Roeg's films, specifically DONT' LOOK NOW, can be analyzed in many different ways. DONT' LOOK NOW intentionally confuses the viewer and the characters in the film with its loss of identity and its simultaneous distinction between characters.
In terms of loss of identity, the theory of the Doppelganger confuses both characters and viewers. The film begins with a little girl in a red coat and ends with a little woman in a red coat, which gives it a circular or feminine structure. This clashes with the fact that it's mainly from the point of view of John Baxter; the film itself suffers from an identity crisis. There is no single character here; they both wear the same clothes, laugh, run, and cause the Baxter family grief.
The Baxter girl and the killer dwarf assume the same identity as they run alongside water which draws John Baxter to them. He fails to rescue his daughter from drowning in their pond, and he is drawn to and almost falls into the water around Venice while chasing what he thinks might be his daughter. The water itself presents a duality in each character with reflections of them in it.
Also on the water in Venice, John thinks he sees his wife or someone who looks exactly like her, with the old sisters. This encounter on the water represents a very similar outcome for John: his death. Because John is a realistic man, he chases after his wife thinking she hadn't left the city, and chases after the dwarf thinking she can be a clue to his daughter. If he had put stock into the things his wife said and believed in the supernatural, he would have known that his sighting of his wife was a foreshadowing of his death, and that the person in the red coat was not his daughter, but the person in the church picture and the eventual cause of his death. In essence, he has two funerals.
Other things in DONT' LOOK NOW are doubled. The cross-cutting between Mr. and Mrs. Baxter having sex and getting dressed suggests dual lives and that they are doing two different things at once. Also, the priest's dripping candle wax and the red ink in the picture of the church both are symbolic of John's flowing, dripping blood at the end of the film.
John and Laura both chase after loved ones. John chases after what he believes to be his daughter in order to find some answers and Laura runs after John because she is in fear of their lives. If you connect these reasons, John and Laura are in fear of answers, which is John's whole problem throughout the film (denial and fear of the power of foresight), and John is the person that the film basically revolves around.
Amid all the Doppelgangers and loss of identity in DONT' LOOK NOW, there is also a clear distinction between characters, making them strong individuals. Doubles primarily appear in the film physically and in terms of images, but there are almost no doubles in relation to character(s).
First of all, the Baxter girl is carefree, young, and innocent; a typical little girl. The dwarf, on the other hand, is evil, scheming, and looks centuries old. These character traits are in definite contrast to the physical characteristics that make them similar. A young, innocent girl and an evil, old "demon" couldn't be further apart from each other.
Mr. and Mrs. Baxter, even though they are married, are total opposites. John tries very hard to deal with his daughter's death and rejects his "power" of foresight, whereas Laura doesn't cope so well and tries very hard to "see" their daughter in her "feelings" of her.
The police sketches of the sisters, which are supposed to look pretty close to the actual people, if not exactly like them, don't look anything like the sisters. In a case when identity matters most and the sketches should be doubles of the people, the sisters are individuals and are invisible to the law, especially when the detective looks right at them out the window.
In terms of sight, no two characters have the same kind. John can see both physically and mentally, but denies the latter, which becomes the death of him. The blind sister can see only with her hands and her mind, and tries to save John with her foresight. And Laura, who yearns to see with special powers, alas, can only really see the physical world and not the future.
Most Nicolas Roeg films, specifically DONT' LOOK NOW, can be dissected in at least two ways. The first is with the Doppelganger theory that there are no single characters, and the second is with the individuality theory that all characters are different in some way.