Klute
A small-town detective searching for a missing man has only one lead: a connection with a New York prostitute.
- Director: Alan J. Pakula
- Genre:Drama / Mystery / Romance / Thriller
- Runtime:114 minutes
Cast
Jane Fonda : Bree Daniels
Donald Sutherland: John Klute
Charles Cioffi : Peter Cable
Roy Scheider : Frank Ligourin
Dorothy Tristan : Arlyn Page
The film begins with the disappearance of Pennsylvania executive Tom Gruneman. The police reveal that an obscene letter was found in Gruneman’s office. It was addressed to a prostitute in New York City named Bree Daniels (Jane Fonda), who had received several similar letters from Gruneman. Much to the surprise of the police, an executive at Gruneman’s company, Peter Cable (Charles Cioffi), hires John Klute (Donald Sutherland) to investigate the disappearance.
Klute rents an apartment in the basement of Bree’s building, taps her phone, and follows her as she turns tricks. Initially, Bree appears to be liberated by the freedom of freelancing as a call girl, but in visits with a psychiatrist throughout the film, she reveals that she wants to quit prostitution. Klute asks Bree to answer some of his questions, but she refuses. He approaches her again, revealing his apartment and his surveillance of her. She assumes that he will turn her in if she does not cooperate. However, she has no recollection of Gruneman at all. She reveals that she was beaten by one of her johns two years earlier, but after seeing a photo of Gruneman, she confirms that it was another man.
Bree takes Klute to meet her former pimp, Frank Ligourin (Roy Scheider). Frank reveals that one of his prostitutes passed off the abusive client to Bree and another woman named Arlyn Page (Dorothy Tristan). The original prostitute committed suicide, and Arlyn became a junkie and disappeared. Klute gives his surveillance tapes to Bree, as a gesture of good faith, and then he enlists her help to track down Arlyn.
As they search the city for Arlyn over several days, Klute and Bree develop a romance. Bree instigates a sexual encounter with Klute, as she sleeps in his basement apartment after being spooked during the night. She admits to a deep paranoia which makes her think that she is being watched. Throughout the film, she is frequently seen from the perspective of a stalker in a building across the street.
Arlyn is finally tracked down, and she confirms that the abusive client was not Gruneman. Shortly after meeting with her, a boat in Kill Van Kull turns up Arlyn’s body, another apparent suicide. Klute deduces that there might be a connection between the two suicides of the prostitutes who have been with the mysterious abusive client, surmising that the client probably also killed Gruneman and may kill Bree next. He revisits all of Gruneman’s contacts anew, to see if there might be a connection with the case. A typographic comparison of the obscene letters Gruneman supposedly sent to Bree reveals that they were authored by Peter Cable, with whom Klute has been meeting regularly to file progress reports on his investigation. Read more
