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Images (1972)

Images is a 1972 psychological horror film written and directed by Robert Altman and starring Susannah York and René Auberjonois. The picture follows an unstable children's author who finds herself engulfed in apparitions and hallucinations while staying at her remote vacation home.

Conceived by Altman in the mid-1960s, Images secured financing in 1971 by Hemdale Film Group Ltd., and shot on location in County Wicklow, Ireland in the fall of that year. The script, which had been sparsely composed by Altman, was collaboratively developed further throughout the shoot with the actors. Images premiered at the 25th Cannes Film Festival, where York won the award for Best Actress, after which it was released theatrically in the United States by Columbia Pictures on December 18, 1972. Its theatrical run in the United States was short-lived, and the film received little promotion from Hemdale in the United Kingdom.

Critical reception of the film was mixed, with some critics praising York's performance and Vilmos Zsigmond's cinematography, while others faulted it for being incoherent, comparing it to films like Repulsion (1965). The film was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for Best English-Language Foreign Film, and John Williams was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Original Score. The film has gained a great deal of stature in the nearly 50 years since it was released, partly because it has been more accessible to viewers and critics than it was on first release, and partly because it stands out in Robert Altman's filmography as the only horror movie he ever directed.