Christopher Walken gives his creepiest performance in The Comfort of Strangers

Christopher Walken’s gift for the movie monologue is on full display in The Comfort of Strangers, a discomfiting 1991 psychological thriller directed by Paul Schrader and written by Harold Pinter from a novel by Ian McEwen. Walken plays Robert, a white‑suited Italian sophisticate who lives in Venice with his Canadian wife Caroline (Helen Mirren).

One night Robert invites a vacationing English couple, Colin and Mary (Rupert Everett and Natasha Richardson), to a bar he owns. There’s no food; he plies them with breadsticks and wine and spins an unnerving tale about his childhood, his father, his sisters, and his first meeting with Caroline.

The camera prowls the bar, noting its young male clientele and the huge swordfish on the wall, before returning to Walken’s voice, which opens and returns to the film with the lines: "My father was a very big man. All his life he wore a black mustache. When it turned gray he used a little brush to keep it black, such as ladies use for their eyes.

Italy, Venice

christopher walken, comfort strangers, paul schrader, harold pinter, ian mcewan, helen mirren, rupert everett, natasha richardson, venice, psychological thriller