Fuck!!! What a masterfully-directed mystery. Shot so beautifully and built so well, lots of perfect little misdirects and kicks to keep you in Carol Lynley’s wonderfully paranoid, stressed out shoes. Keir Dullea and Laurence Olivier are just as terrific as Lynley, and Noel Coward is having such a blast playing a real creep. That ending though... absolutely terrifying and fantastic. Can’t say much without spoiling it but my heart rate was elevated for the entire final 20 minutes.
A woman reports that her young daughter is missing, but there seems to be no evidence that she ever existed.
Where to watch
1Bunny Lake Is Missing is showing in 1 cinema in Los Angeles — next screening Sunday 9 August at 14:30 at Academy Museum of Motion Pictures.
Sunday, 9 August
Cast & crew
6What people say
historically, so-called “hysterical” women have been subjected to institutionalization, lobotomies, and forced sterilization—this subtextual threat looms over our heroine Annie Lake’s head like miasma. horror is derived from the all-too familiar dread of not being believed.sorta feels like a precursor to Rosemary’s Baby (the novel was published just 2 years after this film‘s release), and definitely feels emblematic of the second-wave feminism that arose in the 60s. can’t believe i hadn’t heard of it until Demi suggested we watch it! #BelieveWomen (and #BelieveDemi) canon!
This is a tight drama that feels way ahead of its time. With a missing kid and incestuous undertones, it’s no wonder this was extremely shocking for the 60s. Executed perfectly by Otto Preminger, it got quite intense near the end, putting me on the edge of my seat. I wish we had a Laurence Olivier police captain series...
What is Bunny Lake Is Missing about?+
The film follows a young mother who reports her daughter missing, only to find herself embroiled in a disorienting nightmare where no one acknowledges the child's existence.
Who directed Bunny Lake Is Missing?+
The film was directed by Otto Preminger, an Austrian-American filmmaker known for his innovative approach to complex, often controversial material.














