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Post by peteyt on May 3, 2021 11:34:47 GMT -5
I watched 1974's The Perfume of the Lady in Black a few nights ago, directed by Francesco Barilli. The director's name isn't one I'm familiar with but he was the writer of Umberto Lenzi's Man From the Deep River (only seen Lenzi's Nightmare City but what a film that is!). It stars Mimsy Farmer as Silvia, who had previously collaborated with Dario Argento for Four Flies On Grey Velvet, as a successful manager at a chemistry laboratory. The film basically involves Silvia, seemingly losing her mind and hallucinating stuff, specifically from her childhood. Through these hallucinations we learn about her past, her dad being away often at sea, and drowning, her mother having an affair, with her new partner abusing both of them. We also learn Silvia may have killed her mother, hinting that all these nightmares could be based on guilt. The hallucinations start to get weird though as she sees her mother dressed in Black putting on perfume, sees her mother and lover having sex and also keeps seeing a child version of herself who interacts for her. Things from her past also seem to appear and disappear, such as an old vase. At the same time we see that lots of people including her boyfriend, appear to be conspiring against her. She also seemingly bumps into her mothers former lover who secretly follows her to her old now dilapidated family house, and tries to rape her. She fights back, possibly killing him, but he’s not there when she returns with her boyfriend. For a giallo, the film isn't as straightforward as you'd usually expect. I've seen people compare the film to the works of David Lynch and can see why, as the line between reality, dream etc. is blurred. You never really know what is real and I found myself thinking about the film for a few days. However, normally I’m not the biggest fan of this style. I’ve not seen all of David Lynch’s work, but have found I somehow knew less after finishing, if that makes sense. Lynch has often said the mystery is always better than the answer, which I do agree with, but it’s good to get to the end of a film and know the answers, see if your guesses were correct etc. With a lot of Lynch’s films, or at least the few I’ve seen, I’ve found there’s that many possibilities, that it’s more confusing than anything, and I’m not the best at reading into things, working things out etc. However, like I said, I was thinking about the film, certainly its ending, for a few days, and to me that is always a good sign, as at least if anything, I found it memorable, while some Giallo’s can blend into others. One thing I will say is right from the start, the film is beautiful. There’s some nice architecture and in general is shot very well. I also found that for the majority of its runtime, the film is one of the more classy Gillao’s. The last Giallo I watched, Torso, was very sleazy, and there are a few Giallo’s like that, but it’s nice when you get one where the focus is on the characters and the surroundings, and not just showing boobs (not that there's anything wrong with showing boobs ha). However I will say, the film isn’t the best pacing wise, and I did find some bits in the first half dragged a little, where nothing much happens. The film did keep me wanting to watch though and find out what was going on. There’s a moment in the film that basically does what the title says, as in Silvia sees her mother in a mirror, wearing black and putting on perfume. This scene really stood out because it was so simple yet a bit weird and creepy. I’d have loved if we kept seeing her in the mirror throughout the film, and kind of thought that was what the film was going to do. Now it’s really hard to talk about this film without talking about its ending. However, like with all Giallo’s, talking about the ending, spoils the whole film, certainly for those who have not seen it. So bellow I've hidden the spoilers - you may have to click two things, as I had problems getting everything into one spoiler tag {Spoiler} There are a couple of scenes in the film that suggest things might not be what they seem, such as Silvia’s friend suddenly dying, with Silvia being told her bath was too hot and she apparently had a bad heart. There’s a neighbor that Silvia shouts over to get rid of her younger self that seemingly is haunting her (who is not there when the neighbour comes) and Silvia notices a speck of blood on her trainers. Later we see this neighbour cleaning the trainers, and his cats eating food, but we eventually see there’s a finger in their bowl.
Near the end of the film, Silvia seems to go full crazy, and kills that neighbour and her boyfriend, possibly doing what the child version of her tells her to do. She sits the two around a table, trying to make it like the madhatters tea party if I can remember correctly. Eventually she seems to fight with the child version of herself on the roof and they both end up falling off, but when the camera shows us below, there is just Silvia’s body.
We then go to a catacomb with a large amount of people, for what appears to be a funeral. However her boyfriend cuts down her stomach and everyone starts eating bits of her. This was very sudden, and I didn’t see it coming. Earlier in the film there is a scene where Silvia and her boyfriend talk to Andy, an African who explains how cannibalistic societies used to exist in Africa and even jokes about some may exist still. The end seems to suggest that the group possibly poisoned her and her friend, and this was the cause of the hallucinations.
The thing is, the film doesn’t really fully explain everything, which I did find worked well. For example, all the little things, like the finger in the cat bowl, seem to show that they really are cannibals. However the group is very large, maybe possibly too large, and surely if people kept having accidents, people would notice. I do think the end is probably true, but the film ends in a way that you never know what is real and what isn’t Final thoughts are probably not my favourite, but certainly one of the more memorable Giallo films, that makes you question everything at the end.
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Post by NDX on May 3, 2021 22:55:53 GMT -5
These titles are always something interesting.
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Post by peteyt on May 4, 2021 4:22:38 GMT -5
These titles are always something interesting. Yeah. I think I shared it on another post but there's a fun little giallo generator that creates a title, plot and director www.braineater.com/misc/giallo.html
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Post by NDX on May 4, 2021 11:22:05 GMT -5
The Glass Doll that Stands in the Center of the Ever-Widening Pool of Red
Directed by Xerxe Silveri
An American girl is discovered naked and drained of blood in an old, abandoned warehouse. An English sculptor accidentally destroys some crucial evidence about the the murder. Ultimately he unravels the complicated plot and leads the police to the criminal. Unfortunately, he is mistaken, and soon the real maniac is on his trail.
Im gonna have fun with that site.
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Post by peteyt on May 5, 2021 10:41:00 GMT -5
The Glass Doll that Stands in the Center of the Ever-Widening Pool of Red
Directed by Xerxe Silveri
An American girl is discovered naked and drained of blood in an old, abandoned warehouse. An English sculptor accidentally destroys some crucial evidence about the the murder. Ultimately he unravels the complicated plot and leads the police to the criminal. Unfortunately, he is mistaken, and soon the real maniac is on his trail.
Im gonna have fun with that site.
Yeah it's a great site. A lot of the titles also seem genuine
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Post by endo on May 5, 2021 13:43:30 GMT -5
Ha, that's an awesome site!
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