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Minou
(Dagmar Lassander) is a happily married woman
with few problems other than her self-described
vices of drinking, smoking and popping tranquilizers.
Her husband is a busy businessman often away for
long periods of time. On one such night Minou
is walking along the beach when she's chased and
attacked by a knife-wielding man who seems to
know her husband Peter (Pier Paolo Capponi). He
threatens her with rape and informs her that her
husband is a murderer. Calling Peter immediately
afterwards, he rushes to her and accompanies her
home but Minou doesn't want to go to the police.
She has no proof of what happened and the man
didn't actually harm her. She doesn't tell Peter
about the fellow's murder accusation.
The
next day she learns that one of Peter's business
financiers died in an apparent drowning suicide.
Shaken, she confesses the whole story to her friend
(and former flame of Peter) Dominique (Susan Scott).
Dominique is intrigued but brushes aside any thoughts
of murder as silly. To take the housewife's mind
off her fears the sexually voracious Dominique
shows Minou her collection of pornographic photographs
but shockingly, the surprised lady spots her attacker's
face in one of them. Borrowing the picture she
shows it to Peter and they belatedly go to the
police. Making the police aware of the situation
seems to comfort her but when she is shown the
deep pressure chamber that her husband works with
she again starts to wonder about the supposed
drowning. The newspaper's accounts of the suicide
make it possible he was killed in the chamber
and then dumped in the river afterwards. She is
trying to put such thoughts out of her head when
the mysterious man calls her at home and plays
a recording of Peter and an associate actually
killing the financier! The fellow forces Minou
to meet him at an apartment and, after some discussion,
trades her the incriminating tape for a night
of sex. The humiliated woman submits and then
destroys the tape thinking that the whole incident
is over and can be forgotten. But the next day
the blackmailer shows up at her home with photos
of their sexual encounter demanding a continuation
of their relationship. Finally taking Dominique
completely into her confidence they first try
to buy the man off. When this fails they finally
tell Peter the whole tale and go to the police.
Minou leads the cops to the blackmailer's apartment
but all they find is an empty set of rooms that
haven't been rented in over a year. Confused,
Minou begins to fear for her sanity. And when,
later that night, only she sees her tormentor
trying to break into her house she knows something
is terribly wrong.
Sadly
lacking much nudity or a high body count, The
Forbidden Photos Of A Lady Above Suspicion
is not quite a giallo, but it's close enough to
make its being lumped in with the genre understandable.
It is a twisty mystery with plenty of kinkiness
courtesy of the beautiful Susan Scott (real name
Nieves Navarro), gorgeous photography and a story
that manages to keep you guessing right up until
the end. Masterfully filmed by first-time director
Luciano Ercoli, it is consistently interesting,
jumping from one possible explanation to another
with a deftness that makes what passes for thrillers
today seem clumsy in comparison. We are led down
the path along with Minou, wondering if her husband
is guilty, how the blackmailer got that recording,
whether Dominique is involved and finally, we
share her fears for the state of her mind. The
script is smart and Ercoli wrings quite a bit
of anxiety out of the scenario.
In a film with much
to offer the sets stand out as both beautiful
elements of the film's design and brilliant representations
of the people who live there. Dominique's home
is a split level apartment with several cozy little
nests in which to curl up with her latest lover.
When we are introduced to her home she is projecting
some nude slides of herself on the wall. With
the lights out she and Minou seem to be snuggled
together sharing confidences. This scene's impression
of intimacy was so strong that when they adjourn
to a little bed/couch I thought we were headed
for a lesbian sex sequence! Peter and Minou's
place is a spacious house decorated in a very
'art modern' style that sometimes looks more like
a museum than a home. The house is starkly bright
and clean with only Minou's half empty liquor
glasses and pill bottles cluttering up the slick
surfaces. By the end of the story the look of
the house is clearly meant to have shown a bit
of the character's inner selves. Ercoli went on
to make two more movies that fall more easily
into the giallo tradition and after seeing this
I can hardly wait to see them. If his attention
to detail remained as strong as it is here they
will require repeated viewings.
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Blue
Underground has issued The
Forbidden Photos Of A Lady Above Suspicion
simultaneously with three other Italian thrillers,
part of what would have been a giallo box set.
I would have preferred having all four together
but I'm glad they've been released period. The
movie is presented in 2.35:1 anamorphic widescreen
and looks fantastic. Other than a few vertical
lines in the first few minutes the print is extremely
clean with beautiful colors and good detail. The
only soundtrack option is the English Dolby Digital
Mono, which is clear and sharp. The excellent
Morricone score comes through very well and (as
usual with the maestro) makes me wish for a CD
release. The theatrical trailer is provided as
an extra but the real plus is entitled Forbidden
Screenplays. This is a 9-minute interview
with legendary scriptwriter Ernesto Gastaldi in
which he relates the almost accidental way the
script was chosen to film. Obviously amused by
the fact that the success of the film saved the
films producers from bankruptcy he talks pretty
openly about them. He has no idea what happened
to Ercoli and claims he left the film biz after
inheriting a fortune! If true it's quite a shame,
but I'd love to know more. I liked this short
but it really leaves me wanting more time with
this amazing writer. A man responsible for so
many fascinating screenplays is worthy of a much
lengthier interview. Just asking him about his
work on the westerns he penned in the 1960s would
be a great start, not to mention his scripts for
Bava and Freda. Regardless, kudos to BU for another
excellent release of a rare film.
3/21/06
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