The Stendhal Syndrome [La Sindrome di Stendhal] ** (1996, Asia Argento, Thomas Kretschmann, Marco Leonardi) – Classic Movie Review 8156

Asia Argento stars as Anna Manni, a homicide detective, who unwittingly suffers from the dizzy-making Stendhal Syndrome of the title, battling a serial rapist-killer, in the 1996 The Stendhal Syndrome [La Sindrome di Stendhal]. It is an occasionally stylish and intriguing but more often weary and tatty psychological shocker from Italian horror maestro Dario Argento.

Though there is the germ of a good mystery thriller here, and the film does have its effective and creepy moments, it is slackly handled and poorly paced, leading to the way over-long running time of 120 minutes, and the ending is an anti-climax hardly worth the wait. Asia Argento works hard but has a struggle to make her character credible. However, it has a lurid interest, seems to have admirers and is worth a look.

Also in the cast are Thomas Kretschmann as Alfredo Grossi, Marco Leonardi, Luigi Diberti as Inspector Manetti, Paolo Bonacelli, John Quentin and Julien Lambroschini as Marie.

The Stendhal Syndrome is a psychosomatic illness that gives Anna Manni dizziness and hallucinations when exposed to artistic masterpieces. So the serial rapist-killer lures her to the Uffizi museum in Florence.

Dario Argento’s screenplay is based on the novel by Graziella Magherini and story by Dario Argento and Franco Ferrini.

It is shot by Giuseppe Rotonno in his last fiction feature film before retiring, produced by Dario Argento and Giuseppe Colombo, and scored by Ennio Morricone, re-uniting him with the director.

The film’s opening sequence set at the Uffizi in Florence features Pieter Bruegel’s Landscape with the Fall of Icarus, in reality housed at the Royal Museum of Fine Arts of Belgium in Brussels.

The Italian release is two minutes longer than the export version, including scenes where Anna calls the husband of one of the killer’s victims and where she meets Marie’s mother (Veronica Lazar). 

© Derek Winnert 2019 Classic Movie Review 8156

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