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The Stendhal Syndrome

 
Movies:

The Stendhal Syndrome

  • Director: Dario Argento
  • AMG Rating: starstar
  • Genre: Thriller
  • Movie Type: Psychological Thriller, Police Detective Film
  • Themes: Mind Games, Out For Revenge
  • Release Year: 1996
  • Country: IT
  • Run Time: 119 minutes

Plot

The title affliction causes sufferers to react to paintings in extreme and bizarre ways. In the case of police detective Anna Manni, she swoons and feels herself entering hallucinatory versions of the artwork she sees. This Italian psychothriller contains dark elements of horror as Manni tries to capture a murderous serial rapist. The lady detective is first seen walking the art-filled hallways of the Uffizi Gallery in Florence. The great paintings have a terrible effect upon her and she ends up having one of her surreal visions after fainting in front of Brueghel's "The Flight of Icarus." She sees herself falling through the painting's deep ocean and is only saved by the hands of Alfredo, a stranger who saw her fall. She returns woozily to her hotel. Her memory has temporarily lapsed, and once in her room she finds herself similarly mesmerized by a painting on the wall, but eventually she remembers her assignment. Unfortunately, when she meets up with Alfredo again, he attacks and rapes her. He then forces her to watch while he rapes and murders another. She manages to escape and make it back to Rome where she begins seeing a psychiatrist. Her former lover Marco also makes sure she is guarded 24-hours a day. Unfortunately for Anna it is not enough, and Alfredo strikes again. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Review

A sadistic and disturbing psychological exploration driven by the horrifying concept of a rape victim who begins to take on her attacker's dark persona, Dario Argento's The Stendhal Syndrome is ultimately a victim of it's own excess and the director's tendency to overcomplicate a fairly simple storyline. A vast improvement in style and storytelling over the Argento's previous efforts of the 1990s, The Stendhal Syndrome can be admired for Asia Argento's impressive portrayal of a female cop who shifts from predator to prey to questionably sane victim and who runs the gamut of emotion and shifting physical appearance. Regardless of Asia's convincing performance and the somewhat surreal and ultimately passive use of then-innovative computer-generated effects, it's hard to ignore the unrelenting cruelty the protagonist endures. Critics of director Argento have often accused him of being misogynistic (Argento's own admissions that he would rather see a beautiful woman die on film rather than an unattractive man or woman certainly doesn't aid an argument against this), and those critics will most certainly site this film as the ultimate proof of that theory. Though the story remains absorbing throughout the mid-point character shift that ignites the psychological torture of the second half, the seemingly meandering plot grinds to a halt just as it should truly shine. Director Argento crafts a stunningly visual opening sequence which, accompanied by old-friend Ennio Morricone's hauntingly hypnotic score rivals anything from his Deep Red (1975) / Suspiria (1977) heyday, and though his visual scheme remains strong the energy built here cannot sustain the duration of the film. While compositions remain suitably unnerving throughout, the storyline that was needed to truly project them into the viewer's psyche doesn't provide adequate fuel for them to do so. Throughout his career Argento's horror has passed from the everyday to the supernatural, and though the internalized terror of The Stendhal Syndrome is indeed as effective as ever in moments, it will certainly be difficult for the majority of viewers to endure. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

Cast

Asia Argento - Anna Manni; Paolo Bonacelli - Psychiatrist; Luigi Diberti - Inspector Manetti; Thomas Kretschmann - Alfredo Grossi; John Quentin - Anna's Father; Julien Lambroschini - Marie; Marco Leonardi - Marco Longhi

Credit

Antonello Geleng - Art Director, Lia Morandini - Costume Designer, Dario Argento - Director, Angelo Nicolini - Editor, Ennio Morricone - Composer (Music Score), Franco Casagni - Makeup Special Effects, Giuseppe Rotunno - Cinematographer, Dario Argento - Producer, Giuseppe Colombo - Producer, Sergio Stivaletti - Special Effects, Carlo Palmieri - Sound/Sound Designer, Riccardo Palmieri - Sound/Sound Designer, Dario Argento - Screen Story, Franco Ferrini - Screen Story, Dario Argento - Screenwriter, Graziella Magherini - Book Author

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Wikipedia: The Stendhal Syndrome
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'La Sindrome di Stendhal (The Stendhal Syndrome / Stendhal's Syndrome)
Directed by Dario Argento
Produced by Dario Argento
Giuseppe Colombo
Written by Dario Argento
Franco Ferrini
Graziella Magherini (novel)
Starring Asia Argento
Thomas Kretschmann
Marco Leonardi
Music by Ennio Morricone
Cinematography Giuseppe Rotunno
Distributed by Troma Entertainment (USA)
Release date(s) 1996
Running time 120 min.
Country Italy
Language Italian (U.S. release dubbed into English)

The Stendhal Syndrome is 1996 Italian thriller, written and directed by Dario Argento and starring his daughter Asia Argento. It was the first Italian film to use computer-generated imagery (CGI).[citation needed]. Stendhal Syndrome is a real syndrome, first diagnosed in Florence, Italy in 1982. Named after the French writer Stendhal AKA Marie-Henri Beyle who reportedly experienced like symptoms in 1817. The director, Dario Argento, said he experienced Stendhal syndrome as a child. While touring Athens with his parents young Dario was climbing the steps of the Parthenon when he was overcome by a trance that caused him to become lost from his parents for hours. The experience was so strong that Argento never forgot it and immediately thought of it when he came across Magherini's book, which would become the basis of the film.

Contents

Plot

Detective Anna Manni (Asia Argento) travels to Florence on the trail of a serial killer (Thomas Kretschmann). While at a museum, Anna is struck by the Stendhal Syndrome, which causes people to become overwhelmed by great works of art. The killer uses this disorder against Anna, kidnapping and raping her. She escapes, but is deeply traumatized. She eventually finds redemption and a whole new perspective to life.

Cast

  • Asia Argento as Det. Anna Manni
  • Thomas Kretschmann as Alfredo Grossi
  • Marco Leonardi as Marco Longhi
  • Luigi Diberti as Insp. Manetti
  • Paolo Bonacelli as Dr. Cavanna
  • Julien Lambroschini as Marie
  • John Quentin as Anna's father
  • Franco Diogene as Victim's husband
  • Lucia Stara as Shop assistant
  • Sonia Topazio as Victim in Florence
  • Lorenzo Crespi as Giulio
  • Vera Gemma as Policewoman
  • John Pedeferri as Hydraulic engineer
  • Veronica Lazar as Marie's mother
  • Mario Diano as Coroner

Production

Director Dario Argento tried at first to get Bridget Fonda and then Jennifer Jason Leigh to play the role of Anna. He eventually cast his own daughter, Asia Argento, in the role. Thomas Kretschmann was cast as Alfredo Grossi because Dario Argento had seen him working with star Asia Argento on the set of Queen Margot (1994). Argento was impressed enough by Kretschmann that he would later think of him for the role.

Ennio Morricone's eerie music score for the film follows the same tune played either forward or backward.

The opening scene' was shot in Florence at Italy's famed Uffizi Gallery. Argento is the only director ever granted permission to shoot there.

The painting that Anna literally steps into is a Rembrandt painting of 17th Century policemen entitled Night Watch. The painting that causes Anna to faint in the museum is by Brueghel, it's called Landscape with the Fall of Icarus.

The footage of Anna underwater after fainting in the gallery was actually shot in the sea - not a swimming pool. The huge grouper fish that Anna kisses was a remote model that was being pulled through the waters by cables attached to a small float on the oceans surface. Mere moments after wrapping the underwater shoot, the fish stopped working.

This would be the last fiction feature film for acclaimed director of photography Giuseppe Rotunno. The following year he shot a documentary on Marcello Mastroianni before retiring.

Graffiti artists were brought in to cover the underground lair of Alfredo with graffiti. In one night the group created over a hundred square feet of graffiti-covered walls on the location.

This is the second of four films in which Argento has directed his daughter Asia: the three others are Trauma, The Phantom of the Opera, and the upcoming The Mother of Tears. She also had roles in Demons 2 and The Church, which Dario Argento produced, along with her directorial debut Scarlet Diva.

Argento planned on making a sequel to the film which would follow Detective Anna Manni on another case. However, Asia was unavailable, so the character's name was changed (to Anna Mari) and Stefania Rocca was cast. The resulting film is 2004's The Card Player.

Alternate versions

In the U.S., the film is distributed by B-movie company Troma Entertainment. A new special edition DVD of the film was released by Blue Underground on August 30, 2007.

US DVD release by Troma release is the complete version of the English language edition, but, like all English releases, is still missing around 2 minutes of material exclusive to the Italian print.

The Italian release is around two minutes longer than the English export version, including an additional scene where Anna calls the husband of one of Alfredo's victims, and another where she meets Marie's mother, played by Veronica Lazar (whose name is included in the credits of all versions, even those in which she does not appear).

This film premiered on video in the UK, but 11 cuts totalling 2m 47s were made by the distributor before submission to the BBFC for a video certificate. These cuts are to rape scenes, violence and some dialogue. The 2005 UK DVD release, by Arrow Pictures, has had all previous cuts waived and represents the full-length English version, although like all English releases it omits the two scenes exclusive to the Italian version. Since the uncut version has never been submitted to the British Board of Film Classification, this version was withdrawn and re-released in a cut form. The new cut release has a colour graphic on the disc itself, whereas the uncut version had a black and white label.

Blue Underground released The Stendahl Syndrome on Blu-Ray in 2009, and contains the entire film uncut, including the additional 'Italian only' scenes (still in Italian, with English subtitles)

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Wikipedia. This article is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "The Stendhal Syndrome" Read more