Das Stendhal Syndrom (1996)

Das Stendhal Syndrom: Directed by Dario Argento. With Asia Argento, Thomas Kretschmann, Marco Leonardi, Luigi Diberti. A young policewoman slowly goes insane while tracking down an elusive serial rapist/killer through Italy when she herself becomes a victim of the brutal man’s obsession.

“I havenu0026#39;t seen u0026quot;Stendhal Syndromeu0026quot; in more then ten years, so I was quite thrilled when I found it on DVD (the sweet 2 disc edition) and decided to give it a shot and see if I could still be amazed by Argento.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eand how does this movie hold? u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eRather well I must say. While itu0026#39;s certainly not good as some of the Argentou0026#39;s earlier work, itu0026#39;s still one of the highlights of Argentou0026#39;s career. Comparing it with his early masterpieces is hard, since u0026quot;Stendhal Syndromeu0026quot; is much more different. Itu0026#39;s based on personal experience Argento had as a child, much like u0026quot;Phenomenau0026quot; was based on Argentou0026#39;s current obsession of that time.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eNarrative is very complex and it might be bit hard to fallow if you arenu0026#39;t fully concentrated or you are not familiar with Argentou0026#39;s narrative style – while his stories are usually linear in terms of story progression, but he often uses fragmented narrative which give some scenes dream-like narrative (this worked rather well in his supernatural movies, like Suspiria). u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eStory itself is bit different from his early giallo movies, because in this one, violence doesnu0026#39;t happen often (but when they do, they are rather nasty) and itu0026#39;s more character driven. Itu0026#39;s true psychological thriller (modern filmmakers who sell their torture porn as u0026quot;psychologicalu0026quot; please learn from Mr. Argento and this movie) where we fallow the psyche of detective Anna Manni (played by Asia Argento, directoru0026#39;s daughter) as she tries to fight serial killer and her personal demons that grow stronger after each encounter with him. (I wonu0026#39;t go into much details because of the spoilers).u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eDario Argentou0026#39;s visual style is still impressive, and his camera work fits perfectly with narrative and storytelling. There are some beautiful shots and interesting camera work. Thereu0026#39;s also use of contrast much like in Suspiria, but in SS, Argento had some very good moments that impressed me. In some scenes, where we fallow Anna in her apartment, contrast is strong and colors can be bright, but as the movie progresses, colors are becoming much darker and u0026quot;realisticu0026quot;. Thereu0026#39;s a scene where Anna confronts the killer in underground (sewers) and movie drastically changes from white and red (Annau0026#39;s apartment) into black, gray and brown (not only because of the set, but because Argento decided to saturate those colors even more).u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eAsia Argento is beautiful as usual and she gives a strong performance here.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eMusic is haunting and creepy, and perfectly fits with the movie. u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eWatch this in original Italian audio, English dub wasnu0026#39;t that good.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003e6.5/10 but I gave it 7, because Dario Argento is awesome guy in person. Meet him few years back and he was funny, charming and very down-to- earth.”