{"id":3002,"date":"2011-06-06T11:41:42","date_gmt":"2011-06-06T15:41:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/?p=3002"},"modified":"2011-06-06T11:41:42","modified_gmt":"2011-06-06T15:41:42","slug":"dvd-perfume-of-the-lady-in-black-the-il-profumo-della-signora-in-nero-1974","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/?p=3002","title":{"rendered":"DVD: Perfume of the Lady in Black, The \/ Il profumo della signora in nero (1974)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Return to: <\/strong>Home <\/a>\/\u00a0Blu-ray, DVD, Film Reviews<\/a> \/ <\/em>P to R<\/a><\/p>\n

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\"\"<\/a>Film: Very Good\/ DVD Transfer: Excellent\/ DVD Extras: Very Good<\/p>\n

Label: Raro Video (USA)\/ Region: 1 (NTSC) \/\u00a0Released: March 22, 2011<\/p>\n

Genre: Giallo \/ Thriller \/ Horror \/ Occult<\/p>\n

Synopsis: Traumatic memories from a chemist’s past begin to collide with strange supernatural vsions, blurring her perception of reality and nightmare.<\/p>\n

Special Features: Director interview: \u201cPortrait in Black\u201d (25:09) \/ Director\u2019s Biography \/ Director\u2019s Filmography \/ 4-page colour booklet with liner notes<\/p>\n

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Review:<\/p>\n

Note: this review contains blatant spoilers.<\/em><\/p>\n

Painter, occasional actor, and screenwriter Francesco Barilli made his feature film debut with this peculiar giallo that\u2019s ostensibly about a young woman\u2019s descent into madness, but as he explains in the interview featurette in Raro Video\u2019s splendid DVD, the film is a hybrid of two ideas.<\/p>\n

Barilli pitched the madness concept to the film\u2019s producers, but as the script was developed with co-writer Massimo D\u2019Avak, it morphed into an eerie story of a cult pre-selecting victims, driving the chosen ones to the brink of death, and feasting on their remains (with a few scraps going to lesser cult members, like a neighbour\u2019s cats).<\/p>\n

Perfume<\/strong> has giallo elements \u2013 at its core lies the oft-used device of a traumatic childhood event spawning murderous deeds \u2013 but like Death Laid an Egg<\/strong> (1968), it\u2019s a concerted attempt to break genre conventions.<\/p>\n

Stylistically, Barilli\u2019s approach is to fade in and out of scenes like dream snapshots, and while each scene contains artfully drawn shots, there\u2019s always a singular element that\u2019s slightly off \u2013 sometimes a visual clue that randomly reappears, or character visages losing all signs of humanity when poor Silvia (Mimsy Farmer) turns away from what seemed to be a normal conversation.<\/p>\n

No one in Silvia\u2019s life appears to genuinely care for her well-being, including her supposedly long-suffering boyfriend Roberto (played by a very wooden Maurizio Bonuglia), and her grasp on reality becomes more tenuous when a past villain reappears in her life, as well as what may be a child version of herself who will not leave her alone.<\/p>\n

Barilli persistently interpolates elements of voodoo and cannibalism throughout the film, but they remain \u2018odd\u2019 little moments until the film switches narrative tracks and goes from Silvia\u2019s murder spree to her being victimized and sacrificed in the final reel. Upon first viewing, Perfume<\/strong> runs along like a fuzzy dream, and Barilla\u2019s little visual and scriptorial touches don\u2019t resonate until a second viewing, but the switch to the cannibalism story confuses the film\u2019s perspective which had been presenting Silvia\u2019s madness (and subsequent killings) as real.<\/p>\n

Audiences will have make their own assumptions about what aspects of the final act are real, but it\u2019s fair to presume Silvia\u2019s child visitation stems from her delusional state as the cult piles on further stressors. Although Barilla consulted psychiatrists to flesh out Silvia\u2019s mental degeneration, he also believes \u201cHorror movies are never very logical,\u201d so instead of providing a clich\u00e9d explanation scene at the end for the benefit of puzzled audiences, he leaves things unanswered.<\/p>\n

Barilli\u2019s directorial debut benefitted from high production standards, including superb locations, such as Silvia\u2019s gothic apartment complex, and several striking abandoned relics: the childhood home where her mother entertained sailors on leave, and the remains of a shuttered subway station.<\/p>\n

The set d\u00e9cor features less garish elements from the seventies, and are part of a clean visual design that dominates the film. Barilla\u2019s sense of portraiture extended to some amazing colour schemes, and this may be the best evocation of a Mario Bava giallo. Silvia\u2019s ominous nighttime apartment walks contain beautiful graduated colours, and this stunning transfer was made from a near-pristine print. Indeed, Perfume<\/strong> screams<\/em> for a Blu-ray release.<\/p>\n

In addition to the English dub track, the Italian track also comes with optional English subtitles, and Nicola Piovani\u2019s score is in line with Ennio Morricone\u2019s approach to gialli: a gentle, child-like music box theme, and a mass of screeching dissonance when Silvia\u2019s grasp on reality starts to slip.<\/p>\n

The bonus interview featurette with Barilli (in Italian, with optional English subs) covers most of the film\u2019s production, although there\u2019s no discussion of the main locations. Pity there aren\u2019t samples of the campaign art in a stills gallery, nor the trailers to see how the film was sold to European and American audiences.<\/p>\n

Barilli\u2019s film career is quite small, but includes his screenwriting debut, Who Saw Her Die? <\/strong>(1972), and the cannibal classic The Man from Deep River <\/strong>(1972), both written with D\u2019Avak. After directing the 1977 giallo Pensione paura<\/strong>, Barilla stepped away from film until a series of sporadic TV and documentary efforts.<\/p>\n

Mimsy Farmer\u2019s other giallo efforts include Dario Argento\u2019s Four Flies on Grey Velvet <\/strong>(1971) and Armando Crispino\u2019s misogynistic Autopsy<\/strong> \/ Macchie solari<\/strong> (1975).<\/p>\n

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\u00a9 2011 Mark R. Hasan<\/p>\n

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Related links:<\/em><\/p>\n

DVD \/ Film: \u00a0Autopsy<\/strong> \/\u00a0Macchie solari<\/strong><\/a> (1975)<\/p>\n

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Related external links (MAIN SITE):<\/em><\/p>\n

DVD \/ Film: \u00a0Death Laid an Egg<\/a><\/strong> (1968) — Who Saw Her Die?<\/a> <\/strong>(1972)<\/p>\n

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External References<\/em>:<\/p>\n

IMDB <\/a>— Soundtrack Album<\/a> — Composer Filmography<\/a><\/p>\n

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Buy from:<\/em><\/p>\n

Amazon.com<\/strong> \u2013\u00a0The Perfume of the Lady in Black (Il Profumo della Signora in Nero)<\/a><\/p>\n

Amazon.ca<\/strong> –\u00a0Perfume of the Lady in Black<\/a><\/p>\n

Amazon.co.uk <\/strong> –\u00a0Perfume of the Lady in Black [DVD] [1974] [Region 1] [US Import] [NTSC]<\/a><\/p>\n

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Return to<\/strong>:\u00a0Home <\/a>\/\u00a0Blu-ray, DVD, Film Reviews<\/a> <\/em><\/em><\/em>\/\u00a0P to R<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Return to: Home \/\u00a0Blu-ray, DVD, Film Reviews \/ P to R . Film: Very Good\/ DVD Transfer: Excellent\/ DVD Extras: Very Good Label: Raro Video (USA)\/ Region: 1 (NTSC) \/\u00a0Released: March 22, 2011 Genre: Giallo \/ Thriller \/ Horror \/ Occult Synopsis: Traumatic memories from a chemist’s past begin to collide with strange supernatural vsions, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false},"categories":[18],"tags":[520,517,519,521],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p8nuyW-Mq","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3002"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3002"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3002\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3005,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3002\/revisions\/3005"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3002"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3002"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3002"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}