Das Parfüm der Dame in Schwarz

The Perfume of the Lady in Black (Francesco Barilli 1974) is a beautiful and fascinating film. Like a previous reviewer, it took me 2 projections before I could fully grasp what Barilli had wanted to do and mostly accomplished with this film.

The problem comes from the fact that this if often advertised as a Dario Argento-like Giallo, and it's anything but that. While it's easy to see the visual and atmospheric influence this film had on Argento, The Perfume is much closer to an Antonioni film than it is to other Italian scare flicks. Watch it with this approach in mind and you will be literally hypnotized.

Kudos to the main actress who delivers a great performance in a role that had no precise definition on paper!

Sylvia (Mimsy Farmer), an industrial scientist, is troubled by strange hallucinations related to the tragic suicide of her mother.

After the success of "Rosemary's Baby" (1968), the Italian horror world began to embrace Satanic and occult stories. This is one of them. Director Francesco Barilli took a cue from early Argento and made a giallo with some dark undertones. He previously wrote a script for Umberto Lenzi, but had not directed a feature himself.

The cast may not be well-known outside of Italy, but have appeared in Lenzi, Argento and D'Amato films. One even appeared in the notorious "Salo", and a few starred alongside Daria Nicolodi in a picture. So there is plenty of connection here.

This film is beautifully shot with excellent color and better than average acting. It deserves more recognition than it gets. Wikipedia and IMDb are relatively silent on the film's creation, and even Italian horror historian Luca Palmerini has little more than a sentence to say about it in his book...

Upon first viewing, I did not know what to make of this movie. It is certainly interesting, but non-linear and difficult to understand. "What is going on?" I thought. A second viewing made it clear to me: this really is a near-masterpiece of giallo/thriller-cinema! From the haunting melody during the titles until the totally surprising and shocking ending, you will be mesmerized, confounded and thrilled. Mimsy Farmer walks around in semi-interested fashion for most of the time, but that is very much in tune with the whole story. A highly effective performance. The other castmembers are adequate, nothing more. Beautifully and imaginatively directed by Barilli who holds you attention even during scenes that could easily have been boring in their complete uneventfulness. And most scenes are accompanied by one of the most effective scores in a giallo ever heard. Properly marketed and aimed at the right audience, this film could be a future cultfavorite. A must-see for the adventurous moviegoer!

"Il profumo della signora in nero", a.k.a. "The Perfume of the Lady in Black", is a weird and confused Italian horror cult-movie with the gorgeous Mimsy Farmer in the lead role and great performance. The plot is visibly inspired in Roman Polanski's "Repulsion" (1965) and "Rosemary's Baby" (1968), with a bizarre and gruesome conclusion. The production has quality above the average films made in Italy in the 70's. However, it is recommended only for very specific audiences. My vote is five.

Title (Brazil): "O Perfume da Senhora de Negro" ("The Perfume of the Lady in Black")

"Il Profumo Della Signora In Nero" aka. "The Perfume Of The Lady In Black" (1974) is a film that enjoys a certain cult-status among my fellow fans of Italian Horror, and I was therefore curious to see it for quite some time. When I finally saw it recently, the film was not quite what I expected, but not in a negative sense, as it certainly didn't disappoint me. Having deliberately read no reviews before watching it, I was probably most surprised by the film since I had been mislead to believe that "The Perfume Of The Lady In Black" is a typical Giallo, whereas it is much rather an occult psychological Horror film. The fact that this beautifully filmed cult-gem is often named a Giallo is probably the stunning visual style, which reminds of many early 70s Gialli, such as some of the films by Sergio Martino, or Dario Argento's earlier work. The early films of Roman Polanski (especially "Repulsion" clearly served as an influence to this film. If there is one Giallo that "The Perfume Of The Lady In Black" is comparable to, it is probably Sergio Martino's "Tutti I Colori Del Buio" ("All The Colors Of The Dark", 1972), but the similarity also lies in the nightmarish atmosphere of upcoming insanity rather than in the Giallo-esquire elements (such as the typical depiction of murders, the mystery about the killer's identity etc.). One will not find a black-gloved killer butchering dozens of beauty-queens in "The Perfume Of The Lady In Black".

What one will find, however, is cinematic beauty, genuine creepiness, a nightmarish atmosphere and utter insanity in equal doses in this bizarre, sometimes confusing, sometimes spine-chilling gem. The beautiful Mimsy Farmer stars as Silvya Hachermann, a chemist tormented by nightmarish visions related to her own childhood... I don't want do give too much of the storyline away, since it is unforeseeable and often bizarre, but I am sure it will appeal to most of my fellow Italian Horror fans. If the film has one weakness, it is that it is sometimes a bit too confusing, and does not always make perfect sense, but then, the film's obscure, sometimes surreal nature mostly makes up for this. Mimsy Farmer is once again wonderful in her role. Farmer is known to Italian Horror fans for her roles in films like "Macchie Solari" (aka. "Autospsy", 1975), Dario Argento's "Four Flies On Grea Velvet" (1971) and this one. Beautiful as she is, Farmer also has a great talent to play women on the cusp of mental instability, and she once again delivers an outstanding performance here. The other performances are all very good, especially memorable are Mario Scaccia as a friendly elderly neighbor, and Orazio Orlando as a truly sleazy scumbag. "Beautiful" is a word often used to describe this film, and for understandable reasons (at least as far as the visual style goes). This must be one of the most visually striking Italian Horror films of the early/mid 70s, and this is saying something as the combination of this genre, country and period bears countless films that are visually astounding. The photography is as impressive as the settings, and the many occult elements only make the film more effective. The score by Nicola Piovani is also great and contributes a lot to the film's creepy atmosphere. "The Perfume Of The Lady In Black" is a chilling and nightmarish film with an ascending atmosphere of insanity and a brilliant leading performance by Mimsy Farmer. Beautiful and terrifying in equal measures, this stylish and obscure cult-gem is highly recommended to all my fellow fans of Italian Horror.