El síndrome de Stendhal

La Syndrome di Stendahl has met cruel critical comments on its initial release but although it is not at all like his earlier work, it is in fact a far more intelligent and mature affair. Anna Manni, the character played by Asia Argento, has more compassion than any other character in an Argento film, quite unlike the carelessly created cartoon-like characters of his other work. It is true, however that the film drags slightly in the middle, although picks up the pace again for a surprising and beautifully directed finale; and although the film is not as bloody as tenebrae, the violence on display is brutal and sexual (leading to it being cut for release in Britain) and genuinely disturbing. Perhaps not as good as Deep Red or Suspiria, but definitely one of this unusual director's better efforts.

The Stendhal Syndrome is said to be a disorder where, upon viewing works of art, a person suffers from chills, anxiety attacks, and hallucinations where they believe they're actually in the paintings themselves. Don't ask me how real or common this disorder is since I'm not a doctor, but it sure makes for an interesting case study in Dario Argento's The Stendhal Syndrome.

Anna Manni (Asia Argento) is an Italian police detective who goes to an art museum due to an phone tip from a woman claiming that she knows a serial rapist and murderer will be there. Once there, Anna suffers from an attack of Stendhal and ends up getting knocked out. When she comes to, a man is there and he follows her back to her room, rapes her, and kidnaps her, forcing her to watch him murder another victim. She flees from the scene, but the worst is yet to come.

It's hard to talk about this film without spoiling everything, but let's just say that the character of Anna goes through several transitions throughout the film. The 1st act of the film is pretty gripping and the 2nd act isn't terrible either, but by the 3rd act, you get the feeling like they don't know how to wrap this up so they're just stalling and making up stuff to distract us from the fact that the movie hasn't cleared for landing yet. By the end, you'll definitely be left scratching your head and wishing they'd have just ended it a half hour sooner.

Asia Argento isn't ideally suited for the role either and only seems to really come to life during the 2nd act where she adopts a touch, butch persona. She seems uncomfortable in the 1st and 3rd acts. There are also some questionable CGI effects throughout that take you out of the movie and it's not as stylish as many of Dario Argento's other works.

Dario Argento is one of my all-time favorite directors, and probably THE living director I admire the most. The 1990s were a weak decade for Horror in general, and also Argento's weakest. Argento is a cinematic genius, however, and while 90s achievements get nowhere near the brilliance of his masterpieces from the 70s and 80s, films like "Trauma" (1993) or this "Stendhal Syndrome" are nonetheless more than decent Thrillers that outshine the majority of 90s Horror outings.

"La Sindrome Di Stendhal" aka "The Stendhal Syndrome", which was made in-between "Trauma" and the disappointing "Il Fantasma Dell'Opera" (1998), is certainly one of his lesser films, but definitely a more than decent, very suspenseful, atmospheric and often quite weird psychological Horror effort that his fans cannot afford to miss. I like it about equally as I do "Trauma", with a slight preference for "The Stendhal Syndrome" due to the brilliant score by Ennio Morricone. What I found a bit strange is that the film is often labeled as a Giallo, when it is not really. There are no stylishly bloody murders from the killer's perspective, and really what makes the term "Giallo" quite out of place is the fact that the killer's identity is not really a mystery. The suspense is there, however, and most true Horror fans will agree that Argento is the absolute master of suspense. While the film is not quite as exceptionally gory as many other Argento flicks, it is definitely violent, especially the several rape-scenes (one of them taking place quite in the beginning) are more than a bit brutal.

Argento reportedly first wanted to get Bridget Fonda and Jenifer Jason Leigh for the leading role in the film, but his beautiful daughter Asia Argento is, as far as I am considered, the perfect cast for the role. She may look a little too young for an experienced female homicide detective, but she fits the character of her role perfectly, and, as far as I am considered, that is most important. Asia plays detective Anna Manni, a Rome investigator specialized on sex crimes, who is trying to track down a serial rapist and murderer... I do not want to give any more of the plot away. The rest of the performances are also quite good, especially the German actor Thomas Kretschmann delivers a good performance, but Asia Argento sure is the highlight. The film is quite different to Argento's other films, but certainly not bad. None other than the great Ennio Morricone delivers a brilliant and immensely eerie score that intensifies the creepy atmosphere, and, as it is always the case with Argento's films, the film is visually stunning and highly suspenseful.

Dario Argento's masterpieces are his films from the 70s and 80s, and he returned to old greatness in 2001, with the ultra-violent and greatly old-fashioned Neo-Giallo "Non Ho Sonno" (aka. "Sleepless"), which was made in brilliant Argento-tradition. His 90s outings are certainly a bit inferior to the rest of his brilliant repertoire, but they are nonetheless way above average. While it is one of lesser films, "The Stendhal Sydrome" is nevertheless a suspenseful, atmospheric and highly recommendable film with some downright ingenious elements that Horror lovers should definitely not miss. Highly recommended!

I don't really understand why so many Argento fans dislike this film, I think it's one of his best works. It's not always easy to watch, it has some very nasty violence, even for an Argento film, I wouldn't recommend the film to sensitive persons; but it's not for exploitational purposes. Argento does a good job of juggling real-life horrors with a dreamy, hallucinatory atmosphere, and pulls off some typically Argento-esque setpieces, such as the one in which a bullet is followed through a woman's mouth with the aid of CGI. The great Ennio Morricone delivers possibly his best score for a horror film, the haunting main theme with his trademark wordless female vocals stayed with me long after the film was over. Frequent Fellini cameraman Giuseppe Rotunno does an excellent job on the film too.

The Stendhal Syndrome isn't for everyone, but it's worth a viewing for fans of European horror and psychological thrillers in general.

What makes up the singular pleasure that is Dario Argento? Maybe it's the crossroads where High Romanticism and hardcore porn meet. (I'm referring to the feeling of his work--not the images.) Argento seems doomed, like Peckinpah and like Lynch, to have summed up his world-view in a single masterpiece, the 1977 SUSPIRIA; the thrillers that came before and the low-budget shockers that came after may offer delights, but nothing close to that unity of vision.

Seeing THE STENDHAL SYNDROME projected in Los Angeles, I was struck with newfound sympathy for the Star Wars fans protesting way too much in favor of THE PHANTOM MENACE. If you love THE STENDHAL SYNDROME, you love Argento, and that is that--you may see the flaws, but they don't ruin your pleasure. The picture has too many Achilles heels to enumerate here, but what's important is that nobody in world cinema today is wrestling with his soul in the psychosexual mire the way Argento does. He puts his misogynistic demons and his almost sentimental compassion right out there; and only Cronenberg has such a direct pipeline to his own unconscious. Not to mention the fabulous, cascading images--Argento's stock-in-trade is Victorian Liebestod, Edward Gorey gone porno, and THE STENDHAL SYNDROME has sequences that rank with his best.

The sketchy thing about STENDHAL SYNDROME, like the maestro's TRAUMA, is his use of his daughter, Asia Argento, in scenes one cannot imagine a father watching, much less filming. Whatever memoirs come down the pike twenty years later, it must be said: Argento for certain lets it all hang out, and the land-mined terrain he maps is, to my taste, thrilling.