Homicide parfait au terme de la loi

This rare giallo visibly has a bad reputation all over the planet, and I can't really understand why; probably because no one has seen it...

Here we have a rich playboy doing boat races, and at one of them he has an accident - his boat shatters and explodes, but he's thrown in the nearby water and rapidly picked up by the medical crew, and after an operation to the brain returns home safe and sound, with some memory loss and a prescription of calm, peace & love for recovery. However, his surroundings - including luscious Rossana Yanni, constantly mini-skirted and looking ready to seduce - stick to his incredibly designed villa, and the killings begin.

First the gardener, and then some other individuals whom I won't name not to spoil anything. The deaths aren't spectacular and we never get to see the killer, so that's a change from other well known gialli... but the plot doesn't really make sense here.

Especially when the end credits roll, we're left with a huge question mark : "What the hell just happened ?" With about 5 writers working on the script, I guess it's just unexplainable. Or it perhaps can be the horrible english dubbing that made me lose some parts...

Confusion aside, this movie is visually gorgeous, with amazing architecture + actors + landscapes. Ivan Rassimov plays his usual self, evil eyebrows included. And there's never a dull moment. In trying to include twists so often, the writers may have forgotten that in the end, it all needs to make at least a bit of sense, but they're forgiven for carving a real impressive mood for the ensemble of the movie. Highly recommended !

A speed-boat racer suffers amnesia after an (apparent) boating accident and goes to his isolated villa to recuperate. His relationship with his wife (Elga Andersen) is troubled, so he starts an affair (sort of) with the another woman (Roseanne Yanni), which results in one of the three of them being shot (in a catfight gone horribly wrong). But there are several more twists--and more murders--to come.

The Italian giallo is generally believed to have originated entirely with the work of Mario Bava and Dario Argento. But there was another parallel strain of the genre, which was a little more subtle and mannered (especially compared to the often bloody, over-the-top Argento films), that was clearly inspired by the seminal French thriller "Diabolique". These gialli, which include pre-Argento films like "Death Laid an Egg" and "The Sweet Body of Deborah" and director Umberto Lenzi's influential trilogy ("Orgasmo", "So Sweet, So Perverse", and "A Quiet Place to Kill"), all involve decadent members of the European "la dolce vita" jet-set crossing and double-crossing each other in ridiculously complicated sex and murder plots. This film is in that vein (even having a "Diabolique"-type twist where a character previously thought to be dead comes back to life).

The giallo genre of that time was blessed with many talented directors, including most notably Bava, Argento, Lenzi, Lucio Fulci, Sergio Martino, and Massimo Dallamano. The director of this is clearly not in that exalted company, but his work is certainly adequate. The ambiance of the isolated villa with one eerie, gnarled tree that seems to provoke hallucinations in the mind of the protagonist is very effective. And a scene at a modern disco where Rosanne Yanni shimmies to groovy music in a ridiculously short mini-skirt ensemble is definitely memorable. Some of your more horny and/or bloodthirsty giallo fans may be a little disappointed. The murders are not particularly effective and are hard to make out (at least in the dark, muddy print I saw). Andersen (or her body double) has nude scenes, but Yanni, while she nevers wears a lot of clothes, never takes them off either. Still, the plot is pretty entertaining, and the great Ivan Rassimov appears in an important supporting role. Not one of the best gialli, but still recommended.

Not that great but not that bad either. The plot is somehow both extremely simple and confusing at the same time, and it is halfway incoherent- something which is said about giallo as a whole, but unfortunately it's missing that trait which redeems other works with that same quality: beautiful visuals. Many (not all) gialli are style-over-substance; that is to say that the plot takes a backseat to the visuals and the atmosphere that bestows. They focus on gorgeous, luscious sets, artistic camerawork, and beautiful locations. Other gialli are tight thrillers, plot focused and over the top works that take hitchock and amplify his tendencies to the 10th degree, creating a campy but coherent 70s erotic murder mystery. This is unfortunately neither. It means to be plot focused, but doesn't do enough. The story is both simple and convoluted, there are things which aren't explained, and it's a slow burner without the atmosphere or visuals to justify that pacing. If you're looking for a giallo to watch you can do a whole lot better than this.

On the flipside, if, like me, you are a giallo fanatic and have eaten up all of the main dishes, this one isn't one you must avoid entirely. It still has enough there to scratch the itch, it isn't completely useless. It's enjoyable as a piece of camp with that giallo feel and the storyline isn't fully worthless, you'll still be interested to know what's happening.

Good giallo in the old psychological way, set in the motorboat race circle. Marco (Philippe Leroy, Senza via d'uscita) is an offshore champion trained by Vincenzo Balestrieri (himself). During a race, his boat has a tough accident and he is hospitalized in the clinic of professor Mauri (Franco Fantasia, Sette Orchidee macchiate di rosso). He recovers but his memory remains weakened. He is welcomed home in his Roman villa by his wife Monica (Elga Endersen, Piu tardi Claire), his lawyer Burt (Ivan Rassimov, Lo Strano Vizio della signora Wardh), and his friend Tommy (Franco Ressel, Un Posto ideale per uccidere) with his girlfriend Terry (Rossana Yanni, The Eye of the Hurricane), who all want to help him to retake a normal life.

But unfortunately corpses start to pile up around Marco, starting with the murder of his former gardener Sante (Franco Balducci, Una Lucertola con la pelle di donna), for the desperation of the police inspector Baldini (Julio Peña, Tre Notti violente). All the characters seem to hide their game and to follow a personal plot around Marco and his valuable family plant. Who would be the more clever of all to build the "perfect homicide within the law limits", helped by the providential crosscurrent flowing near on the sea coast, useful to get rid of inconvenient bodies? The spectator shall get through a little bit too slow rhythm, with the quite overwhelming soundtrack of the English version (fortunately fair in the Spanish one), to, after the regular sequences with cemetery, nightclub, car pursuit, bathroom and spiral staircase, enjoy a very beautiful final full of twists. (Viewed in English 1h28 version.)

When I learned that this giallo featured a speed boat racer, I was less than enthusiastic and when the film opens with a prolonged speed boat race, my mind is already wandering. The music and strange sounds that make up the soundtrack are very good, the crazy architectural weirdness that is the villa where most of the subsequent action takes place, is great and once Elga Andersen and Rosanna Yanni appear things are starting to look up. The ever reliable Ivan Rassimov also helps and yet having got over the rather slow start the film begins to throw up confusion. Maybe it was the dark print and misleading English dub but I certainly became confused and when later we begin to realise what we are supposed to believe it is no wonder! But almost as I began to despair, the picture improves, clothes become loosened, murder is to the fore and things generally brighten up for a glorious last half hour or so.