L'étrange vice de Madame Wardh

My old buddy Rob, who knows more about "psychotronic" movies than anybody I know, recently e-mailed me to rave about a film he'd just seen, "The Strange Vice of Mrs. Wardh" (1970). He urged me to put this Italian thriller, of the kind nowadays called "giallo," on my list of films to rent. Well, I'd never heard of this movie before, and my list of films to rent right now is pretty darn long, but, believing that there's always room for giallo (ouch!), I put it right at the top of my rental list, and boy, am I ever glad I did! "Mrs. Wardh" turns out to be a very suspenseful, stylish, sexy and violent thriller that really does keep you guessing. In it, Edwige Fenech plays the wife of a stockbroker, living in Austria, who becomes the target of a serial slasher (as has been pointed out elsewhere, those giallo killers really do seem to gravitate toward the ol' straight-edge razor, for some reason). I hadn't seen Ms. Fenech in anything before, but can understand now why she is such a beloved cult actress in Europe. She is remarkably attractive in this film, at 22 years of age, and a modern-day interview with the actress, included on this DVD from the fine folks at No Shame, reveals that she is, astonishingly, still quite beautiful today, 35 years later. Anyway, besides Fenech's exquisite presence, this film boasts gorgeous location shooting in Vienna and Sitges (near Barcelona), Spain, as well as trippy background music that will haunt your memory for days. The film is atmospheric as can be and has been directed with style to spare by Sergio Martino. I guarantee you won't foresee any of the twists and turns that this ingeniously plotted film dishes out. It's a real winner. Thanks, Rob!

THE STRANGE VICE OF MRS. WARDH (Sergio Martino - Italy/Spain 1970).

A bit of an essential Giallo entry, Martino's first thriller, although I personally prefer his fourth giallo YOUR VICE IS A LOCKED ROOM AND ONLY I HAVE THE KEY (1972), also starring Edwige Fenech, which has the pleasant setting of a country-estate and is even more lurid, over-the-top and slightly less predictable than this one.

This was Fenech's first starring role for producer (and lover) Luciano Martino and the rest of the cast soon became Martino-regulars, playing very similar roles in his later films: Edwige Fenech as calculating victim, George Hilton as the ever-conniving smoothie and evil-looking Ivan Rassimov as the malicious outsider who would become one of the regular bad guys in Italian genre cinema. Fenech plays the kind of character here that would become her trademark, a sexually liberated, glamorous and utterly shallow fashionista. She plays Julie Wardh, the restless wife of an official at the American embassy in Vienna and an investment broker (either one of these, or both, quite an unusual combination of professions!) who is disturbed by reports about a sex killer. She is convinced she is being stalked by Jean (Rassimov), a sadistic ex-lover, and, worse still, suspects that he may the killer. We also learn, through numerous flashbacks, that they had quite a kinky and sadomasochistic relationship. In the meantime a killer, a blonde woman is slashed to death while taking a shower. This doesn't stop Julie from a little fawning with George (a suave George Hilton), the cousin of her attractive friend Carol. Unsurprisingly, she's the next target of the razor-killer who terrorizes her in an underground car park and even all the way into Spain, where she thought she was save.

Many of Martino's films feel a bit over-polished to me. I recently watched a whole bunch of his films, including his crime thriller THE VIOLENT PROFESSIONALS (1973) as well as Fulci's DON'T TORTURE A DUCKLING (1972), which easily is superior to this one, but very raw, even somewhat shabby and unpolished in comparison with Martino's carefully stylized productions. Certainly a handsome production with substantial doses of sexual perversion and misogynistic violence and enough twists and turns to make for an entertaining thriller. And one has to give it to him, Martino has a real knack in framing some impressive shots, such as the glass-breaking scene in one of Fenech's flashbacks. The plot is fairly straight-forward, not needlessly over-complicated and by giallo-standards, the number of oddball characters and bizarre suspects is limited, but the ending is incredibly far-fetched and even hints at the super-natural. Where did that suddenly came from, Gastaldi? Logic and common sense is best left home when watching this one, but - unless you're on medication - you're probably gonna need a couple of drinks to fully appreciate this pleasantly lurid masochistic puzzle.

Camera Obscura --- 7/10

Much like the slasher films of the U.S., the Italian giallo movement is more known for its incredibly high highs than it's truly awful lows. It becomes fairly obvious once you start seeking a lot of these films out that there are more lousy ones than great ones, but every now and then, one surprises you and The Strange Vice of Mrs. Wardh is, indeed, very surprising.

Taking a more thoughtful and character driven approach to giallo storytelling, it focuses on Julie, an ambassador's wife who's gotten out of a troubled relationship with a sadist and just wants to move on with her life. It doesn't help that there's a mad razor murderer out there and her former lover has been stalking her. Even worse, she falls for a mysterious and handsome friend of a friend who complicates things even more.

The stunning Austrian location photography, beautiful music score, and hypnotic presence of Edwige Fenech helps things move along at a nice pace and having interesting character drama keeps things exciting even when the mad razor slasher isn't terrorizing anyone. This might make for a good gateway giallo for those unfamiliar with the genre. It's not as wild or supernatural as some of the nuttier ones and not as deathly dull as many of the lesser tier ones.

Originally denied a certificate in the UK Sergio Martino's Giallo "The Strange Vice of Mrs Wardh" is stylish, violent and sexy in equal measure, even in this dubbed version. It's the type of film that does exactly what it says on the tin and fans of the genre certainly won't be disappointed. Personally, I've never really seen the attraction of badly dubbed sexploitation pictures in which beautiful women get hacked to death in gloating close-up while either a discordantly jangly or quasi-religious score throbes away in the background.

Here a serial slasher is terrorising women in Vienna and terrorised ambassador's wife Julie Wardh, (the gorgeous Edwige Fenech), suspects it's her ex-lover Jean. Of course, Mrs Wardh has a strange vice in that she enjoys kinky, rough sex and what Giallo would be complete without a dollop or three of kinky, rough sex and several more dollops of explicit female nudity not to mention a whole barrel load of red-herrings. Just the kind of thing that might have played in the cinemas of Soho (or Derry's Palace Picturehouse), back in the day and very enjoyable it is too.

THE STRANGE VICE OF MRS. WARDH is another classic giallo from Director Sergio Martino. The magnificent Edwige Fenech stars as Julie Wardh, a diplomat's bored wife who is haunted by her past affair with a sexual deviant. Meanwhile, a black-gloved serial murderer is carving up beautiful women nearby.

This is Ms. Fenech's movie and she's a true marvel, whether clothed or unclothed. Her icon status in this genre is beyond debate.

Loaded with mystery, suspense, bloody deaths, a variety of European locations, copious female nudity, and red herrings to distract us, this is among Mr. Martino's best efforts. The multi-twist finale is one for the ages!...