Âmes perdues

Stunning cinematography, beautiful 70's aesthetic, charismatic actors and a sad/twisted Gothic story. That's enough to make any cinephile invest in this movie and watch it pleasantly. Gassman is imposing, commanding the screen. Deneuve is not just a beautiful face but a great actress, too. Of course, it's a flawed movie. If you think it through, story doesn't make much sense, plot has many holes. But it's a 70's mystery movie, they didn't care much back then for realism and verisimilitude, focusing on other aspects of film making. And they did fine because 70's cinema is among the best cinematic decades ever, if not the best.

Keep in mind though, this is more mystery than horror. You don't watch movies like this in order to get scared. Sit back and enjoy the show. Although, in the end, it's not that" "enjoyable", more like sad and heart breaking.

This Italian-French co-production could easily be thrown into the Italian giallo genre of the time, but it is really a pretty unique film that differs from other films in that genre in several major respects. First off, it is much more of a big-budget, arty affair with big-name actors like Vittorio Gassman and Catherine Deneuve, and a director who had just come off a big international art-house success with "Profuma di Donna" (the original Italian version of "Scent of a Woman" which also featured Gassman). It's also much more obscure than most giallo and was never clumsily dubbed into English. Mostly though it has a plot that actually makes sense and it develops slowly and subtly--quite a contrast from the hysterical tone and overwrought style of most gialli.

A naive young man studying art in Venice comes to stay with distant relatives, an elderly uncle (Gassman) and a somewhat younger aunt (Deneuve). In "Jane Eyre" fashion he discovers that his uncle is apparently keeping his insane brother in a secret room in an attic. His curiosity is piqued and he begins to investigate with his new artist model/girlfriend (Alcinee Alvina), and quickly discovers that all is not as it seems with his mysterious relatives.

You have to have a little patience with this film (especially if you're expecting a typical giallo). The atmosphere builds up slowly, but ultimately quite effectively. There is no graphic violence at all and no sex (aside from a memorable nude scene from the gorgeous Alvina). The final revelations at the end though are as perverse and disturbing as anything you'll find in any other giallo, with intimations of child abuse, incest, and the dual nature of man. Without giving too much away, this movie ends up being one of the best, most faithful adaptations of a certain classic story by R.L. Stevenson that I've seen. It's very hard to find, but find it.

i had heard about this flick,as a giallo & i liked the previous collaboration of Risi/Gassman in "Profumo Di Donna", so i was curious to watch this "anima persa".

even though this movie is't a gaillo at all,(it doesn't have typical giallo's elements), but it could be classified as a decent horror film. it's impossible for the viewer to forget a major thing : Gassman' penetrating eyes! (what a good actor he is) & he definitely steals the movie.

it could be predictable after the half,that what's going on , but this movie is entertaining to watch.

"Anima Persa" perhaps isn't the strangest film I have ever seen, but it's definitely in the top 10. The difference is, however, whereas most strange films are pretentious and just plain dull, this is one of the most fascinating and haunting motion pictures ever made. I've seen "Anima Persa" listed as a Giallo, but it really isn't one. It's not because a film is Italian, made in the 70s and set in Venice, that it's automatically a Giallo. It's one of those movies that are nearly impossible to classify.

For his art studies, 19-year-old Tino goes to Venice, where he moves in with his aunt Sofia and his uncle Fabio in their old but imposing mansion. His stay starts out wonderful, as he falls in love with the school's resident nude model Lucia, but at home things are a psychological nightmare. Fabio is a tyrant with insane ideologies, Sofia is petrified of her dominant husband, and locked away in the attic lives Fabio's mentally deranged brother. The plot doesn't seem to have any more twists in store, and yet it builds up further to an almost unbearably tense climax. I honestly didn't see the final revelation coming, even though - afterwards - it seems so logical. Admittedly the ending also raises many questions, but one thing's for sure: it's utterly astounding and 200% unique.

The two great names in the cast, Catherine Deneuve and Vittorio Gassman, give away stellar performances. Even though their characters are unpleasant, and most of the time you would just like to slap them both in the face, they form a tremendous pair. The other cast members are excellent, too, notably the ravishing Alvina and Ester Carloni as the cocky old housemaid Annetta. "Anima Persa" is a unique experience. It's not horror, but more atmospheric and unsettling than most horror. Only the great Italian directors, like Dino Risi, could accomplish this.

According to my Aurum Encyclopedia of Horror, Dino Risi's Anima Persa can be read as a critique of filmic realism, as an illustration of psychoanalytic processes, or as a political argument, while the entire film is constructed in terms of a process of splitting or 'doubling, making every identity suspect and undermining any sense of emotional and intellectual security.

What is even more baffling than that load of old twaddle is why the film is in the book in the first place: it's not a horror. It's not even a giallo, as some have described it. No-one gets killed. At all. In fact, no-one suffers so much as a stubbed toe. Yes, there's a madman in an attic, but all he stabs with his carving knife is a watermelon. Which might be scary if you're a watermelon, I suppose, but I'm not, and I doubt you are either.

Set in Venice, the film sees teenager Tino (Danilo Mattei) go to stay with his Aunt Sofia (Catherine Deneuve) and Uncle Fabio (Vittorio Gassman) at their sprawling but run-down home. At night, Tino hears strange noises and suspects that someone is living in the attic, which turns out to be true: Fabio keeps his crazed brother Berto there, under lock and key, rather than commit his sibling to an asylum. After this revelation, the plot goes nowhere slowly, with Berto locked in his room, occasionally appearing at the door peephole covered in paint and waggling his tongue.

Tino becomes friendly with Lucia (Anicée Alvina), the pretty life model at his art classes, Uncle Fabio bickers with his wife, and Tino sees his uncle's wild side on a night out on the town. No-one gets killed. In the film's final act, Berto's real identity is revealed and a family secret comes to light. I repeat, no-one is killed.

N. B. Vittorio Gassman actually plays a gas man, Fabio having worked for a Venetian gas company.