Le duo de la mort

It could not have come from a different country nor from a different time. This movie simply oozes psychedelia influenced late 60s Italian cinema. So, pseudo serious and sexually free. Sumptuous settings and dreamy music make this a visual and aural delight. Plus we get the lovely Dagmar Lassander, surely at her very best looking. The kinky goings on make for a wild ride and if the romps amidst the Mimosa towards the end seem overlong it is but another rather charming trait of the time. You were probably expected to split those few minutes between the screen and your girlfriend and it does of course herald a twist in the proceedings. It might have been better if Philippe Leroy didn't look quite so odd with his fraying red hair and twisted facial expression. He does well though and has many silent moments where Dagmar is cavorting and he has to show a mixture of love and hate. Not an ordinary narrative film by any means but for those who like that something different, this is certainly that.

From today's point of view it is quite ridiculous to rate this film 18 (or X in the US). The film has a sexual, yet sublime erotic story to tell, but the pictures are rather innocent. Throughout the movie you feel and see the spirit of the late 60s and early 70s in the fashion, the dialogues and the typical experimental cinematography and lighting. And this is exactly the part that makes it worth seeing.

The Frightened Woman is a curious piece of Eurocult, much along the same lines as the films that Jess Franco was churning out around the same time. The film very much captures the feel of late sixties to early seventies European cinema and the atmosphere is definitely the film's best asset. It's lucky that the film will to appeal to fans of this sort of film too, as the idea behind the central plot line is pretty damn ridiculous! I'm not sure if there was some sort of paranoid science related thing happening in Italy in the late sixties, but films like this and the bizarre Giallo Death Laid an Egg suggest to me that something was going on... Anyway, our lead character, Dr. Sayer, has somehow got it into his head that women are taking steps to eliminate the need for men, and so he kidnaps a young lady named Maria. It turns out that he actually does this sort of thing all the time, and has got into the habit of killing his partner every time he has sex. However, things take a turn for the unexpected when Maria convinces him to change his ways.

Naturally, the entire film is really rather pointless; and while The Frightened Woman isn't exactly a thrill ride, there's still some interest. The speeches from the lead man are interesting in a completely nonsensical sort of way. The acting is typically trashy, although the leads; Philippe Leroy and Dagmar Lassander give decent leading performances considering the type of film. The majority of the film centres around the forced relationship between the two central characters, and this is somewhat the film's downfall. The problem is that what they're doing isn't always all that interesting; and the relaxed flow of the film means that it can become a bit dreary at times. The locations are good, however, and the bachelor pad in which most of the action takes place is a good representative of the period in which the film was made. As a 'battle of the sexes', it has to be said that The Frightened Woman veers more towards femininity, which is odd considering the way that women are usually treated in Eurocult cinema. Overall, I wouldn't recommend anyone going out of their way to find this film; but if you're a fan of trashy Jess Franco stuff, you might just like this too.

A young journalist, kind of a tame 60's Euro version of a feminist, finds herself kidnapped by a deranged male artist. He shows her photographs of a number of a women he claims to have killed, and promises to do the same to her when he's finished having his way with her. She seems to develop a case of Stockholm syndrome and soon becomes his willing playmate. But at the end neither of the them turns out to be what they initially appear (to give you just a hint, this movie is alternatively called either "The Frightened Woman" and "The Laughing Woman"). The plot of this movie resembles both the earlier film "The Collector" and the later "The Story of O", but it is very different from either. It also somewhat resembles the contemporary Japanese "pinku" movies, but is much more tame. Like other Italian movies released by Radley Metzger's Audobon Films (i.e. "La Matriarca)it kind of resembles one of Metzger's own films as well, but it is really its own unique creature.

With the possible exception of Metzger's "The Punishment of Anne" (which I've never seen) this might be the best version of a B-and-D/S- and-M film. (Granted, that's not saying much). This movie works as a B-and-D fantasy because it really explores the relationship and the ever-shifting nature of power between the dominant and submissive partner, and also because, even more importantly, it STAYS at the level of fantasy. In America they are so nervous about this subject for some reason that it is actually illegal to tie someone up in a hardcore porno movie. This may not be such a bad thing though because in countries like France and Germany, which have no such compunctions, the introduction of a hardcore footage into a B-and-D plot creates a jarring realism so at odds with the psychosexual fantasy that the whole thing, far from being exciting and disturbing, is mostly just silly and stupid. (There are also, of course, plenty of people who actually live this "lifestyle", but the less said of them the better).

The much more subtle, even tame approach really works here (for me). I especially enjoyed the pop-art set design and the kind of Freudian obsessions that were big in those days (i.e. one of the artists sculpture's looks like giant vagina dentata). The movie really doesn't get much more racy than Dagmar Lassender dancing around in an unraveling paper dress (but then again you ought to SEE Dagmar Lassender dance around in an unraveling paper dress), or more violent than some of the slide photographs the artist shows of his previous murder victims(which may not be genuine). I'm sure this arty and rather mild movie will disappoint both the serious porn addicts and the truly perverted S-and-M/bondage freaks, but for all of us curious (but not THAT curious) Euro movie fans it's a pretty decent way to go.

If you need that instant buzz that only late 60s/early 70s Euro sex movies can give off, then look no further for you have just stumbled across the mother lode ! Subsequent TV director Schivazappa's exercise in psychedelic porn (of the soft core variety) may not generally be considered as a classic of its kind but it knocks many better known titles from the likes of Tinto Brass, Jess Franco and Joe D'Amato for a loop. Radley Metzger sure was hip to this way before anyone else when he picked up this marvelously twisted little number for US distribution through his company Audubon. Gorgeous cinematography (favouring symmetrical compositions) may elicit cries of 'pretentiousness' from those who swear by shoddy skin flicks shot in someone's backyard. Hey, as far as I'm concerned, it's their loss for this is one thrill ride of a movie with twists so, well, twisted that you may not even believe them after you have actually witnessed them on screen ! Dagmar Lassander (immortalized as the gone to seed landlady from Lucio Fulci's HOUSE BY THE CEMETERY) has never looked more exquisite than she does here, subtly portraying the innocent (?) researcher held hostage by mad medic Philippe Leroy (with all the art-house favorites to his name, you wonder whether he has the good humor to mention this one on his c.v.) as their initially violent 'relationship' turns to S&M-tinged love story. Nothing is what it seems however in this sick and imaginative gem of a movie with several truly erotic moments achieved with surprisingly minimal nudity. I for one was completely baffled and enchanted by the way Schivazappa chose to suggest oral sex during one scene (I'll let you find that one out for yourselves...) and Lassander's gauze-clad boogie to an impossibly groovy 60s tune should have become iconic in a way similar to the image of Sylvia Kristel reclining in that wicker chair in her EMMANUELLE days. You may not know this film just yet, but trust me, once seen you'll never forget it !!!