Your Vice Is a Locked Room and Only I Have the Key (1972)
"Il tuo vizio è una stanza chiusa e solo io ne ho la chiave" (original title)

Oliviero is a burned-out writer, living at his estate near Venice, his dead mother dominating his imagination. He is also a degenerate: sleeps with his maid and his ex-student, hosts ... See full summary »

Director:

Sergio Martino

Writers:

Adriano Bolzoni (screenplay), Ernesto Gastaldi (screenplay),

Stars:

Edwige Fenech, Anita Strindberg, Luigi Pistilli

Cast

Credited cast:
Edwige Fenech	...	Floriana
Anita Strindberg	...	Irina Rouvigny
Luigi Pistilli	...	Oliviero Rouvigny
Ivan Rassimov	...	Walter
Franco Nebbia	...	Inspector
Riccardo Salvino	...	Dario
Angela La Vorgna	...	Brenda
Enrica Bonaccorti	...	Hooker
Daniela Giordano	...	Fausta
Ermelinda De Felice	...	Bordello Owner
Marco Mariani	...	Libraio
Nerina Montagnani	...	Mrs. Molinar
Carla Mancini
Bruno Boschetti
Rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Dalila Di Lazzaro	...	Girl who strips on a table in party's

Storyline

Oliviero is a burned-out writer, living at his estate near Venice, his dead mother dominating his imagination. He is also a degenerate: sleeps with his maid and his ex-student, hosts Bacchanalia for local hippies, and humiliates his wife Irina in front of strangers. She lives in terror. When a young woman is murdered, police suspect Oliviero. Things get complicated when his young, beautiful, and self-confident niece, Floriana, pays an unexpected visit. A silver-haired stranger observes. More women die, and thoughts of harming Irina give Oliviero new inspiration. What's Floriana's game and who's the observant stranger? Watching all is a black cat named Satan.

---

Plot Keywords:

black cat | police | maid | niece | cat | 

---

Genres:

Mystery | Thriller

---

Details

Country:

Italy

Language:

Italian

Release Date:

4 August 1972 (Italy)

Also Known As:

Your Vice Is a Locked Room and Only I Have the Key

Filming Locations:

Elios Studios, Rome, Lazio, Italy

Company Credits

Production Co:

Lea Film

Technical Specs

Runtime:

96 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The title is a reference to Sergio Martino's earlier giallo Blade of the Ripper ("The Strange Vice of Mrs. Wardh"), in which the same phrase appears in a mysterious note apparently sent by a killer.

---

Connections

Referenced in The Suspicious Death of a Minor (1975)

User Reviews

vice squad

Sergio Martino's follow-up to "Lo strano vizio della signora Wardh" (The Strange Vice of Mrs. Wardh) isn't quite as interesting as his previous one but still worth seeing. "Il tuo vizio e una stanza chiusa e solo io ne ho la chiave" (Your Vice Is a Locked Room and Only I Have the Key) portrays Oliviero Rouvigny (Luigi Pistilli), a failed writer who likes to hold parties and humiliate his wife Irina (Anita Strindberg) in front of the guests. But things take a turn for the unusual after Oliviero's mistress gets murdered, and then the maid gets murdered, with everything going on under the watchful eye of Oliviero's cat Satan. The arrival of Oliviero's niece Floriana (Edwige Fenech) further complicates things.

This was Martino's fourth giallo movie. I found his previous one - which also starred Fenech - to be a little cleverer and more creative, but I would still recommend this one, which borrows from "The Black Cat" by Edgar Allan Poe. They both remain important pieces of Italian cinema, and specifically they serve to show the changes in cinema that were taking place worldwide in the late '60s and early '70s. Really impressive. Also starring Ivan Rassimov.

I wonder if Edwige Fenech is still making movies.