Identikit (1974)

User Rating:

5.5/10   

Director:

Giuseppe Patroni Griffi

Writers:

Raffaele La Capria (writer)
Giuseppe Patroni Griffi (writer)

Release Date:

10 October 1975 (USA)

Genre:

Drama

Tagline:

Was she really mad enough to plot her own murder?

Plot:

Mentally disturbed spinster Lise (Taylor) experiences a series of bizarre encounters in Rome as she searches for someone to murder her.

Plot Keywords:

Rome | Murder | Police Investigation | Surrealism | Nonlinear Timeline

Cast

Elizabeth Taylor	...	Lise
Ian Bannen	...	Bill
Guido Mannari	...	Carlo
Mona Washbourne	...	Mrs. Helen Fiedke
Luigi Squarzina	...	Lead Detective
Maxence Mailfort	...	Pierre
Andy Warhol	...	English Lord
Anita Bartolucci	...	Saleswoman
Gino Giuseppe	...	Police Commissioner (as Gino Giuseppe C.S.C.)
Marino Masé	...	Traffic Policeman
Bedy Moratti	...	Dress Shop Owner
Dino Mele	...	Police Captain
Alessandro Perrella	...	Detective (as Alessandro Perrella C.S.C.)
Quinto Parmeggiani	...	Hotel Waiter
Nadia Scarpitta	...	Elderly Lady at airport (as Nadia Scarpitta Pernice)

Also Known As:

Psychotic
The Driver's Seat

Runtime:

105 min | USA:102 min

Country:

Italy

Language:

Italian | English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

USA:R

Filming Locations:

Munich, Bavaria, Germany

Company:

Rizzoli Film

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Rate It X (1986)

It works on a certain level

This obscure movie, which has been so unfairly panned by the critics of its time, actually manages to deliver what I believe was the intention, a disintegrating world of a psychotic woman. As viewers, we are somewhere in the middle of two layers of realities, the one being the compulsive psyche of the main character, Lise, portrayed by Liz Taylor, and the other one being the absurd and incoherent events in her surroundings. I quite like this film, I had expected a B-movie with second rate production values, but I was at least partly mistaken, the cinematography is effective in painting the psychotic state of mind, example; Lise turning to her right, framed in the left side of the screen, when addressing someone. Another scene, where Lise is attempting to get in touch with a woman she befriended just recently, who may be stuck in the lavatory from some illness, we see Lise at the same time completely absorbed by her own mirror image, disconnected from any real emotional concern over the lady that might be in peril. Maybe some think these are cheap means of making a weird and psychotic setting, still the movie makes the viewer access the process of disintegration of Lise. Furthermore, some scenes are chillingly before its time regarding terror events and crimes; terror do pop up everywhere these days, and maybe a modern day public can better identify themselves with a confused and disintegrating persona as Lise. We can barely understand our own feelings and our driving forces - how can we then understand the complexity of the human society in terms of terror and conflicts?