La sindrome di Stendhal (1996)

Director:

Dario Argento

Writers:

Graziella Magherini (novel)
Dario Argento (story) ...

Release Date:

26 January 1996 (Italy)

Genre:

Crime | Thriller | Horror

Plot:

A young policewoman slowly goes insane while tracking down an elusive serial rapist/killer through Italy when she herself becomes a victim of the brutal man's obsession.

Plot Keywords:

Policewoman | Trap | Painting | Rapist | Museum

Awards:

1 nomination

Cast

Asia Argento	...	Det. Anna Manni
Thomas Kretschmann	...	Alfredo Grossi
Marco Leonardi	...	Marco Longhi
Luigi Diberti	...	Insp. Manetti
Paolo Bonacelli	...	Dr. Cavanna
Julien Lambroschini	...	Marie
John Quentin	...	Anna's father
Franco Diogene	...	Victim's husband
Lucia Stara	...	Shop assistant
Sonia Topazio	...	Victim in Florence
Lorenzo Crespi	...	Giulio
Vera Gemma	...	Policewoman
John Pedeferri	...	Hydraulic engineer
Veronica Lazar	...	Marie's mother
Mario Diano	...	Coroner

Also Known As:

Stendhal's Syndrome
The Stendhal Syndrome

Runtime:

120 min | Argentina:114 min | USA:113 min

Country:

Italy

Language:

Italian

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.66 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

Canada:18+ (Ontario) | Canada:18+ (Quebec) | Singapore:M18 | Argentina:18 | Finland:K-18 | Germany:18 | Italy:VM14 | Portugal:M/18 (video premiere) | Sweden:15 | UK:18 (cut) | USA:Unrated

Filming Locations:

Cinecittà Studios, Cinecittà, Rome, Lazio, Italy

Company:

Cine 2000

Trivia:

At one point the film was set to be made in American with Daryl Hannah cast as Anna Manni. The plans fell through and the production was moved to Italy.

Movie Connections:

References Lo squartatore di New York (1982)

Through the looking-glass darkly

What makes up the singular pleasure that is Dario Argento? Maybe it's the crossroads where High Romanticism and hardcore porn meet. (I'm referring to the feeling of his work--not the images.) Argento seems doomed, like Peckinpah and like Lynch, to have summed up his world-view in a single masterpiece, the 1977 SUSPIRIA; the thrillers that came before and the low-budget shockers that came after may offer delights, but nothing close to that unity of vision.

Seeing THE STENDHAL SYNDROME projected in Los Angeles, I was struck with newfound sympathy for the Star Wars fans protesting way too much in favor of THE PHANTOM MENACE. If you love THE STENDHAL SYNDROME, you love Argento, and that is that--you may see the flaws, but they don't ruin your pleasure. The picture has too many Achilles heels to enumerate here, but what's important is that nobody in world cinema today is wrestling with his soul in the psychosexual mire the way Argento does. He puts his misogynistic demons and his almost sentimental compassion right out there; and only Cronenberg has such a direct pipeline to his own unconscious. Not to mention the fabulous, cascading images--Argento's stock-in-trade is Victorian Liebestod, Edward Gorey gone porno, and THE STENDHAL SYNDROME has sequences that rank with his best.

The sketchy thing about STENDHAL SYNDROME, like the maestro's TRAUMA, is his use of his daughter, Asia Argento, in scenes one cannot imagine a father watching, much less filming. Whatever memoirs come down the pike twenty years later, it must be said: Argento for certain lets it all hang out, and the land-mined terrain he maps is, to my taste, thrilling.