Paranoia (1969)

A rich and lonely American widow befriends two young people whose motives become suspect.

Director:

Umberto Lenzi

Writers:

Umberto Lenzi, Ugo Moretti

Stars:

Carroll Baker, Lou Castel, Colette Descombes

Cast

Credited cast:
Carroll Baker	...	Kathryn West
Lou Castel	...	Peter Donovan
Colette Descombes	...	Eva
Tino Carraro	...	Brian Sanders
Lilla Brignone	...	Teresa
Franco Pesce	...	Martino
Tina Lattanzi	...	Kathryn's Aunt
Jacques Stany	...	Police Inspector
Sara Simoni
Gaetano Imbró
Calisto Calisti
Alberto Corchi	...	(as Alberto Cocchi)
Maria Rosiello
Rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Joseph Guilty	...	Arnold Cleever

Storyline

Kathryn West, a glamorous American widow, arrives in Italy several weeks after the death of her older, extremely wealthy husband. With the help of Brian, her lawyer, Kathryn moves into a luxurious villa and proceeds to lead a lonely, uneventful existence until one day, a handsome young man named Peter Donovan shows up at the front gate, looking for tools so he can fix his sports car. Kathryn lets him stay the night, and the next thing she knows, she's madly making love to him in the shower. Peter eventually moves in, and is soon joined by a free spirit he introduces as Eva, his sister. Kathryn enjoys their company and partying with them - until she begins to suspect that Peter and Eva aren't what they seem to be.

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Plot Keywords:

female full rear nudity | widow | shower | erotica | female bare feet | 

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Taglines:

Love is the tool that strips a jet-set widow bare of her morals and her millions!

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Genres:

Drama | Horror | Musical | Romance | Thriller

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Certificate:

X

Details

Country:

Italy France

Language:

Italian

Release Date:

7 February 1969 (Italy)

Also Known As:

Paranoia

Company Credits

Production Co:

Société Nouvelle de Cinématographie (SNC), Titanus, Tritone Cinematografica

Technical Specs

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

First part of a trilogy also including So Sweet... So Perverse (1969) and A Quiet Place to Kill (1970).

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Goofs

The two times Eva plays the Wess & The Airedales "Just Tell Me", they are different records with very different labels.

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Alternate Versions

Original Italian version titled "Orgasmo" runs 88 minutes; American release is cut to 77 min. and retitled "Paranoia".

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Connections

Featured in Yellow Fever: The Rise and Fall of the Giallo (2016)

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Soundtracks

Fate Had Planned It So
Written by Lydia MacDonald and Piero Umiliani
Sung by Lydia MacDonald

User Reviews

Experiencing `Paranoia'

It's tempting to look at this movie and think: What on earth is Carroll Baker doing in this piece of junk? (One becomes a lot less judgmental after reading Baker's autobiography and finding out this film came along at a time when Baker was in somewhat dire financial straits.)

It's still a piece of junk. "Paranoia" is a nasty, amateurish, inept thriller that tries hard to be sexy, but is more embarrassing than erotic. I don't know how it plays in Italian, but the (partly dubbed) English dialogue is as ghastly as the direction (somebody take away Umberto Lenzi's zoom lens!). There is one intriguing, identity-blurring moment when Baker playfully dons a dark wig that makes her look so much like co-star Colette Descombes, it's spooky. (Yes, of course it's a rip-off of "L'Avventura," but in this film, you take whatever you can get.) The movie's ending is beneath "Contempt."

(Interestingly, Baker in her memoirs mistakenly identifies her character as a divorcée instead of a widow, and never mentions the movie by name, either by its American title, "Paranoia," or its oh-so-charming Italian appellation, "Orgasmo.")