The Stendhal Syndrome (1996)

Repulsion and Then Some

Fete of Death
"The Stendhal Syndrome" is a dark, brilliant, unnerving, and beautiful excursion into the mind of a policewoman who is brutally assaulted. Clearly, this is one of Dario Argento's masterworks, aided by a haunting score by the talented Ennio Morricone.

Asia Argento, who plays the heroine, becomes unhinged by her violation. She was not a well woman to begin with, suffering fom a syndrome named after the writer Stendhal that causes her to faint when she views certain works of art that overwhelm her. Her sexual victimization pushes her over the brink of madness, and what ensues is sheer terror. She experiences difficulty distinguishing between fantasy and reality. Her psychological predicament becomes all the more heinous when reality, in the guise of her assailant who continues to stalk her, becomes more horrifying than the chimeras conjured by her overheated imagination.

In its depiction of a woman's descent into madness, this film reminds me of Roman Polanski's "Repulsion," but Dario Argento's film is richer and fuller, whereas Polanski's is claustrophobic. "The Stendhal Syndrome" is Argento at the top of his game.

--Bryan Cassiday, author of "Fete of Death" October 26, 2008

Contemporary thriller from Dario Argento.

This was a mediocre film from Argento, while not really a bad film I just didn't like it that much. I used to have the previous edition from Troma which in my honest opinion was terrible and I suggest that people avoid that edition and just get this brilliant two disc special-edition from Blue Underground, this two disc BU release is a vast improvement and has a gorgeous transfer of the extended cut with no grain evident and the colors are clean and stunning. The extras on the second disc definitely make this a worthy purchase for Argento fans with a director interview, behind the scenes with discussions about the project. You also have other informative tidbits like fx work and a discussion with Graziella Magherini about real examples of the Stendhal condition which I thought was very interesting. Dario Argento throughout the past has shaped the aesthetics, themes and visual style of the Italian horror film but somewhere in his career he managed to switch styles and he no longer made the type of films he was famous for, this film is a good example of how different the variations of styles are between his older stuff and the modern thrillers he made later. Dario Argento's daughter Asia Argento portrays Anna Manni, a young detective in pursuit of a savage serial killer-rapist who has been terrorizing Italy. When his trail leads Anna to Florence's famed Uffizi Museum the investigation takes a violently psychotic turn. Anna is struck by the bizarre phenomenon known as the Stendhal Syndrome which is a psychological reaction to artwork that forces Anna into a mysterious trance. Stylishly directed by Dario Argento I thought it was a pretty good giallo/thriller. This time however Argento doesn't use as many camera tricks and weird angles as in some of his previous films, at certain points in the film it becomes rather brutal and violent with several rapes and murders including a sequence in which a woman is shot through both cheeks and the killer looks through both holes at Asia, while that was a good and disturbing sequence there were several others that were just too cheesy and rather bad like the one where Asia's character swallows some pills and we get to see this awful CGI shot of her throat from the inside and another scene where Asia is kissing a weird looking fish, this was just unnecessary and you couldn't take the film seriously with those scenes especially since it deals with a dark and disturbing subject matter. The film's biggest problem is the script which is credited to Dario Argento, Franco Ferrini and Graziella Magherini, the problem was that the killer is revealed almost immediately so there's no surprise or tension as to who's committing these brutal rapes and murders for most of the film and it does drag in places even though it does have a decent storyline with some good characters. The plot twist at the end was kind of silly too but still entertaining and I thought that the film was at least better than Phantom Of The Opera and The truly horrendous Card Player. Good but not brilliant it's at least worth watching especially if your a fan of Italian horror or like watching good psychological thrillers. October 26, 2008

unpleasant, but a pleasant suprise

On watching the first half of this film you'd be forgiven for thinking it's one of those grisly 'rape n' murder' horrors we get all the time nowadays - except for the occasional dream sequence thrown in (sometimes done well but there is some pointless cgi here)
I was shocked by some of the films content as I'm more used to his earlier work (daft slashers with great art direction) and hadn't seen anything by Argento post-'terror at the opera'. However, It was worth sitting through

What struck me the most was how moving I found the second half of this film. You really care for the characters - even the seemingly insignificant support characters - and at the films climax (although totally predictable) I actually weeped like a little girl

That could just be me though

But seriously, Argento has actually gone up in my estimation - There are some truly original moments and themes explored that you wont get in any other genre horror movie - this is a surreal psycological thriller more than anything. Perhaps not as enjoyable as Suspira, Tenebrae or Profondo Rosso - but definitly worth a look if you want to see a different side to Argento's work April 2, 2008

DONT BUY TROMA RELEASE

The Troma release is horrible, do not buy it. If you want a good release of this film, buy the Blue Undergroud disc...it is more than worth the extra money.

The picture and audio quality on the Troma disc is terrible, and the introduction by Lloyd Kaufman is one of the most annoying things I've ever seen. It's a shame that Troma ever got their hands on such a great film. March 16, 2008

Argento's most difficult and contradictory film

The Stendhal Syndrome is probably Dario Argento's most difficult and contradictory film. On one side it's a nasty little thriller about a serial rapist and killer with some unpleasant violence (albeit not as excessive as you might expect). And yet at the same time it does make a genuine effort to build a narrative around the psychological after-effects on one of his victims as she continually reinvents herself in an attempt to run away from the experience. Unfortunately, the fact that she's played by Asia Argento, an actress with more ferocity than subtlety doesn't help. Nor does the fact that the Stendhal Syndrome itself, a form of emotional overload and physical breakdown in the presence of great works of art somewhat similar to the Jerusalem Syndrome, isn't really explored. The bad cgi when it is doesn't help either. Still, it's much, much better than the likes of Phantom of the Opera or The Card Player, but it's not essential viewing by a long, long way.

The film has always had a checkered history on DVD - Troma's release was less than impressive and 74 seconds shorter than the Italian version (a couple of brief dialogue scenes trimmed by Argento himself) with a underwhelming transfer. Whereas the Italian PAL 2-disc DVD offered the dubbed American version and the very slightly longer subtitled Italian version on separate discs but was overcropped to 1.78:1 rather than the original 1.66:1 widescreen, Blue Underground offers the uncut film on the first disc with optional English or Italian soundtracks in 1.66:1 (the film reverts to subtitled Italian for the restored scenes) in a superb transfer supervised by cinematographer Giuseppe Rotuno that finally shows the film in it's true colors after years of grainy and washed-out transfers. There's also a good selection of substantial interviews on the second disc. Although the making of documentary on the Italian two-disc set hasn't been included, with separate interviews with Argento, special effects supervisor Sergio Stivaletti, assistant director Luigi Cozzi and production designer Massimo Antonello Geleng, there's no cause for complaint. Best of all is the fascinating interview with psychological consultant Graziella Magherini, who originally identified the syndrome in the unrelated non-fiction book that inspired the film. February 18, 2008

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