Product: La Sindrome di Stendhal
Rating: 4.0
Vastly underrated
It still astonishes me how often this film seems to get slated. From the first time I saw it, I have always rated it among Argento's best. A popular train of current thought seems to welcome Nohosonno as return to form since his last major triumph, OPERA. Apart from the fact that I think these two films are often overrated (they are still great films), this does a grave injustice to Stendhal. But then again, I also quite like Phantom of the Opera, must be the Asia factor! (rightly acknowledged by most as one of Argento's weaker efforts; however, given his pedigree, this is not as bad as it would for most).The Troma release is unusual in that the voluminous extras tend to clash with the main feature. You can easily ignore these if they are not to your taste. I bought the special edition of Smow White (largely due to the Suspiria connection), and have still to watch any of the 7 hours (or whatever) of bonus materials.The picture quality does seem quite washed out, but having not seen the French DVD or any projected version, I don't know how much of this is directorial intent. It fits quite nicely to the atmosphere of the film / Morricone's music.I hope this film earns greater recognition as the years progress. It may also come to be seen to as the prologue to the new trinity of giallo that Argento is working on. His new film, I seem to remember reading somewhere, also involves Asia playing a policewoman.