Product: La Sindrome di Stendhal
Rating: 3.0
Difficult and contradictory but occasionally fascinating
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 Argento's pitiful 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 - for all Lloyd Kaufman's boasts of releasing the uncut version, 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 that offered only the English dub. The extras were a mixed bag too - three interviews with Dario Argento (one about Phantom of the Opera), a TV spot, stills gallery, interview with fx man Sergio Stivaletti and, for no discernible reason, Ruggero Deodato on Cannibal Holocaust and far too much Troma crap. 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.