A fairly middling-to-good thriller from Dario Argento; not up there with the best of his, but worth watching anyway, even if just for the stylish photography and twisting character study of madness. It's a very brutal film, too - not particularly gory, but unflinchingly violent nonetheless. Asia Argento is this film's lead, and she has both her good points and bad. Physically, she is able to convincingly look flaky and neurotic, but it has to be said she isn't much of an actress. She's capable, yes, but this is a demanding role and she doesn't quite convince in it. On the other hand, the villain of the piece, Thomas Kretschmann, goes frighteningly over the top as a rapist/psychopath, sweating profusely while spinning a razor blade in his mouth.
However, I felt more for Marco Leonardi's supporting character than I did for Asia. He's an obviously doomed, hopelessly lovestruck cop, Asia's previous boyfriend who doesn't have a chance but who keeps coming back, rejection after rejection. You have to admire his persistence. The film is in typical giallo territory - nice locations, a serial killer brutalising women, a slow police investigation, a tormented lead - and the idea of the Stendhal Syndrome of the title is both original and interesting, in that it really exists. Argento enjoys having us transported into the world of pictures (although unfortunately this reminded me of King's disappointing novel, Rose Madder), where things go really weird.
There are a couple of nasty rape sequences which are difficult to watch, but the gore isn't too bad. One scene has our killer taking a massive beating and getting drenched in blood, which is pretty impressive. The expected twist ending is well-handled, yet rings a bit hollow. Overall, THE STENDHAL SYNDROME is a passable thriller, with some nice suspense, excellent scenes of psychological insanity and another good score from Ennio Morricone, but is a bit too long and both very cold and very distant.
However, I felt more for Marco Leonardi's supporting character than I did for Asia. He's an obviously doomed, hopelessly lovestruck cop, Asia's previous boyfriend who doesn't have a chance but who keeps coming back, rejection after rejection. You have to admire his persistence. The film is in typical giallo territory - nice locations, a serial killer brutalising women, a slow police investigation, a tormented lead - and the idea of the Stendhal Syndrome of the title is both original and interesting, in that it really exists. Argento enjoys having us transported into the world of pictures (although unfortunately this reminded me of King's disappointing novel, Rose Madder), where things go really weird.
There are a couple of nasty rape sequences which are difficult to watch, but the gore isn't too bad. One scene has our killer taking a massive beating and getting drenched in blood, which is pretty impressive. The expected twist ending is well-handled, yet rings a bit hollow. Overall, THE STENDHAL SYNDROME is a passable thriller, with some nice suspense, excellent scenes of psychological insanity and another good score from Ennio Morricone, but is a bit too long and both very cold and very distant.