A rich man with a penchant for degrading women subjects a female journalist to unpleasant S&M games, but, unbeknownst to him, she's the one who's manipulating him.A rich man with a penchant for degrading women subjects a female journalist to unpleasant S&M games, but, unbeknownst to him, she's the one who's manipulating him.A rich man with a penchant for degrading women subjects a female journalist to unpleasant S&M games, but, unbeknownst to him, she's the one who's manipulating him.
- Politician
- (uncredited)
- Dwarf
- (uncredited)
- Manservant
- (uncredited)
- Passerby
- (uncredited)
- Politician
- (uncredited)
- Politician
- (uncredited)
- Musician on the Train
- (uncredited)
- Director
- Writers
- Piero Schivazappa
- Paolo Levi(uncredited)
- Giuseppe Zaccariello(uncredited)
- All cast & crew
- Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaDagmar Lassander said this was her personal favorite among her movies.
- GoofsWhen the train passes, full of musicians playing woodwinds, they are all seen blowing their instruments almost 10 seconds before a single saxophone is heard on the soundtrack, and then the musician's fingering doesn't match the sustained notes heard.
- Quotes
Dr. Sayer: [regarding a program of mass vasectomies to control population] Are you personally for or against sterilization?
Maria: I'm all for it. A man who already has 2 or 3 children should fit very well in a sterilization program Why should the woman always have to be the one to take precautions, pills, etc.?
Dr. Sayer: The pill has no lasting effect, whereas sterilization means permanent incapacity. It's barbarous, monstrous! I agree, of course, that the great increase in population must be kept in check, but only by means that will do no harm to the potency of the male... It is essential that the fertility of the men should remain intact! Do you understand?
- Alternate versionsThe initial 1998 UK Salvation video was cut by 16 secs by the BBFC to remove photographic shots of women being tortured, though the later re-release mistakenly featured the uncut version. The 2008 Shameless DVD was fully uncut and featured an extended version with additional footage.
- ConnectionsFeatured in Eurotika!: So Sweet, So Perverse (1999)
- SoundtracksFemina Ridens
Written by Giulia De Mutiis (as DeMutiis), Piero Schivazappa (as Schivazappa) and Stelvio Cipriani (as Cipriani)
Sung by Olympia
With the participation of Alessandro Alessandroni's Cantori Moderni Di Alessandroni (as Alessandro Alessandroni's 'Modern Singers')
The film concerns the freethinking social attitudes and dazzling creative arts prevalent in this era: an eminent philanthropist (Philippe Leroy) invites a female journalist (Dagmar Lassander) at his fashionable home for the week-end; however, it transpires that he’s a misogynist who distrusts all members of the opposite sex and would rather dominate (or even kill) them! Therefore, for the first half of the narrative, we see the heroine enduring pain and humiliation at Leroy’s hands (including being forced to make love to a dummy in his own image!)…until the tables are subtly, but unsurprisingly, turned: she not only emancipates herself from his control, but teaches him that Man and Woman can co-exist harmoniously – except that Lassander’s following her own personal agenda as well!!
The leads are perfectly cast, and the film itself often darkly comic for those in the mood; furthermore, it’s greatly abetted by a typically effervescent “Euro-Cult” score (from the ever-reliable Stelvio Cipriani) and the imaginative – even outré – look (the giant structure depicting the lower section of the female form, with a steel-trap where its sexual organ should be, seems to emanate from Freud: incidentally, this prop figured prominently in stills I’d seen previously from THE FRIGHTENED WOMAN…but it barely registers in the film proper!). Other bizarre touches include the preposterous radio program “Sexual Aberrations And The Stars”, and an idyll at a castle belonging to Leroy’s family complete with secret passage through the wardrobe and a dwarfish manservant. One of the highlights, then, is easily Lassander’s erotic dance virtually in the nude – an episode which actually spearheads the ‘humanization’ of Leroy; eventually, the two characters have a ‘showdown’ in the latter’s pool – amusingly set to a Spaghetti Western-type theme!
In the long run, for all its stylishness, the film emerges as inferior to the similar but much more extreme contemporaneous Japanese masterpiece by Yasuzo Masumura BLIND BEAST (1969). Finally, it’s worth noting that THE FRIGHTENED WOMAN was distributed in the U.S. by film-maker Radley Metzger’s company Audubon Films; he would even employ its production designer (Enrico Sabbatini) for his own CAMILLE 2000 (1969)! To get to the edition I watched: apart from the usual shortcomings in the English-dubbing department, the presentation here was further marred by a rather washed-out appearance and brief instances of distracting extraneous noise on the soundtrack! By the way, there seems to be some confusion with respect to the film’s running-time: its length given on various sources ranges anywhere from 84 to 108 minutes – all I can say, however, is that the copy I own ran for 87 minutes!
- Bunuel1976
- Jun 5, 2008
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Details
- Release date
- Country of origin
- Language
- Also known as
- The Frightened Woman
- Filming locations
- Italy(Exterior)
- Production company
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
- Runtime1 hour 30 minutes
- Sound mix
- Aspect ratio
- 1.85 : 1