Just in time for Halloween comes this absolutely stunning 4K UHD of one of the strangest, most surreal and spellbinding films to come out of Italy in the 1970s- The Perfume of the Lady in Black starring Mimsy Farmer.
In the film, Farmer plays Sylvia, head chemist for a large perfume company in Rome. She lives in a flat in an old, ornate, gothic building, where, besides her pretty friend Francesca (Donna Jordan), the tenants are much older and eccentric. Right from the get-go, there is definitely something off about Sylvia. Just in the way she leaves for work in the morning, flicking certain lights “on” as she leaves the apartment. Her relationship with her handsome butterfly-collector boyfriend Roberto (Maurizio Bonuglia) is strained at times because of her all-consuming work ethic. But he is always leaving town for jobs and Sylvia begins to lose the thread of reality when she is alone. She begins having visions of her late mother Marta- even Marta having sex with the brutes she consorted with, suggesting that Sylvia may have been abused by one of them. A strange little blonde girl dressed all in white keeps appearing to Sylvia in her apartment, suggesting an image of Sylvia as a child. She even carries a music box with a twirling ballerina with a broken arm, which Sylvia recalls from her past. The movie at times suggests a mystery buried deep in Sylvia’s mind about her damaged childhood and the events surrounding the mysterious death of her mother.
There are many allusions to Lewis Carroll and Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. The book is lying on Sylvia’s bed and later the little girl in white reads aloud passages from it as things around Sylvia gets stranger and stranger. Near the end there is a grotesque re-enactment of the Mad Hatter’s tea party, but with dead bodies. “Life, what is it but a dream…”
The films builds to one of the most shocking and outrageous of endings. The breadcrumbs leading up to it are prevalent on repeated viewing. Even to an evening Sylvia has with an African professor who discusses his country’s use of “black magic” “witchcraft” “superstition” “rites” “mysterious deaths” and “human sacrifices.” Then he laughs it off, “Did I frighten you? I was just joking.” But is he?
The film borrows heavily from Roman Polanski. From the schizophrenic madness of Repulsion, to the suspicious paranoid conspiracy of Rosemary’s Baby, to the sinister residents in The Tenant. With gorgeous production design by Franco Velchi (Caligula); cinematography by Mario Masini (The 10th Victim), and a simply beautiful score by Nicolo Piovani (Life is Beautiful).
The director Francesco Barilli was once an actor- he played the lead in a 1964 film by Bernardo Bertolucci– Before the Revolution. (The Perfume of the Lady in Black was also produced by Giovanni Bertulucci, who also produced his cousin Bernardo Berolucci’s 1970 The Conformist). Barilli directed few features but he did one I’m rather fond of- Pension Paura (Hotel Fear) (1978). But The Perfume of the Lady in Black is his gem, and one that wasn’t well-reviewed and disappeared quickly after it was released. I don’t think it ever even came out in America. The first I heard of it was when Raro put out a DVD of it in 2011, and it blew me away. Raro put out an updated Blu-ray of it, but the new Powerhouse/Indicator release is perfection and is the last word on the film. It also comes with two versions of the film- in English or Italian (most of the cast was speaking English and you need to hear Mimsy Farmer’s voice). There is great audio commentary by film historians Eugenio Ercolani, Troy Howarth and Nathaniel Thompson. Plus, in-depth interviews with director Francesco Barilli, who reflects on the film and the challenges of making films in Italy.
What can I say about the beautiful, incandescent Mimsy Farmer? She began her career on TV’s The Adventures of Ozzie & Harriet show and then did the kid-friendly Spencer’s Mountain. Later she gravitated more to the youth films of the late 60s like Riot on Sunset Strip (1967) where she does an unforgettable LSD-induced dance sequence at a party. Traveling to Europe to film Roger Corman’s The Wild Racers changed her life. She loved the film scene there, married Italian screenwriter Vincenzo Cerami, gave birth to a daughter, and stayed to work. She turned in an incredible performance in Barbet Schroeder’s 1969 film More as a free-spirited, druggy hedonist. That controversial movie inspired other directors to seek her out- like Dario Argento’s for his “giallo” Four Flies on Grey Velvet (1971). Armando Crispino for Autopsy (1975). And Marco Ferrari for Bye Bye Monkey (1978). I particularly love the bonkers film she made with Rita Hayworth and Robert Walker Jr.– The Road to Salina. But she is sublime in The Perfume of the Lady in Black– she has the perfect kind of fragile and ethereal quality to make the film work. In an interview with Farmer in the book Spaghetti Nightmares, she thought director Barilli “intended to make an American film but gave in to the typically Italian habit of indulging in violence a bit too much and this made the film a small cinematographic ‘mongrel.’ It was shot well, the photography was good, but neither the audience or critics liked it.”
That’s a shame. It is a difficult movie to categorize. It’s not really a “giallo,” or a “horror” film (even though there are elements of horror in it). It’s more of a psychological thriller in many ways but the ending just pulls the rug out from underneath the viewer and haunts you for days afterwards. it really is a pretty unforgettable dark dream of a film.
