The Stendhal Syndrome (1996)

When a movie has you begging for it to end not even half way through it's pure crap. We've all seen this movie and this characters millions of times, nothing new in it. Don't waste your time.

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

Like the great film, it's made with a great deal of visible affection both in front of and behind the camera.

One of the worst ways to make a cult movie is to set out to make a cult movie.

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.

In Rome, Police Inspector Manetti (Luigi Diberti) assigns detective Anna Manni (Asia Argento) to travel to Florence to investigate and track down a rapist serial-killer to understand why he did not kill his three victims from Florence. However Anna suffers from "Stendhal's Syndrome" and she faints in a museum while watching the paintings and the killer lures and rapes her. The disturbed Anna changes her behavior and has sessions with the psychiatrist Dr. Cavanna (Paolo Bonacelli) that suggests that she should spend a couple of days with her family in the countryside. However the maniac is obsessed with her and she stays under the protection of Detective Marco Longhi (Marco Leonardi), who has feelings for her, and his team. But soon the serial-killer abducts Anna, ties her to a mattress and rapes her again in an isolated cave used by junkies. Anna learns that his name is Alfredo Grossi (Thomas Kretschmann) and she succeeds to release; when Alfredo returns, she shots him in the stomach and blinds one of his eyes. Then she drops his moribund body in a waterfall. However the police does not find the corpse. Anna has the feeling that Alfred is alive, and when there is another victim, she is sure that he has not died."La sindrome di Stendhal" is a psychological thriller by Dario Argento with magnificent cinematography and haunting music score by Ennio Morricone. The story is based on the "Stendhal's Syndrome", unknown for most of the viewers and in accordance with the Wikipedia, is "is a psychosomatic disorder that causes rapid heartbeat, dizziness, fainting, confusion and even hallucinations when an individual is exposed to an experience of great personal significance, particularly viewing art." (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stendhal_syndrome). The problem is Asia Argento's character, presented too fragile and confused for a police detective. Anna Manni should have been developed before the event with the rapist serial-killer. The surprising plot point is a big surprise for the audience. My vote is six.Title (Brazil): "Síndrome Mortal" ("Mortal Syndrome")

Dario Argento does here what he does best, a stylish thriller laden with bizarre imagery, disturbing into the core and darkness of your mind.In comparison to horrormeister Mario Bava I felt his movies to be more an exercise of superficial but very esthetically minded shocking images glaringly bathed in red and green lighting. The atmosphere in his older movies however was second to none and is about as close as you can get to reliving your worst nightmares where you are running away from something you cannot fathom.Here however it feels more developed plot wise with the uncanniness of the art to add for depth. There are several flaws in the script however these doesn't cause any irritation. This film is not about making perfect sense, it is about the psychological and the unconscious. Some of the actors too are not especially talented, but Asia Argento carries this easily on her own and "Alfredo" is perfect as the psychopath even if the character is quite flat too (intended).Amazing score by Ennio Morricone is almost as good as the ones Goblin did for his 70's movies.Viewers be beware though, it is psychologically very intense and can be hard to sit through for the sheer coldness and brutality it depicts. And it makes it even more disturbing to think that Dario is directing his own daughter here.This giallo is one of the strongest thrillers I have seen.

For those that don't know I'm in the process of discovering Argento's films for the first time, THE STENDHAL SYNDROME is my third endeavor following OPERA which I didn't like and MOTHER OF TEARS better than OPERA but its no masterpiece and has a lousy ending.THE STENDHAL SYNDROME wasn't as much a horror film for me as it was more of a psychological thriller, it follows assistant police inspector Anna Manni (Asia Argento) who is on the trail of a sadistic serial killer/rapist (Thomas Kretschmann) who stalks, rapes and then murders his female victims, but Anna also has to content with the fact that she has a condition called the Stendhal syndrome, a condition that causes her to lose herself in powerful works of art.In a way I liked the film, more than both OPERA and MOTHER OF TEARS, it was more unconventional than a lot of other thrillers I've seen, the acting is actually good, the best performances in the film are given by Asia Argento and Thomas Kretschmann, the storyline is well thought out despite having the tendency to drag at times.So far things are looking interesting, I can clearly tell that Argento's films are not everyone's cup of tea but for me, this is the best Argento film I've seen so far but I still feel that I have yet to be impressed by Argento's films, STENDHAL SYNDROME was a good movie sure but it doesn't mean I haven't seen better, although there are still so many to see, so who knows.Overall, STENDHAL SYNDROME is a good psychological thriller, its clearly not for everyone but if you're also not familiar with Argento and you may or may not be a little curious give it a shot, see what you think.