The Perfume of the Lady in Black (Il Profuma Della Signora in Nero)

Raro Video bluray.Mimsy Farmer’s fragile mind splinters yet again during a hot Roman summer in Francesco Barilli’s THE PERFUME OF THE LADY IN BLACK, on Blu-ray from Raro Video USA.Sylvia Hacherman (Mimsy Farmer, FOUR FLIES ON GREY VELVET) is a young, workaholic chemist living alone amongst a handful of eccentric neighbors in an old apartment building in Rome (viewers may recognize the impressive exterior façade as the library of philosophy in Dario Argento’s INFERNO and the Thornes' Rome residence in THE OMEN). When she attends a party with her geologist boyfriend Roberto (Maurizio Bonuglia, TOP SENSATION/THE SEDUCERS) for university associate Andy (Jho Jenkins, SHAFT IN AFRICA), Sylvia is unsettled when the conversation turns towards black magic and human sacrifice. Not particularly stable to start with, Sylvia starts to tip over the edge when she pricks her finger on an inexplicably-placed nail during a tennis game. Left alone when Roberto goes on a trip to South Africa, Sylvia starts to suffer from very realistic hallucinations involving her dead mother (Renata Zamengo, STREET LAW) and her lover. Her only friend seems to be paternal neighbor Signor Rossetti (Mario Scaccia, WE STILL KILL THE OLD WAY), a retired professor with a fascination for photographing hippopotami. Her neighbor Francesca (Donna Jordan) drags her up to her apartment for a visit with Orchidea (Nike Arrighi, Truffaut’s DAY FOR NIGHT), a blind psychic who recounts the drowning death of Sylvia’s sailor father and the mysterious death of her mother. Later, a mysterious little girl (Lara Wendel, TENEBRE) invades her apartment and presents her with a music box from her own childhood. The next morning, she discovers that Francesca has mysteriously died. When Sylvia discovers that her mother’s lover Nicola (Orazio Orlando, POLICEWOMAN) has been stalking her, she retreats farther into isolation. The little girl, obviously a younger version of herself, convinces her that everyone is out to get her; which may be true, since throughout the film we note the suspicious interactions between Sylvia’s friends, colleagues, and various strangers she has encountered. Sylvia comes to believe the answer may lie somewhere in her traumatic past, but the truth may be far more sinister…Comperable to Roman Polanski’s adaptation of ROSEMARY’S BABY (although Polanski himself would borrow from his work for his 1976 film of Roland Topor’s THE TENANT) with things taking a REPULSION-like turn late in the film, before returning to the former with a more graphic climax. Having already played father-obsessed neurotics in Argento’s FOUR FLIES ON GREY VELVET and Armando Crispino’s AUTOPSY, Farmer was the perfect choice as the film’s paranoid and superstitious heroine. Although she started out as an AIP contract player in the 1960s, Farmer found much of her success abroad starting with Barbet Schroeder’s MORE and George Lautner's ROAD TO SALINA. She continued working in Italian and French television, as well as a handful of roles in some lesser-known French and Italian films (including Marco Ferreri’s BYE BYE MONKEY and DEEP RED actor Gabriele Lavia’s SENSI) and later returned to the Italian horror genre with Lucio Fulci’s THE BLACK CAT and Ruggero Deodato's derivative but slick BODYCOUNT. Her last acting credit was in Roger Vadim’s TV movie SAFARI in 1991. Farmer, who now works as a movie art department sculptor with her husband Francis Poirier, was recently interviewed in an issue of Video Watchdog. She recalled liking the script but not the final product (Barilli corroborates her reaction back in the DVD interview).Francesco Barilli had begun his career on documentaries before assistant director stints on Pasolini’s THE HAWKS AND THE SPARROWS (uncredited) and Camillo Bazzoni’s A LONG RIDE FROM HELL. His only two feature works were this film and the equally disturbing PENSIONE PAURA, which is available on Italian-only DVD. The rest of his career was divided in between directing documentaries and TV miniseries and a handful of acting roles. Barilli and co-scenarist Massimo D’Avak (who scripted Lenzi’s SO SWEET, SO PERVERSE and MAN FROM DEEP RIVER) had previously collaborated on the script for Aldo Lado’s WHO SAW HER DIE? Barilli later collaborated with Lucio Fulci on the scenario of Giuseppe Petroni Griffi’s erotic thriller LA GABBIA (1985) with Tony Musante, Florinda Bolkan, and Laura Antonelli. It is unfortunate that he did not continue in the genre, since PERFUME and PENSIONE PAURA are more successful at balancing the graphic and the subtle than other late mid-to-late 1970s Italian horror films. The score by Nicola Piovani (FLAVIA THE HERETIC) – who won an Oscar for LIFE IS BEAUTIFUL – recalls Krzysztof Komeda’s score for the Polanski film by weaving a chilling lullaby throughout the score in various orchestrations. Mario Masini shot a number of films for Carmelo Bene, and his cinematography here favors more naturalistic lighting (other than some warm gels) in contrast with the bolder colors of the eclectic production and costume design. Producer Giovanni Bertolucci’s resume moved between back and forth between art and exploitation, from cousin Bernardo Bertolucci’s early pictures, to Visconti’s CONVERSATION PIECE and L’INNOCENTE, as well as a handful of Tinto Brass’s works from THE KEY up to FALLO!Italy's arm of Raro Video released the film on DVD in 2004 in a 16:9 transfer with English and Italian audio tracks as well as English subtitles. When Raro Video established its American arm in 2011, THE PERFUME OF THE LADY IN BLACK was one of their first DVD releases. The Region 0 NTSC release made use of the same master, although with a higher bitrate and slightly cleaner and louder audio tracks. Both featured the Barilli interview PORTRAIT IN BLACK (26:07) with English subtitles in which he cited his inspirations for the film as stemming from some documentary work he did on voodoo rites in Africa, a script he was working on about a mental disorder, and one about a cannibal cult in Geneva. The printed insert featured the short essay “THE PERFUME OF THE LADY IN BLACK within the context of 1960’s horror” which was also featured on Raro Italy’s disc insert (in Italian with English translation).Raro's new 1080p24 MPEG-4 AVC 1.85:1 Blu-ray features another one of their lesser HD masters, rife with scanner noise with some naturally grainier shots looking brittle to the point where they might either pixelate or flake away like dried, cracked paint. The image is slightly brighter to the detriment of the film's mood and DNR appears to have flattened the image somewhat. It's as watchable as any of their other so-so Blu-rays, but ultimately a disappointment for such an underrated title. Italian and English DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 mono options fare better, and the optional English subtitles are without any glaring issues.The shorter Barilli interview included here (15:30) is actually a brand new one in which reiterates the same points about the origin of the story and how many behind the scenes Italian production personalities read it before he and producer Giovanni Bertolucci were able to get it into production. Also new to the Blu-ray release is Barilli's short film "The Wandering Knight (Il Cavaliere Errante)", titled "Errant Knight" (23:33) on the menu, in which the Grim Reaper (designed by the costume department of the Regio Theater in Parma, the setting of Argento's OPERA) wanders Rome nightly delivering the dead. One night, he forgets his scythe, meaning no one can die. Included here for the first time is the film's theatrical trailer (3:22) for the film. Although it defaults to Italian with English subtitles, the English audio for the trailer can be selected by remote. The single page essay appears to be the same one as featured in the earlier packages

A giallo could be defined as merely a trashy Italian-made murder mystery, but often it can be so much more than that—and less than. Some get preoccupied with gory set pieces (the proto-slasher “Twitch of the Death Nerve”), others emphasize the sex (the porny “Play Motel”), and others still make sure there is plenty of sex and gore (the ultra-sleazy “The New York Ripper” and even sleazier “Giallo a Venezia”). But the gialli I like the best are those that are as concerned with the mystery as with the sleaze, crafting stories that are so convoluted and twisty that it often seems that even the filmmakers have lost track of what’s going on. “The Perfume of the Lady in Black” is one such movie.Sylvia (Mimsy Farmer) seems to have an ordinary life. She’s a successful chemist (or so the synopsis says; the few scenes of her at work leave the impression that she’s just a restaurant hostess in a lab coat) with a fabulous apartment, albeit one with a creepy neighbor, and a handsome boyfriend, Roberto (Maurizio Bonuglia). There is the suggestion early on that Sylvia has a tragic past, with the movie flashing back to her as a little girl, and to her deceased mother (the titular Lady in Black, though more accurately the Lady in Black and White Polka Dots), but she seems to have put this dark moment behind her. Or has she? As the movie progresses Sylvia begins have troubling episodes: waking up in the afternoon when she meant to be at work first thing in the morning; seeing a vase in a store window that looks exactly like the one on her mother’s bedside table, yet when she returns the next day to purchase it and discovers it missing the shop owner tells her the vase wasn’t just purchased by someone else—it was never there to begin with. The flashbacks start taking the form of hallucinations, revealing more about the past while raising more questions about what actually happened. By the time the movie reaches its WTF conclusion, however, it's apparent we’ve been looking in the wrong place for answers.Though some might be put off by the out-of-left field ending, that’s part of what makes “The Perfume of the Lady in Black” so much fun, especially when you discover it isn’t as random as it appears (hint: incidental conversations aren’t always incidental). Director Francesco Barilli — who also co-wrote the script — skillfully weaves Sylvia’s past trauma with her present unraveling, to the point where the audience isn’t always sure what is real and what is imagined. Barilli also doesn’t skimp on the trashier elements, providing a few sex scenes — one rather explicit — and even more grue. However, the movie’s pacing can be a bit of an issue. There are far too many scenes of Sylvia sloooooowly walking across rooms or down stairs, so slow that whatever suspense was being built is demolished by the time Sylvia reaches her destination.Another weakness of this movie—of most gialli, for that matter—is slight characterization, which is largely why so much of the acting is so one-note (the dubbing doesn't help). That said, the cast does a decent job with what little they’re given to work with. Star Mimsy Farmer isn’t necessarily the most dynamic actress but she can be a beguiling screen presence with a good number of gems in her European filmography. In addition to “The Perfume of the Lady in Black,” she was in Armando Crispino’s even more whacked-out “Autopsy,” Dario Argento’s “Four Flies on Grey Velvet,” and Georges Lautner’s psychosexual thriller “Road to Salina,” which I hope sees a proper Blu-ray release one day. (Jan. 2022 addendum: It has!) Hard to believe she was starring in disposable juvenile delinquent and biker flicks in the 1960s. These days she works behind the scenes as a special-effects sculptor and was attached to the art departments for “Guardians of the Galaxy” and “Beauty and the Beast.”

I watched my first giallo back in the early 80's when the only way you could watch anything like this was on a tenth generation VHS copy. What a joy it is not to be able yo nip onto Amazon and select a title on a whim as I did with "Perfume of the Lady in Black".Mainly it was Mimsy Farmer who sold it to me, having already watched her in Argento's "4 Flies on Grey Velvet" and Barbet Schroeder's "More" and finding her performances nuanced with sometimes almost imperceptible mannerisms which peppered her characters with extreme realism. It was also a title I'd heard about over the years and I thought it was about time I made an effort to watch some of the films that had evaded me for such a long time.I was not disappointed, Farmer's performance was a genuine highlight in giallo. Subtle and possibly one of the best portrayals of a fractured mind I have ever seen onscreen. She is accompanied by a wealth of fine actors and a director who really knows how to raise a few hairs on the back of your neck. This is classic giallo, almost bloodless but what it lacks in the gore department it more than makes up for in every other.The actual presentation was a surprise as well, not being able to find a blu-ray edition of this film I settled for what I thought was a stop-gap solution with this DVD. I needn't have worried, up-scaled to my 50" plasma the picture is near perfect with good contrast and fine detail, blacks are black and there is no blowing out of the whites. This is one of those releases that would look great in hi-def but the SD version of it would please any viewer I'm sure.If you are a fan of Mimsy Farmer (and if you aren't you should be) or just of gialli in general you should purchase this release. On every lever it is excellent and I wouldn't be without a copy now that I have finally seen it.

Excellent movie, but the presentation leaves a bit to be desired.I'm sure 88 Films have done their best, but the film looks overly digitally processed, especially in bright scenes.

What could have been a decent quality picture is covered by a layer of digital noise (not grain) that is so bad it causes the faces of people in the background of shots to look like waxworks that have been left to close to a radiator.

Very good and stylist study of psychosis.

The cinematography of the film is really great. Unfortunately though this is the only positive that comes out of the film. I like these sorts of movies but it was boring, long and when it got to the exciting climax of the movie it was not worth the wait. Very disappointed with The Perfume of the Lady in Black.