The Frightened Woman

Piero Schivazappa's immensely stylish sex flick dances around some light S&M imagery before shifting the power dynamics around calling into doubt who is manipulating who. There's not a ton of substance to it, but it has a lot dazzling sequences including Lassander's topless mummy dance to some of Stelvio Cipriani's fantastic music.

Not impressed, but some nice visual elements.

Looks somewhat cool but too silly.

Aside from the baffling opening act, this film is a psychological two-hander which at times shows some promise with the relationship of its leads, and at other times feels ridiculously silly. A lot of the film is just posturing and lavish 60s-style interiors, fashion and breasts. The tone is playful and sexy as often as it is oppressive and sadistic. Sadly, the male lead is not written very well and there are no real insights into the character. Curious film but a little too slow-paced.

A great Italian thriller, with lavish production value and an off-beat look at the kidnapping movie. Sure, they let you in on the "killer's" past, but the important part is that mere seconds are devoted to reassuring the audience that the victim doesn't love him, and the rest leaves us questioning those seconds. His ultimate demise is movie poetry, written in surrealist thrills, of a larger than life vagina dentata (dream?) sequence. A tense, confusing, dazzling flick. A great find.

This movie starts off a little uncomfortably, but by the middle it shifts tones and becomes much more enjoyable. Loved the aethetics.