In the mid-19^th century (while on a tour of Italian art museums), famed French author Stendhal found himself so overwhelmed by the beauty of what he was viewing, that he slipped into a psychosis that lasted for days. When he recovered, he had no memory of the event. Thus the groundwork is laid for Dario Argento’s first DVD release from Troma films. After two flops in the U.S. (TWO EVIL EYES and TRAUMA), Dario Argento returned to Europe, and crafted a new script that mixed his giallo roots with Euro-horror sensibilities. He based his project on Graziella Magherini’s, THE STENDHAL SYNDROME, a novel about oil paintings that bring about temporary madness in those who view them. Argento then cast his daughter in the title role, and he had to watch her endure hell as her character got raped and beaten throughout the film. In 1996, STENDAHL SYNDROME was released in Europe and was considered a modest success, though the film initially disappointed Argento fans.

Asia Argento plays traumatized detective Anna Manni, who works for the rape division of Rome’s police force. Thomas (TOTAL REALITY) Kretschmann portrays Alfredo Grossi, the serial killer and her nemesis. Marco (FROM DUSK TIL DAWN 3: THE HANGMAN’S DAUGHTER) Leonardi is fellow police officer named Marco Longhi (who loves Anna, only she can’t remember him). Luigi (THE PSYCHIC) Dilberti plays Anna’s caring superior, Inspector Manetti. And Paolo (120 DAYS OF SODOM) Bonacelli is Anna’s police psychologist, Dr. Cavanna. Julien (WOMEN TALKING DIRTY) Lambroschini plays Anna’s French love interest, Marie (that’s right, a guy named Marie).

Rome detective Anna Manni (Asia Argento) receives a tip off that a wanted serial rapist will show up in a public art museum. She goes to the Uffizi gallery in Florence, Italy to investigate. While gazing at the paintings among the crowd, Anna is overcome and collapses to the floor, and experiences a bizarre underwater vision (where she kisses a fish). When she awakens, she suffers from memory loss. She no longer remembers her boyfriend, Marco (Marco Leonardi), who is also a police officer. As Anna struggles with her memory loss and Stendhal Syndrome problems, she falls prey to vicious rapist/killer Alfredo (Thomas Kretscmann). As he sexually assaults her, she blacks out hoping to save herself from facing him. When she wakes up, she is no longer a victim, but a witness as the evil bastard shoots a prostitute in the head. She escapes from him, and the police arrive forcing Alfredo to abandon his intent to kill Anna.

Anna’s boss, Inspector Manetti (Luigi Dilberti) orders his troubled female officer to undergo psychiatric counseling with a police psychologist, Dr. Cavanna (Paolo Bonacelli). He advises Anna to take some time off and return home to amend relations with her family. She takes Dr. Cavanna’s advice and returns to see her brothers and father, but not before she cuts her hair and starts to take boxing lessons. Before long, she is beating up her adult brothers in the boxing ring, becoming more masculine the entire time. Her police training, boxing lessons, and intense workouts pay off when Alfredo turns up and takes her by surprise one night. The psychopath closes in on her, and plays sadistic mind games that ultimately distort Anna’s perception of reality. He again rapes and beats her, but she manages to surprise him with a few tricks of her own. At the end of their physical/mental duel, Alfredo ends up talking a swan dive off a 40-foot cliff into the pounding river below. Though its obvious nothing could survive such a fall, the police cannot locate Alfredo’s body, which makes Anna one nervous woman.

This is another Argento tale of madness, obsession, and murder. But, STENDHAL SYNDROME is more mature and intelligent than his earlier works. Anna Manni is a very complex and flawed character; Argento should have revealed more of her past in the narrative, to indicate why she is so deeply troubled. On the surface, she suffers from Stendhal Syndrome, which in turn causes loss of memory. So she not only has to deal with her rare condition, but she’s constantly living an identity crisis. Add to this her personal psychological warfare with serial killer Alfredo Grossi, and you have a person with questionable sanity. But Anna is a fighter with a lot of compassion, who will not give up on something when she puts her mind to it.

Whereas Argento’s earlier films had flashy technical tricks and bizarre camera angles to draw attention from the film’s flaws, STENDHAL SYNDROME offers a more somber and introspective view of Argento’s trademark themes. STENDHAL SYNDROME features an unusually bleak ending, and some wonderful directorial dynamics. U.S. directors like Brian Depalma should be chained to a desk and forced to watch a true master at work. Argento brings a surreal, dream-like feel to the proceedings (with some David Lynch inspired touches), that never detracts from the grueling unpleasantness. Argento does not rely on kill scenes and flowing blood (like he did in TENEBRE), and instead focuses on the savage and sexual violence to disturb the audience. Argento writes some dialog that demands additional viewings in order to pick up on the intricacies of the speech. The only weakness is the disjointed pacing, as Argento spends equal time establishing not only Anna, but Alfredo as well. I like how Argento finally makes the serial killer suffer as much as his victims did (no quick death for the antagonist here).

Argento takes the notions of violation and artistic rapture, and applies them to the killer’s atrocities.  He focuses the violence on the ritualistic destruction of the human anatomy. As in OPERA, there is the puncturing of a characters eyes, the desecration of faces and mouths, and especially the splintering of the mind. STENDAHL SYNDROME is also rife with the directors’ trademark camera techniques: swooping shots from a crane, maniac POV shots, and long glimpses of architecture. The suspense master includes some outstanding cascading images that rank right up there with Sam Peckinpah and Hitchcock himself. But Argento relinquishes the hysterical color schemes of past productions for a grayish tint that produces the same effect as the grim colors in David Fincher's SEVEN.

There is some kind of Freudian thing going on between Argento and his daughter, Asia. Dario has his daughter being constantly threatened by external forces throughout STENDHAL SYNDROME. And whenever she tries to break free of this oppression (like when she begins a romance with youthful art student, Marie), she is inevitably pulled back in to the suffocating hold of these unknown forces (her father, perhaps?). The character of the serial killer is obviously a surrogate for Dario; Alfredo is a substitute father figure--and a figure she cannot escape, it seems. Anna even exclaims at one point, "I feel like he is a part of me." STENDHAL SYNDROME is about the deep primal bond that keeps our inner personalities together as one; and what happens when these bonds are severed. I have to question what kind of parent Dario himself is. I’m sure if you ask Asia Argento about her father, she’ll claim he is fine. But parents who want a normal life for their children wouldn’t put them in a horror movie. A good parent wouldn’t simulate their daughters being raped and beaten multiple times on film. Granted, Asia is physically up for the role, but that doesn’t make it right. STENDHAL SYNDROME may be a bizarre statement for a father/daughter relationship.

Though Asia Argento is a high profile actress in Europe, I don’t see her as a particularly gifted actress. She’s no Tori Spelling, by any means, but she is no Helena Bonham Carter either. In any case, I can’t deny she fits the role of Anna quite well. Especially when she goes through the personality changes, and becomes more tough and masculine as the movie progresses. Asia has that oddball appeal of Uma Thurman. She’s a lot better here than in TRAUMA, but we never get to see her naked (perhaps Dario forbid it--on second thought, that doesn’t sound like him). All the principals turn in good performances except for Lamborschini as Marie.

Sergio Stivaletti creates some realistic makeup effects for the film, consisting mostly of bloody corpses and open wounds. He also devised the film’s digital effects (the first such effects in Italy’s film history). The low budget digital effects are pretty good, and depict medicines that go through a woman’s body, a bullet that goes through a woman’s head, and for various scenes of paintings coming to life. The digital effects seem out of place in an artistic-themed film like STENDHAL SYNDROME. Some of Argento’s action/special effects scenes (like the shotgun through the head of the hooker) remind me of something Sam Raimi did in the EVIL DEAD series (or in THE QUICK AND THE DEAD).

-  Phil Chandler