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I was a little scared to watch "The Stendhal Syndrome" as many people indicated that it was below par Argento. Well, it's got a different style and a different kind of focus, but I think the movie is superb. Dario is one of the most utterly emotional movie directors ever, and to express all his emotion in horror films! Wow! In most of his films up to this one, there had been absolute concentration and recall of dream logic conveyed through a visual sense. "The Stendhal Syndrome" is not as steeped in the director's usual visual flourishes, though there are some here - it is superficially more realistic and more plain. Really, though, I think it's his most seductive, luxurious film yet... And it's the perfect story (adapted?) for this director. The story of a female cop who is capable of being seduced and overcome by looking at art, while being pursued and manipulated by a serial rapist. Dario's depth comes out through story and character motivation and emotion here, and there is an excitement in waiting to see how a character is going to react. Characters aren't always terribly rational here, they kind of act more impulsively I think. Asia Argento gives the best performance in an Argento film that I have ever seen. It's not that she has great technique or timing or whatever, but her natural presence is very strong and very appealing. Vulnerable, confused, searching, childish, yet resourceful, these qualities are perfect for the role. She is absolutely fluid (as opposed to erratic) and it makes her actions and feelings seem perfectly, naturally accommodated. She doesn't have to behave like anybody else, she is unique. I love her slightly crazed passion when she gets her chance to turn the tables. The emotional violence in this movie is breathtaking! It is quite possible that Dario achieved some growing sophistication with "Stendhal Syndrome" - before, his wonderful, bold visuals perceived through violence had a subtext that could only be partly guessed at. Here, his violence is conveyed through pure human emotion. Along with the scene from "Straw Dogs", the rape/murder scene here is amazing and rare in its perceptiveness. It is thoroughly brutal, yet it is strangely cathartic. And Anna's constantly changing state of mind is almost thematic. It is possible to think that a director with a stronger story-telling sense might have done something maybe better with the material than Argento, but I don't think so... His particular weakness works to a curious advantage here in that plot twists and character's actions are continually resolved at their originating dreamlike state. Nothing is overtly stated here, emotion and motivation of the characters are left to the viewer's imagination, which is so much more exciting. "The Stendhal Syndrome" may not look like typical Argento fare, but that's because everything has developed from the outside moving in, rather than inside out.
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