aka IL FANTASMA DELL 'OPERA (1998) 106 mins FOCUS FILM ; BUDAPEST

[video - laserdisc - dvd]

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Argento's own "8 1/2" Art-House Horror for the Soul... Well, after the pretty poor by Argento standards Trauma and the near-perfect Stendhal Syndrome, Dario Argento pulls off his most expensive in-joke yet! I saw this movie at Athens Film Festival where they had organised a retrospective of Dario's work and I found it extremely interesting. Argento does not care to make a horror film, that's for sure. Instead, he creates a self-ironic film, deliberately balancing between shots of poetic grace (the Phantom's visions of children pierced by mousetraps - chilling) and shots of extravagant kitch (Asia's appearance in the same scene!).

Argento's choice of not to have his Phantom disfigured was not without a point: This man is disfigured from the inside, and thanks to the script, it shows. Let's not forget that Gerard Brach, the co-scripter, is the man who co-wrote "Frantic", "The Fearless Vampire Killers" and "Rosemary's Baby" and many other Polanski films. He lived up to our expectations once again. The film is deliberately funny in places but it contains some very weird scenes (like the one in the brothel - unbelievable for an Argento film). I would say that it is his most 'Fellini-esque' film yet. It is his "8 1/2". This is his contribution to a tradition kept by directors such as Fellini, Visconti or the Taviani brothers.

Let's not forget the help he gets from his actors: Julian Sands couldn't be a better choice. His phantom is gentle, vicious, romantic and monstrous all at the same time. Asia on the other hand seems to be stoned for most of the film which adds more to the dreaminess of the concept me thinks.

Sergio Stivalleti has done some great work with CGI, especially in a scene where a poor guy gets impaled (you think it's really happening!). Ronnie Taylor's photography is NOT up to perfect standards (it is known that he could not stand the weather conditions and wanted to leave as soon as possible) but the known quality of his work is there, once again. A movie that belongs more to the Art-House section than to that of Horror, I might add. Don't miss it though. And buy the Ennio Moriconne soundtrack, it is a masterpiece!

reviewed by Akis Kapranos

credits
cast:	Julian Sands, Asia Argento, Andrea Di Stefano, István Bubik, Coralina Cataldi Tassoni, Nadia Rinaldi, Lucia Guzzardi, Aldo Massasso, Gianni Franco, David D'Ingeo, John Pedeferri, Leonardo Treviglio, Massimo Sarchielli, Luis Molteni, Enzo Cardogna
director:	Dario Argento
producer:	Claudio Argento, Giuseppe Colombo
screenplay:	Dario Argento, Gérard Brach (based on the novel by Gaston Leroux)
cinematography:	Ronnie Taylor
music:	Ennio Morricone
sfx:	Sergio Stivaletti, Peter Szilagyi

technical information
negative:	35mm
print:	35mm
aspect ratio:	1.85:1
format:	Spherical

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