THE STENDHAL SYNDROME aka LA SINDROME DI STENDHAL STENDHAL'S SYNDROME (1996) 114 mins MEDUSA FILM ; ITALY

Argento's most personal, disturbing film! After watching this film the first time, I was left feeling a bit troubled by something, and because of this I wrote this film off as a failure by Argento. However, about a year later, after watching and actually enjoying Argento's newest film "Phantom of the Opera," I had a strange yearning to watch The Stendhal Syndrome again. This time, I was blown away! Yes, I admit, The Stendhal Syndrome is not exactly what I would call a pleasurable viewing experience. However, it is undeniably unsettling, and at times genuinely frightening. It is also deeply disturbing in its depiction of Argento's daughter, Asia. Obviously, there's some kind of deep-seated Freudian attraction going on between Asia and Dario. Throughout the whole film, Asia is constantly being threatened by hostile external forces, and whenever she attempts to flee the vice-like grip of these forces (as when she falls in love with the French art student), she is inevitably pulled back into the suffocating hold of these higher, darker forces. The serial killer in this film is obviously a stand-in for Dario, i.e. the serial killer is a substitute father figure. Hence, in the Stendhal Syndrome, Asia's father in the film is depicted as a hostile, malicious figure-- but he is a figure which she cannot escape. As Asia's character says at one point, in reference to the serial killer, "I feel like he is a part of me." Ultimately, The Stendhal Syndrome is about the deep, primal bonds which keep us together as humans, and which can be deadly if too harshly enforced. At the end of the film, which I won't reveal, Asia finally escapes from the bond of both her father and the serial killer, but with the menacing music playing over the closing credits, we know that the dark force will always be over Asia, watching over her every move, and protecting her.

reviewed by Jeffery Wang

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