‘I’d be rich and free, you’d be eaten by maggots.’
An eleven-year-old girl befriends a wounded man she finds in the woods near her father’s estate. Unfortunately, he’s a child rapist and murderer being on the run from the police…
Psychodrama that lingers on the outskirts of the Giallo film from Italian director Massimo Pirri. Lisa Gastoni, Howard Ross and Mel Ferrer star in a movie that doesn’t shy away from controversial content.
Young girl Simona (Karin Trentephol) leads a very lonely life. Her stepfather (Ferrer) is dying and is barely able to leave his wheelchair, while her mother, Vera (Gastoni), is a self-involved narcissist just waiting to inherit his fortune. Into her life one day comes the handsome Federico Anselmi (Ross), hiding from the authorities after being tagged for four child murders. She hides the fugitive in the abandoned hunting lodge on the family estate while the police and a band of bloodthirsty vigilantes scour the woods. The Police Lieutenant (Andrea Franchetti) in charge of the official hunt also has his hands full, keeping a lid on the activities of shotgun-toting, rich kid Antonio (Wolfango Soldati) and his crew of vigilantes, who are screaming for Ross’ blood.
Moving the killer inside the main house leads to his discovery by Gastoni, but instead of turning him into Franchetti, she offers the killer both her body and a deal. If he disposes of Ferrer for her, they can take his money and start a new life somewhere else. However, Soldati is convinced that Ross is in the vicinity, and he and his followers force their way into the house. Ross hides in the bathroom with Trentephol while Ferrer forces the mob to disperse by using his rifle. However, as Ross and Gastoni’s relationship continues, Trentephol becomes increasingly jealous and determined to thwart her mother’s schemes, using deadly force if necessary.
In a way, it’s surprising that Massi’s film is still somewhat flying under the radar after all these years. If it’s not entirely fair to focus on its taboo-breaking aspects, then it’s difficult not to start there, given that the director presents them without equivocation. A scene of consensual sex between an 11-year-old girl and a grown man would undoubtedly create a media-feeding frenzy if it appeared in a film released today. Massi doesn’t merely infer that the act takes place either; it is explicitly shown. Even though a body double is clearly used, it’s still highly uncomfortable for the audience, and it could be argued that only the implication is necessary for dramatic purposes.
Elsewhere, this is a slow-moving character study of people trapped by circumstance and warped by their physical needs. Gastoni and Ferrer are both slaves to their deteriorating bodies; he is sick and confined to a wheelchair, and she spends her time obsessing over ageing and her fading looks. Ferrer spends hours alone in his workshop mending clocks and watches, while Gastoni finds what satisfaction she can as a party girl who leaves her frustrated dates at the door. Their self-involvement leaves no time for Trentephol, and the young girl’s lack of friends and socialisation provides her with no basis for a healthy emotional life or guidelines for appropriate behaviour. When this dysfunctional family comes head to head with Ross, who cannot control his own unhealthy drives, tragedy is the inevitable result.
The clash of these characters and how it resolves is the meat of Massi’s film, and it remains fairly engrossing for the most part, even if it’s the cinematic equivalent of watching a slow-motion car crash. Wisely, the director does bring in some peripheral characters, which helps with the narrative drive. However, it’s still a slow burn, and the lack of incident alone would probably be enough to deter some viewers, even without the film’s more controversial aspects. Parental neglect and its deadly consequences seem to have been a thematic element in Italian cinema at this time, with more regular Giallo excursions, such as ‘What Have You Done To Solange?/Cosa avete fatto a Solange?’ (1972) also focused on the subject. Massi’s take refutes the more grounded approach of those projects, though, presenting a more exaggerated and excessive vision.
Massi’s ace in the hole is Gastoni, who gives a terrifically layered performance as the apparent coldhearted bitch only looking out for number one. At no point does she apologise for her actions or behaviour, but there is a touch of vulnerability to her portrayal, particularly when she discloses how she has been compelled to use her body to make a place in the world. There’s also an affecting scene where she comes home, lies on the stairs, and tries to connect with her daughter emotionally. She’s drunk, but not drunk enough to escape the inevitable knowledge that her efforts are far too little, too late. Trentephol is also scarily convincing as the precocious 11-year-old, a mixture of maturity and childishness, underpinned with a core of emotional withdrawal. The only weak element is Ferrer, but he doesn’t get much screen time, and there’s a suspicion that he probably did all his scenes in a day or two, which may explain why his character feels so underdeveloped.
The movie’s Giallo credentials are a little feeble, and, to be clear, it doesn’t seem to have been Massi’s intention to make that kind of thriller anyway. Ross is a serial killer on the run, but there’s no further accumulation of more victims as part of his killing spree. Of course, Gastoni recruits him to murder her husband (a Giallo staple), but it’s far from the main thrust of the plot, merely a minor thread that Massi works into the overall story. Even Ross’ guilt of his previous crimes is no mystery, with the opening scene featuring a desperate effort to hide the body of his latest victim. Franchetti’s ongoing obsession with Gastoni and her eventual surrender to his dubious charms might suggest a more conventional film. However, it’s under duress and only included to highlight her lack of agency in a male-dominated world and to solidify her motivations.
If the film has an obvious flaw, it is the resolution where, strangely enough, the director seems to bow to moral cinematic convention, almost as if he didn’t dare to follow through on some of his more transgressive story ideas. As a conclusion, it’s underwhelming, although the metaphor of an empty aviary as the setting for the drama’s final moments is a telling choice. Gastoni objected to the ending and convinced Massi to film a different climax. However, the director had no intention of using it, and the film was released with the original ending intact. An enraged Gastoni began legal action, resulting in initial problems with the film’s distribution. Her claims were eventually dismissed, though, and she did not make another movie for over 20 years, although whether the two facts are directly related seems unrecorded.
Gastoni was born in 1935 to an Italian father and an Irish mother, and the family relocated to the United Kingdom after the Second World War. After starting a career as a model, she transitioned to acting and began working in British films, beginning with ‘They Who Dare’ (1954). She mostly appeared in second features, although often as the female lead. There were also prominent supporting roles in more notable outings, such as ‘Three Men in a Boat’ (1956). She returned to Italy in the 1960s to star in Umberto Lenzi’s pirate romp, ‘Queen of the Seas/Le avventure di Mary Read’ (1961), and spent the rest of the decade there appearing in a variety of projects, mainly comedies. There was also time for Peplum adventure ‘The Three Avengers/Gli invincibili tre’ (1964) and bonkers space opera ‘The Wild, Wild Planet/I criminali della galassia’ (1966).
She won an Italian Golden Globe and the Silver Ribbon for Best Actress from the Italian National Syndicate of Film Journalists for her performance in the crime drama ‘Svegliati e uccidi’ (1966), and won another Silver Ribbon almost ten years later for romantic drama ‘Amore amaro’ (1975). After retiring to write and paint, she made a triumphant return to the screen in the new millennium, sharing the Silver Ribbon for Best Supporting Actress with Erika Blanc for their work in ‘Sacred Heart/Cuore sacro’ (2005). She continued working for the next decade, often on television, with her last appearance to date being on the mini-series ‘L’onore e il rispetto’ (2017).
Certainly not for everyone, and many will regard it as cheap exploitation. However, it’s definitely hard to forget.