Sadly Over-hyped

As Good As It Gets

I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

It is an exhilarating, distressing, funny and profound film, with one of the more memorable film scores in years,

What's immediately noticeable to the viewer is that definitely isn't your run-of-the-mill giallo. For a start, the film has little nudity and there's nary a black-gloved killer to be seen. Perhaps most obvious of all is the singular lack of a body count; there are no brutal murders here, no sinister knifings, in fact the film feels quite wholesome. Instead this is a giallo that focuses around a mysterious blackmailer and has one of those "is she mad or isn't she?" plot evolutions in which the heroine is being secretly terrorised only to have nobody, including her husband, believing her.Much of the film centres on Dagmar Lassander's character, a wife forced into sex with a stranger who then realises that she's been tricked. Unfortunately, Lassander is the weakest actor in the film, and she's pretty unconvincing in the emoting scenes. Far better is the sexy, sassy Susan Scott, who unfortunately is relegated to a minor supporting role as the female friend. Swap these two around and the film would have been far better.Director Luciano Ercoli delivers the proceedings from a script by giallo veteran Ernesto Gastaldi; thankfully, the plotting is more convincing than most entries in the genre and the benefit of a decent English dub makes things easier to bear. What the film lacks in action it makes up for in style; this movie shows the height of (dated) fashion, with the women frequently donning blonde wigs and hanging around in local haunts. A swinging, annoyingly catchy score by Ennio Morricone adds to the experience. The rest of the cast is good, with Pier Paolo Capponi as the loving husband, veteran Osvaldo Genazzani as the detective and Simon Andreu as the suitably sleazy villain of the piece. Ladling on the mystery and suspense throughout while also investing proceedings with a typically sexual flavour, Ercoli's first film as a director is a low budget success.

"The Forbidden Photos of a Lady Above Suspicion" has undoubtedly its assets: the remarkable camera work by cinematographer Alejandro Ulloa, quite meticulously chosen, très chic décors, exquisite sixties fashion, an expertly done soundtrack by Ennio M., and above all the ravishing beauty of Andalusian actress Nieves Navarro who would later marry director Luciano Ercoli. Alas, after a more or less promising first half - sadistic erotomaniac is stalking innocent Italian hausfrau (Dagmar Lassander) -, the script by hackmeister Ernesto Gastaldi is going downhill, and fast - including a "surprise" ending even more devastatingly silly than other Gastaldi baloney à la "The Strange Vice of Mrs. Wardh" or "The Case of the Scorpion's Tail". In the DVD extra feature, round-faced and highly likable Gastaldi grins knowingly: he sure sold a lot of merda.

Beautiful, but sexually repressed young housewife Minou (a marvelously luminous performance by luscious redhead stunner Dagmar Lassander) gets assaulted on the beach by a cunning blackmailer (a compelling portrayal by Simon Andreu) who tells Minou that her struggling businessman husband Peter (smoothly played by the handsome Pier Paolo Copponi) is a fraud and a killer. Minou's world becomes topsy-turvy as the blackmailer plots to seduce her and she gives in to her previously neglected carnal desires. Director Luciano Ercoli, working from a sharp script by Ernesto Gastaldi and May Velasco, relates the engrossing story at a snappy pace and does an expert job of creating and sustaining a captivating sensuous and mysterious atmosphere. Although the sexuality featured in this film is pretty hot and kinky, it's nonetheless handled with surprising taste and restraint; the sex never becomes too graphic or sleazy, which in turn actually heightens rather than diminishes the overall deliriously erotic tone. Moreover, there's also an infectiously sly and bouncy sense of playful humor evident throughout which further enhances the movie's considerable entertainment value. The acting is uniformly sound, with a delightfully sassy turn by the lovely Nieves Navarro as Minou's racy and uninhibited best gal pal Dominique rating as a particular stand-out. Alejandro Ulloa's crisp, sparkling cinematography gives the picture an attractive glossy look. Ennio Morricone's lush, bubbly, harmonic score likewise hits the saucy spot, with Edda Dell'Orso's exquisite soaring soprano singing dreamy wordless vocals like some kind of naughty fallen angel. The nice surprise ending neatly wraps things up in a solid and satisfying way. Good, crafty and spicy fun.

THE FORBIDDEN PHOTOS OF A LADY ABOVE SUSPICION (Luciano Ercoli - Italy/Spain 1970).Luciano Ercoli can be called many things. He might not be the most innovative director, but he definitely is the king of fashion, with all the women dressed up in some truly outrageous '70s outfits. His muse Nieves Navarro in particular parades through the film in some truly skimpy outfits, resulting in unintentional campyness. When talking camp, watch the dancing scene in the club in the beginning of the film with Dagmar Lassander. In God's heaven, this is one tacky dancing scene we're watching. All the men are in suits, the women are outrageously dressed, the music is a hallucinate boggle of easy-listening tunes James Last wouldn't even dare to come up with and the way they dance (how do you even dance to this kind of music?) is truly a perfect showcase of tacky '70s euro-nonsense. Guilty. Case closed. Still, it's a complete riot when watching it now and that's probably why I enjoy these films so much. In all his three Gialli, FORBIDDEN PHOTOS, DEATH WALKS ON HIGH HEELS and DEATH WALKS AT MIDNIGHT, Ercoli presents his story from a female perspective, but they are presented as utterly helpless when dealing with the various male perpetrators and chauvinist male detectives surrounding them. Even husbands or boyfriends, or any male capable of help turns out to be just as malevolent as all the blackmailers, wife-beaters and murderers. Nudity level and body count are low, but as a mystery it's actually much more effective than most Gialli, stylishly filmed, well acted and permeated with intrigue, blackmail and fetishistic violence, supported by a groovy Ennio Morricone score. Although graphic violence is restricted to a minimum, Dagmar Lassander has to undergo quite the ordeal with a mire of sedatives, alcohol and sleazy sex and strange conversations with the assertive bisexual figure of Nieves Navarro. She repeatedly keeps hearing from all male characters: "Get undressed!" Just imagine this film, which was extremely obscure and hardly ever seen until its DVD-release in June 2006, sold almost 638,000 tickets in Spain alone according to the IMDb, probably largely due to the appeal of Spanish-born Nieves Navarro (over 2 million admissions in Europe is my guess). Blue Underground presents the film without an Italian audiotrack, but - surprise, surprise - the English dubbing is actually quite good now, which is always a major bonus. Camera Obscura --- 7/10