Piero Schivazappa – “Femina Ridens” (1969)

Former assistant to filmmakers such as Valerio Zurlini, on The girl in the suitcasePiero Schivazappa passes at the realization in 1962 with Blood in Parma, since become invisible. Mainly active at the summereIévision, he signs many episodes of series and other tImovies, including his ultimate mad love in 1994, romance river of pres of three hours with Brooke Shield. seven years lateres his shot‘try, and while six women for‘assassin startede the fashion of giallo who conquers the cineemy d‘Italian exploitation, the directorene decide d‘offer his own vision of the nascent genre. He co-wrote thenary of Femina Ridens (lit.generally “the woman who laughs ») to cotes by Paolo Levi, scenarist of Naked woman Where L‘Assassin reserved9 armchairsand Giuseppe Zaccariello, later at the feather on The Bloody Bay. The thriller follows young journalist Mary (Dagmar Lassander) who investigateseyou on doctor Sayer (Philippe Leroy), businessman at the headyou from a big companyyouphilanthropic star. The latter invites the young woman at his apartment owhere she doesn’t delay to ddiscover the atypical inclinations of the man of‘business. A dangerous sexual game tinged with violence then sets in.… Released in France under the title The Death Duo, the feature film had known a minimal distribution and had the right only to an old VHS, sinking little at little in the‘forgotten over the dicecents. arriveRecently introduced to the publishing world, Frenezy finally does it justice by offering a double Blu-Ray worthy of the name filled with extras.lies.

1969, the world knowsît various political and societal upheavals. A revolution in morals Femina Ridens deals openly, just as he harnesses the wind of freedom créatrice who was blowing then. Thus, the visual artist Niki de Saint Phalle is responsible for the impressive sculptures of Gironde and multicolored women, a tribute to his sseries of Babes. Formally superb, the film takes advantage of its challenges.corns, where the painting of the Renaissance cohhit the pop art and the ready-made. Tres influencedé by the codes of his time (the amphibious car heylaughsed of James Bond, the‘excellent soundtrack by Stelvio Cipriani), Schivazappa n‘hdon’t hesitate at oppose two sides of the‘History of the‘Italy, the‘old and modern. L‘a is symbolized by the premises owhere Sayer works, long colonnades and offices adorned with antique busts, imposing world maps and luxurious marble. Locked in the fantasy of‘past greatnesse, he mehave a lifestyle of‘Roman emperor, guarded by knights in armor and accompanied ‘a trumpet sound when leaving his bath wrapped in a toga. As to at its contemporary counterpart, it is entirely contained in the‘apartment of the latter, ultra-modern and labyrinthine structure owhere the works‘pile up between two torture chambers. L‘man keeps meme a collection of canvases depicting viruses and other bacteria seen under a microscope and colorized, resulting at a warholian and macabre series. All is creation home, like Mary l‘will learn at his costs. Loudspeakers broadcast recordings new-age then at fashion, owhere sexualityis approachede to through his relationship to the stars. The young womanvethe d‘somewhere else at her captor‘she believes in Hindu reincarnation. Passenger Trendsere and connected spiritual currents collide within‘an environment that, regardless of its temporal anchoring, only emphasizes power, power and possession subduedrielle.

© Blu-Ray Frenezy screenshot.

Although the genus n‘in its infancy, L‘Bird with crystal plumage will not be released until a year later, Femina Ridens theorize dicealready on the codes of giallo. Supported by the work of Carlo and Santi Achilli (chief operator of Requiem for a Scoundrel by Francesco Prosperi), the rdirector multiplies the plans in d‘endless corridors, play vanishing points and isolates its protagonist by framing her between bars, separating her duo as much as possible at the‘screen. The camera changes meme in land‘expmetatextual artistic experimentation. L‘man of‘business becomes the fictional counterpart of the filmmaker who seeks at sublimate the fear of its victims to immortalize them on film, as evidenced by the many arrets on image when Sayer photographs the terrified journalist. To do this, he uses‘a collection of ancestral daggers, references to the commonplace of the‘edged weapon, and works melight meere of his dungeon by adding a red gelatin on a projector, creating a monochromatic atmosphere. Giallesque tropes just come from‘appearedîvery, that‘they meet againalready questioned by the film. The executioner collects images of his acts of barbarism like veritable hunting trophies, going so far as to pose fierarely in the company of its prey. Not skimping on the‘emphasis, cinemaast n‘hdon’t hesitate at summon a surrealism and a grotesque close to Fellini, especially when‘they‘acts to depict sexual acts at the‘screen. Using d‘allegory or metonymy, often d‘a not very subtle taste (the fanfare sequence), it maintains all scenaughty offscreen, simply implied, among other things, by a shoe otee. The feature film doubles as‘a real statementement anti-masculinist who could eto be taxed with hypocrisy, so much Schivazappa embraces the imposed figures, taking a certain pleasure at film the violence and the chhasments on naked bodies, if the story n‘did not incorporate this questioning. heyroïdoes not ironically boast of the virility of his torturer while he slips a bolster between his thighs in a maniere obsceneenot. She questions the‘artistic exploitation of‘horror that always ends up tiring, pushing at the search for new victims, new more extreme practicesemy. Deaf to the claims of his captive and enjoying their suffering, the doctor becomes a mirror held up to them. at the face of the spectator-voyeur.

© Blu-Ray Frenezy screenshot.