Smartorhypo
Highly Overrated But Still Good
Afouotos
Although it has its amusing moments, in eneral the plot does not convince.
Mathilde the Guild
Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.
Giallo Fanatic
This has got to be one of the most disturbing and tightly filmed horror Art-House movies ever made. It is psychologically intense and even intelligent. It is one of the few movies made that I feel portrays violence and insanity honestly. It is typical for an Argento movie to make the violence uncomfortable and sexually tense, with this it is a lot more obvious and more brutal in its depiction. As usual with an Argento movie it is full of dread and relies more on atmosphere than mere storytelling. Typical for a Giallo the movie has a simple but strong and focused plot. It doesn't spend too much time on giving the movie sub-plots which is great if you ask me. It only adds to the story to forward the plot. So I would say the movie is straight to the point. To be quite honest it is a simpler and more straightforward story compared to Dario Argento's other movies, usually they have a complex and convoluted story with a murderer hiding in plain sight first revealed near the end of the movie. In the Stendhal Syndrome the killer's identity is revealed early on. So this is not your usual Argento movie. Although the themes are basically the same as with most of his movies: violence, dark side of human nature and sexuality. He rarely goes outside of these themes, but the way he makes his movies is often different than what he did before often leaving audiences not knowing what to expect. Even I find it hard to know what to expect besides the core themes.Here we have the Stendhal Syndrome as the main theme and key to set out the plot and story. It is fascinating since the director was given the chance to explore violence and art at once. There have been cases with people driven insane by the syndrome and the movie captures the atmosphere of it brilliantly with beautiful yet disturbing images. It is similar to Barry Lyndon, in the sense that it was like watching paintings coming to life. Except it felt like the paintings really were alive in Stendhal and not only that, also in a dreadful, ominous and disturbing way. Brilliant. The violence depicted in the movie is very disturbing and often macabre, made even more disturbing by combining rape and violence. Let me tell you, this movie left me shaken to my very core. The psychological intensity of the movie is potent, I dare say venomous even and it is quite thought provoking. It shows the viewer how close we might really be to lose our minds. Asia's character, female-victim-turned-hero/insane is portrayed by Asia with such flexibility that I find it a bit hard to see another actress playing the main character. Besides only a few might have the courage to take on such a role. Thomas Kretschmann is also quite impressive, he played his character in such a way where he was able to add depth and some humanity to his character. Usually those kind of characters turn out to be cheesy and unbelievable, but here it went well. P.S. the cinematography is as usual extravagant and is pure eye candy for Art-House aficionados. I admit I am one of them.Overall I think this is a disturbing and disgusting movie but made with great sensitivity and intelligence. Great cinematography, with eerie music by the great Ennio Morricone and good acting (yes, good acting. There is always some German Expressionism feel in the acting in Dario Argento's movies) It kind of drags a bit after Kretschmann's character dies but it was still solid. Also it has some sense of humor but it is so odd it seems like a bad attempt at trying to be funny. Oh also some very early CGI effects that seems childish in our times, but it doesn't hurt the movie since it is a short sequence. Great movie.
LoneWolfAndCub
Dario Argent is one of the finest directors of horror worldwide and has many fine films under his belt. Unfortunately The Stendhal Syndrome is not one of them. The 90's are seen as a weak era for Argento, personally I have only seen this and The Phantom of the Opera from this time, and I actually enjoyed the widely lambasted Phantom. Phantom, although far from perfect, was still an enjoyable movie with plenty of whacked out Argento touches. The Stendhal Syndrome, starring Dario's daughter Asia, has a promising story that ultimately goes nowhere, and with horrible CGI effects and slow pacing the movie fizzles out into nothing.The story centres on Detective Anna Manni (Argento) who is tracking down an elusive serial killer/rapist in Florence. To Anna's disadvantage she suffers from Stendhal's syndrome in which she gets bouts of dizziness and hallucinations when she is exposed to the sight of paintings and artistic masterpieces. The killer begins to target Anna, using her illness to his advantage.Argento creates an unsettling atmosphere throughout, this is definitely one of his darkest movies. Camera-work has always been one of Argento's strongest points, and this movie is no different. There are some fantastic shots here, the streets of Florence are dark and menacing, and there is a excellent sequence where a victim is stalked through a room of marble statues. Ennio Morricone's score is perfect, creating a suitably unsettling atmosphere.But these cannot save the movie from being generally uneven. The structure of the story is it's weakest point, with 2/3 of the movie dedicated to the serial killer and the last 1/3 to Anna. There are many points where nothing really happens in a movie that is character-driven. This, and shocking CGI in certain scenes where it really wasn't needed detract from what could have been really good.2/5
Michael_Elliott
Stendhal Syndrome, The (1996) *** (out of 4) Unsettling if flawed film from Argento about police woman Anna Manni (Asia Argento) who is investigating a serial rapist who is now starting to murder his victims. Anna is in a museum looking for the suspect when she passes out from the visions she gets from the paintings and a while later she's in her room getting brutally raped by the suspect. This here leads her to slowly begin to go insane while at the same time continuing to look for the rapist who also has something for her. THE STENDHAL SYNDROME runs right at two-hours and it would be hard to argue that the first hour doesn't feature some of the directors greatest work. It would also be hard to argue that the final hour of the film slowly starts to fall apart and leads up to one of the worst endings you're likely to see anywhere. The first hour of the film is quite remarkable as it features the director at the top of his game and especially the opening twenty-minutes, which are just as unsettling as the opening sequence in SUSPIRIA. The opening scenes inside the museum are quite hypnotic and they really bring you into the mind of our lead because Argento's style of direction really does make you feel as if these paintings are alive. These images getting inside the head of Anna are a major part of the plot and the director has no trouble at making the viewer see and feel everything Anna is going through. The rape sequence certainly isn't as graphic as some more infamous films but it's still quite shocking and unsettling simply because of how Argento directs it. Just take a look and really study the editing style of this scene because it's what really sells the material. It also does hurt that the brilliant music score by Ennio Morricone perfectly captures an atmosphere that is quite eerie and certainly very unnerving. Morricone made many great scores in his career and this one here is certainly near the top. The problems begin in the second half of the film and sadly they are quite major. For starters, the film's second half tries to be more psychological and get inside the mind of Anna but I think the film fails horribly at this. Not once does this little experiment work and I think Dario is much better at handling the fast, wild imagery than the more quiet, mental stuff. It certainly doesn't help that the majority of the visual style takes a backseat and this causes the film to slow down so much that it really does drag in spots. The two-hour running time certainly could have been helped had ten or fifteen-minutes of this been edited out including an entire sequence at Anna's fathers house. As for the ending, I won't spoil it but it's not nearly as shocking as the director intended. Asia certainly does a very good job in the role and especially considering the screenplay lets her character down in the second half. The actress certainly stands out compared to the supporting players. Some of the supporting performances are rather embarrassing but the dubbing doesn't help matters either. However, even with the countless flaws in the second half, THE STENDHAL SYNDROME is still a very effective film. The masterful direction and score perfectly make up for all the flaws and it makes the film worth viewing.
Jan Strydom
For those that don't know I'm in the process of discovering Argento's films for the first time, THE STENDHAL SYNDROME is my third endeavor following OPERA which I didn't like and MOTHER OF TEARS better than OPERA but its no masterpiece and has a lousy ending.THE STENDHAL SYNDROME wasn't as much a horror film for me as it was more of a psychological thriller, it follows assistant police inspector Anna Manni (Asia Argento) who is on the trail of a sadistic serial killer/rapist (Thomas Kretschmann) who stalks, rapes and then murders his female victims, but Anna also has to content with the fact that she has a condition called the Stendhal syndrome, a condition that causes her to lose herself in powerful works of art.In a way I liked the film, more than both OPERA and MOTHER OF TEARS, it was more unconventional than a lot of other thrillers I've seen, the acting is actually good, the best performances in the film are given by Asia Argento and Thomas Kretschmann, the storyline is well thought out despite having the tendency to drag at times.So far things are looking interesting, I can clearly tell that Argento's films are not everyone's cup of tea but for me, this is the best Argento film I've seen so far but I still feel that I have yet to be impressed by Argento's films, STENDHAL SYNDROME was a good movie sure but it doesn't mean I haven't seen better, although there are still so many to see, so who knows.Overall, STENDHAL SYNDROME is a good psychological thriller, its clearly not for everyone but if you're also not familiar with Argento and you may or may not be a little curious give it a shot, see what you think.
