"The Stendhal Syndrome" (1996)

Directed by Dario Argento
Review based upon the Blue Underground US Blu-Ray release

Following the disastrous reviews and critical backlash which greeted his previous film “Trauma” (1993), Dario Argento decided to return to the realistic approach which first garnered him critical acclaim back in 1969 when he emerged onto the Italian genre scene.

Deciding to shoot the film in Italy with a largely Italian cast prompted many of his devotees to believe that this picture would be a true return to form for the auteur. Upon release however, the film received a massive backlash on all sides. It seemed that the realism portrayed in this film, combined with the gruelling and unflinching depiction of rape, was too strong even for the majority of Argento’s die-hard fans. Perhaps ironically though, the reputation of “The Stendhal Syndrome” has (along with many of his other recent works) improved dramatically since it was first released in Italy. Many now hail it as a positive move for the director, showing him yet again as being unafraid to continually experiment with the medium of cinema.

It would appear that the thing that Argento fears the most is becoming stagnant; certainly noone could accuse him of resting on his laurels since “Tenebrae” (1982), as each subsequent work has been radically different in so many ways. The same is indeed true of “The Stendhal Syndrome”.

Upon close scrutiny, this film (despite accusations to the contrary) does contain a number of key themes that are present in the majority of Argento’s work. This film predominantly focuses its attention on three areas – art and the influence it possesses over the audience, the powerful act of murder, and the madness that afflicts those who are affected by traumatic circumstances. These three conceits can indeed be located in virtually all of the director’s films from “The Bird with the Crystal Plumage” (1969) to “Trauma” (1993). However, where “The Stendhal Syndrome” varies in comparison to the other pictures is in the way that those three things literally consume every frame. Ironically this film is indeed a return to the old values which people believed that Argento had abandoned; the stylistic visuals and unique approach to camerawork are all still present, but they are never the primary concern. Instead, the narrative and performances take the lead in this movie, which is where the power of “The Stendhal Syndrome” lies.

Working in harmony with a wonderful Ennio Morricone score (who was responsible for the music in Argento’s first three movies), it does indeed appear that the director has gone back to basics and made a gritty slice of giallo horror with a distinctly subversive twist. Ultimately the focus of “The Stendhal Syndrome” is art, and how that particular medium can control the actions of those susceptible to its power. In 1996 the director said on this topic that “the possibility of art being deadly really interested me”, and this is borne out over the course of the narrative.

Argento also uses this film to link art with murder, suggesting via the characters of Anna and Alfredo that either of these are ways of successfully releasing repressed demons. For instance, Anna takes up painting herself in the latter part of the film, but only after she has been raped. Here the act of creating a visual image on the canvas is a channel for Anna’s anguish and torment. It is also worth noting that the artwork created by Anna during these sequences is very Freudian, and contains an overtly sexual style that supports the idea that Argento views art as a way of communicating with our inner feelings.

There are also many other sequences within the film where art takes centre stage to maximise visual effect and heighten emotional impact. The most obvious example being the hallucination scenes, where Anna is affected by the Stendhal syndrome and as a result literally walks into the paintings. These moments show Argento attempting to recreate the feel of the paintings as Anna moves into them, and the visual style and colour schemes used always reflect this. Additionally it is important to remember that such scenes are filmed in an objective style, with a wide variety of POV shots used to ensure the audience appreciates that we are inside the head of Anna herself.

Other points where Argento demonstrates the power of art are perhaps more subtle, such as the rolling credits, where a string of artwork is blended together down the right hand side of the frame to allow the viewer to experience the power of those images for themselves. There are also the graffiti paintings on the wall of the killer’s lair, which are used to entirely appropriately represent the aggression and pain of that particular location. In “The Stendhal Syndrome”, art is used to emote the characters and the audience, and this arguably shows a more restrained yet possibly even more powerful auteur at work than before.

Despite the subtleties shown with the symbolic use of art, Argento’s camera is still used within this film to show the fragmentary sense of reality that has always been subject to his unflinching gaze. The opening scene in the Uffizi Gallery where Anna succumbs to the Stendhal syndrome for the fist time is a very clear indicator of the director’s usual style, with the shots constantly moving from objective to subjective in order to show the chaos and confusion erupting in the character. Whilst this is typically Argento in structure and execution, there are other elements included which are new to the auteur’s repertoire. The sound used is invasive, and as Anna’s condition takes hold it becomes muffled and indistinct, thus supporting the subjective view of the camera. The director has always attempted to put the audience inside the heads of various characters with varying degrees of effectiveness, but with this use of sound he adds another degree of realism to that moment.

Another issue worthy of consideration is that the usual excess and visual flair contained within Argento’s films is only present in this picture when the viewer is taken into the mind of Anna. In the auteur’s other films these extreme flourishes are to be seen everywhere, but “The Stendhal Syndrome” boldly attempts realism by limiting such techniques to moments of purely subjective camerawork. With such aspects in mind, it could be argued that this film aims to break both the convention of the giallo and of Argento’s usual work.

Looking at the content closely, there is none of the usual iconography usually associated with the giallo horror style. There are no black-gloved killers or close-ups of knives here. Indeed, this film goes still further to disrupt standard giallo fare by revealing the identity of the killer very early on. There are also none of Argento’s usually excessive set pieces to be found. Instead, the killings occur in a very subdued way in order to make them seem both intimate and ugly.

Most crucial of all, and almost breaking the Argento mould completely, is the care and attention paid to characterisation within this movie. Of course once the film has been viewed in its entirety, it becomes clear that the director has used all of these to lull the audience into a false sense of security. However, it is easy to understand why audiences reacted with such venom to this film; it is nothing like what they were expecting. But this should be appreciated rather than criticised, as Argento is clearly attempting to inject the genre with a modern spin.

“The Stendhal Syndrome” contains a great deal of sexual references, and is perhaps even more honest and blatant in its approach to this theme than seen in “Tenebrae”. In this film the murderer deliberately uses a gun (rather than the requisite knife), a choice that is deliberately phallic. Argento also depicts the act of rape in graphic detail; there are no fade-outs here like there are in his previous work. In this film the director looks fully at the sexual act whether it is consensual or not, and the camera rarely looks away. Some of his references are very subtle however, such as the moment where the blood from Anna’s lip drips onto a white sheet just after her rape ordeal. This is a reference to both virginal deflowerment and the awakening of torment within Anna, and such a symbolic piece of mise-en-scène serves to demonstrate the amount of confidence that the director has in his new approach.

Most importantly, “The Stendhal Syndrome” is Argento’s most powerful representation of gender. It shows men as unpleasant and driven by desire, and women as strong, career-minded and able to defeat the male threat. Despite the fact that the director has frequently been labelled a misogynist, this film allows Argento the opportunity to show full sympathy for his female protagonist (perhaps aided by the fact that Anna is played convincingly by his daughter Asia), and to understand her as she slips into torment. The strength of Anna’s character is best illustrated in two key moments, which genuinely prove that the director has sought to reverse the traditional gender roles. Firstly, there is the moment shortly after her attack where she cuts off her long hair. This almost completely strips Anna of her femininity, and leads to ridicule from her brothers who accuse her of looking like a boy. In this section of the movie, Argento is showing the audience that she is asserting her power in reaction to her ordeal. It is a relatively innocuous segment on the surface, but it contains a great deal of power. The second example of Anna’s strength is to be found where her policeman boyfriend Marco propositions her, claiming that she is ignoring his desires. Her reaction to this is to assume the male role, forcing herself on him to make the point that his sexual needs are irrelevant and inconsiderate. Again a moment of gender reversal, but it shows that after her ordeal she has gained the strength required to resist the advances of men.

Throughout “The Stendhal Syndrome”, Argento focuses on the strength of women and the ways in which the sexual act can interminably alter someone’s personality. It is largely a sympathetic and positive representation of gender, which certainly calls into question the negative comments that have previously been levelled at the director’s work.

Since the beginning of his career in films, Dario Argento has always courted controversy. “The Stendhal Syndrome” is certainly the most controversial picture that he has created to date, and the one that has frustrated audiences the most. It undoubtedly showcases the talents of a director who is never happy to simply repeat formulaic genre entries. As time progresses, this film will continue to become more positively appreciated by both the fans of Argento’s early work and by cinema audiences who like to be mentally challenged as well as visually stimulated.

Despite what many critics wrote in 1996, this is one of Argento’s most striking and interesting modern pieces of cinematic genre art.

9 out of 10

Another Argento masterpiece, which will become more appreciated for it's content and style over time