|
Movie Review: 'The Stendhal Syndrome'
by Constantin von Hoffmeister
15 April 2004
HAIL Argento!
I must make the following statement: THE STENDHAL SYNDROME radiates with
such brilliance, I can hardly describe it in a sane terminology. It was
released in 1996 and should therefore be easily available. The term
"surreal" does not do justice to the film's poetic MACHT. Dario Argento's
film is a marriage of HELL and HADES: a union of Jean Cocteau's LE SANG D'UN
POETE and Luis Bunuel's UN CHIEN ANDALOU! Even good old Willy Blake would
not see angels dancing in the 2-D trees on the screen! Beautiful Asia
Argento plays Anna, and Anna enters Boticelli paintings and sensuously
kisses a monster fish (squeezed out by Dagon himself?).
Stendhal lost himself in a gallery, intoxicated by the beauty of oil paint
and canvases. Anna loses herself in Hieronymus Bosch's dark orgy worlds and
hears the painful whispers of her own descent into the SPIRAL TRAP! Thomas
Kretschmann plays the beautiful Aryan Alfredo who sings tunes to blood that
drips from lips of people he loves and rapes. He becomes intoxicated with
sheer SABINIAN pleasure, and he wears a snazzy suit. Did I mention the
soundtrack was composed by Italian demi-god Ennio Morricone? Go and rent it,
o defiler of the ancient scrolls!
In an interview with the German gore-zine SPLATTING IMAGE, Argento explains
why so many Italian directors are obsessed with Germany and the Third Reich
in particular: "It is about the Germans' obsession with death, the
celebration of death, the death cults. Look at Art Deco: They are beautiful
works, but they seem like mortuary art, Art Deco has something to do with
funerals. We Italians are also fascinated with Leni Riefenstahl and her
work. The OLYMPIA films, TRIUMPH OF THE WILL, we are very impressed by her
style."
Argento also talks about the power of the Swastika: "The symbol of German
Fascism, the Swastika, is a holy symbol, a symbol of eternity. I am not sure
if I am conscious of it, maybe I am merely reflecting what I see around me,
and these symbols, these aesthetics are arguably the simplest and most
commonly understandable expression of that which moves me. Fascism is still
present in Italy, as a memory, of course, but also in daily life, in many
details."
CONSTANTIN VON HOFFMEISTER
|