The Stendhal Syndrome (1996)

Stylish but barely mediocre overall

A very feeble attempt at affirmatie action

The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

A clunky actioner with a handful of cool moments.

As a fan of Dario Argento's distinctively bold film-making techniques, I can find little to get excited about in his 90s output: it was the decade that the director seemed to lose his creative mojo, the three (and a half) films he made during that period lacking the innovation and magic of his previous work.The Stendhal Syndrome, which followed the disappointing Trauma (1993), features a typically bizarre plot that offers plenty of potential but fails to hit the mark in almost every possible way: gone are Argento's cleverly orchestrated scenes of hyper-stylised violence, only to be replaced by uncharacteristically tawdry scenes of rape and sadism; there's little evidence of the director's trademark stunning visuals to help distract the viewer from the dull and uneven pacing (the creaky CGI just doesn't cut it); and the overall enjoyment factor is further hampered by a unlikeable central performance from Dario's daughter Asia. Even Ennio Morricone's score seems lacking.Argento's final film of the 90s, The Phantom of the Opera, also failed to please the majority of his fans (although I actually quite enjoyed it for its sheer absurdity). The new millennium saw a slight return to form with Non Ho Sonno (AKA Sleepless) and The Card Player, but the negative critical reception of Giallo and Mother of Tears suggests that his best days are long gone.

I haven't seen "Stendhal Syndrome" in more then ten years, so I was quite thrilled when I found it on DVD (the sweet 2 disc edition) and decided to give it a shot and see if I could still be amazed by Argento.and how does this movie hold? Rather well I must say. While it's certainly not good as some of the Argento's earlier work, it's still one of the highlights of Argento's career. Comparing it with his early masterpieces is hard, since "Stendhal Syndrome" is much more different. It's based on personal experience Argento had as a child, much like "Phenomena" was based on Argento's current obsession of that time.Narrative is very complex and it might be bit hard to fallow if you aren't fully concentrated or you are not familiar with Argento's narrative style - while his stories are usually linear in terms of story progression, but he often uses fragmented narrative which give some scenes dream-like narrative (this worked rather well in his supernatural movies, like Suspiria). Story itself is bit different from his early giallo movies, because in this one, violence doesn't happen often (but when they do, they are rather nasty) and it's more character driven. It's true psychological thriller (modern filmmakers who sell their torture porn as "psychological" please learn from Mr. Argento and this movie) where we fallow the psyche of detective Anna Manni (played by Asia Argento, director's daughter) as she tries to fight serial killer and her personal demons that grow stronger after each encounter with him. (I won't go into much details because of the spoilers).Dario Argento's visual style is still impressive, and his camera work fits perfectly with narrative and storytelling. There are some beautiful shots and interesting camera work. There's also use of contrast much like in Suspiria, but in SS, Argento had some very good moments that impressed me. In some scenes, where we fallow Anna in her apartment, contrast is strong and colors can be bright, but as the movie progresses, colors are becoming much darker and "realistic". There's a scene where Anna confronts the killer in underground (sewers) and movie drastically changes from white and red (Anna's apartment) into black, gray and brown (not only because of the set, but because Argento decided to saturate those colors even more).Asia Argento is beautiful as usual and she gives a strong performance here.Music is haunting and creepy, and perfectly fits with the movie. Watch this in original Italian audio, English dub wasn't that good.6.5/10 but I gave it 7, because Dario Argento is awesome guy in person. Meet him few years back and he was funny, charming and very down-to- earth.

A young policewoman (the erection-inducing Asia Argento) slowly goes insane while tracking down an elusive serial rapist/killer (Thomas Kretschmann) through Italy when she herself becomes a victim of the brutal man's obsession.I think this film can easily be classified as part of Argento's downward spiral (everything after "Sleepless", with the exception of his "Masters of Horror" segments). Sure, we have musical genius Ennio Morricone and the special effects master Sergio Stivaletti... and this is Argento's highest grossing film in his native country. But there are some bad points.First of all, why the terrible computer graphics of swallowing pills? Or the bullet through the cheek? This film takes pride in being the first Italian picture to use computer graphics, but frankly it would be considerably better if these few seconds were cut out.I also fear the film suffers from Americanization -- we see a man wearing a Coors Light hat, and Asia sports a "Moo Orleans" shirt at one point. A film about the power of great art, which has Italy as its backdrop, should not contain a single glimpse of American pop culture. With endless walls of paintings and city skyscapes of timeless architecture, why introduce such banality? Jason Buchanan says the film is "ultimately a victim of its own excess and the director's tendency to overcomplicate a fairly simple storyline." I have no response for the first part. What excess does he mean? That the budget was too big? I am unclear. The second part could be taken as either Argento's strength or weakness. Surely, in a film like this, he could have cut 20 minutes from the script and made it tighter, faster-paced and sold it as a solid thriller. But yet, Argento's background in in the giallo subgenre, where the whole point is to make the simply complicated and create mystery... it is hard to scold the master for using his skills, but Buchanan may be right that this was the wrong film for them.Ultimately, the film is more satisfying than his later work, but pales in comparison to anything he was doing in the 1970s or 1980s. Perhaps Argento's biggest mistake was bringing his daughter into the film -- a decision he has made more than six times now.

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