The Double

The Double

"For you it's all a game. You're always playing."

When Giovanni (Jean Sorel) is shot by a mysterious bearded man in a parking garage, he flashes back to the events that led him to his demise. Living off his trust fund, he and his Italian girlfriend Lucia (Ewa Aulin) had a free-spirited life in Morocco, alternately making love and arguing due to his intense jealousy. But when Lucia's mother, Nora (Lucia Bosé) visits, Giovanni's lustful attention turns to her, though she seems more interested in a taciturn American hippie named Eddie (Sergio Doria). As Giovanni lays dying, his memories mix with his fantasies. Did he kill Eddie in Morocco or did Nora kill him in Rome? Who is the mysterious bearded man and what does he want? Is Nora having an affair? It may already be too late to find out the answers.

Much like it's protagonist's life, The Double is a messy, confusing, unresolved thing. The idea of a narrative spun out from a dying man's memories comes from another, much better Jean Sorel giallo, Short Night of the Glass Dolls. But instead of focusing on an elaborate mystery, The Double is a serious, arty, and meandering examination of one man's moral contradictions and his inability to commit to a relationship, a family, a career, or home. And, likewise, his mind often diverges into fantasy, showing that he can't even commit to a single version of past events. Giovanni is a nomad in every aspect of his life. This movie wants to use the giallo format to say important things about man's existential crisis during the unraveling of social fabric in the late 20th Century but, unfortunately, it works as neither a serious drama nor as a riveting thriller. It would have worked better if they had either focused on making a contemplative Malick-esque film without the genre conventions or jettisoned the arty pretense and created a high-suspense Hitchcockian thriller. Ultimately, the movie fails by trying to cover both bases at once.

• The title The Double doesn't make any sense, but it's probably a mis-translation of the original Italian title, La Controfigura. A better translation might be The Wrong Man.
• You may remember Sergio Doria from his small role in The Iguana With the Tongue of Fire. I mostly remember him because of the awesome jacket he wore in that movie.
• IMDB.com lists Jean Sorel's character as "Giovanni" but in the movie, he's called "Frank."
• During one of their arguments, Giovanni/Frank refers to Lucia as his wife but, later on, he is surprised when Nora tells him that Lucia is eager to marry him. This could be a case of an unreliable narrator, as we see throughout the film, but I think it's probably a genuine goof.
• The phone in Lucia's Rome apartment is orange, not red. So close.

What the Hell am I Watching?

There are no fewer than two naked swimming scenes.

Early on, a group of locals crowds around the body of a dead man that has washed up on the beach. Our main characters are there and share meaningful looks. This is never addressed again in the movie. Who was he? How did he die? How does it tie in to the story? Did it really happen?

So who killed Eddie? How did he die? We get no answers.

Fashion Moment

Lucia is young, rich, thin, and Italian in the 1970's and that's a Venn diagram that leads to some adventurous high fashion. For example:

It's not a great shot, but she's wearing a flesh-colored bikini top with a matching fringed sarong.

Note the ominous yellow beach blanket.

Lucia gets funky for a night on the town in this purple velvet blouse and comically oversized hat.

In line at the breakfast buffet she's wearing that same bikini top, paired with a lace-up leather bondage collar.

And back in Rome, she goes full-on drag queen with a brunette bob wig, sheer blouse with flower appliques, and a pound of clown makeup.

 

Smile Before Death

Smile Before Death

 "She's a girl who knows how to make herself liked. And you have to hate someone to kill them."

Teenager Nancy Thompson (Jenny Tamburi) returns home from boarding school after her mother, Dorothy (Zora Gheorgieva) dies of an apparent suicide. She moves into the family's cottage with her mother's best friend, photographer Gianna (Rosalba Neri) and her stepfather, Marco (Silvano Tranquilli), who are having a not-so-secret affair. But when Nancy's relationship with Marco becomes closer, she starts to wonder if her mother's death was really an accident. Could Marco or Gianna have killed Dorothy? Or perhaps it was the housekeeper, Magda (Dana Ghia). In her search for answers, Nancy finds herself walking a dangerous tightrope – but is she really the innocent girl she appears to be?

Smile Before Death (not to be confused with Death Smiles on a Murderer) is basically a clumsy re-tread of Sergio Martino's Your Vice is a Locked Room and Only I Have the Key, wherein an innocent-looking young girl inserts herself between a couple that shares a murderous secret, playing both sides to her own advantage. It's still entertaining, though, full of twists and double crosses and a clever and surprising resolution. But the storytelling relies too much on flashbacks and most of the movie is a long, bloodless stretch between the opening death scene and the three kills at the very end with characters plotting against each other.

• Hiram Keller appears in the small role of Paolo the gigolo. You may remember as Lord James MacGreiff in Seven Deaths in the Cat's Eye. He has an exotic, European look about him so you may be surprised to learn that he was, in fact, an American from Georgia.
• Roberto Predagio's theme song is a peppy, giggly little tune featuring scat singing by Edda Dell'Orso that will stay with you when the movie is done. It recurs throughout the film, even when the tone calls for something non-peppy and non-giggly.
• The original Italian title is Il Soriso Della Iena, which translates as The Smile of the Hyena.  None of the titles make any sense.
• The cottage where most of the movie takes place is swanky and ultra-modern and features some of the most awful abstract art you've ever seen.
• The resolution to the mystery is great, but then there's a disappointing, tacked-on ending.  It's meant to be an ironic twist but just comes across as clumsy and anticlimactic.

What the Hell am I Watching?

Shortly after she arrives, Nancy eagerly models for Gianna's photos, trying on different looks and acting out different personalities. Later, while reviewing the pictures, Nancy declares that none of them capture the "real her." She asks Gianna for an impromptu photo session and... well, apparently the "real" Nancy is naked all the time.

In fact, Nancy starts off shy and demure but after only a few days (and a brief montage to show her personal growth) she has no problem stripping in front of people, even at the most inappropriate times.

Fashion Moment

Smile Before Death lets you know right off the bat that it's a giallo, by showing a wounded, bloody Dorothy writhing on the floor in this frilly yellow ("giallo") housecoat. Or maybe it's an evening gown. It's hard to tell.

Later, during the aforementioned fashion shoot montage, Nancy acts out different roles including a Hollywood vixen, a sex kitten, a high-society fashionista and... a squirrel?

 

So Sweet, So Dead

So Sweet, So Dead

 "She was taken by surprise, tried desperately to resist... just like the others."

Inspector Capuana (Farley Granger) is on the trail of a murderer who only targets unfaithful women and leaves compromising photos of the victims with their lovers at each crime scene. As the murderer strikes again and again, the husbands and wives of the city grow more and more anxious, wondering who will be next... and who among them has reason to worry. With every murder, both the husbands and the lovers have alibis, so who would have reason to kill? Time is running out and the serial killer who calls himself "the Avenger" must be stopped!

Rest easy, wheel. You're in no danger of getting re-invented by So Sweet, So Dead (not to be confused with So Sweet... So Perverse).  This movie uses all the familiar rhythms, spaces its murders out evenly over the course of the movie, and is faithful to the conventions of the genre. Too faithful, I'd say. While it's entertaining enough, and the murderer who only targets cheaters is a somewhat novel approach, So Sweet, So Dead shows little ambition when it comes to the story, characters, or stylish visuals. It's say it's a good beginner's giallo - one that won't spoil a newcomer for other, better films of the genre.

• While establishing the killer's profile, Capuana and the Coroner, Professor Casali (Chris Avram) run through a laundry list of standard giallo motives: impotence, homosexuality, covering up another crime, and plain old insanity.
• This film is graced by giallo superstar Susan Scott, who, by taking on the small role of Lilly, instantly boosts the movie's credibility.
• You may also recognize Luciano Rossi, who plays creepster morgue worker Gastone. He was the crazy blonde hit man in Death Walks at Midnight. In this movie, though, he not only gets to talk, but he carries entire scenes.
• There are a few good murder scenes here. I liked how the murder on the train was done and that the body of Renata (Krista Nell) is found stylishly draped across a spiral staircase.
• The murderer in So Sweet, So Dead is the classic giallo killer, who could have walked right out of Blood and Black Lace. He wears the traditional stocking mask, fedora, gloves, and trench coat with the collar turned up, all in black, of course.

What the Hell Am I Watching?

Some scripts set up red herrings or clever mis-directs. This one is just full of incomplete thoughts. For example, Bettina Santangeli (Angela Covello), the teenage daughter of a prominent lawyer, witnesses one of the murders, though she can't identify the masked killer. She is understandably afraid that the killer will murder her next. And then that sub-plot is dropped and we never hear about it or Bettina ever again.

After knocking on a suspect's door with no answer, the police send up a warning shot. With a burst from a sub-machine gun.  That really escalated quickly.

After killing a woman in her home, the murderer tries to walk out the front door, only to be blocked by the victim's boyfriend. But for some reason, instead of finding a back exit, the killer climbs out the window next to the front stoop.  Luckily, there just happens to be a ladder under the window.  Needless to say, the boyfriend quickly spots and confronts the killer.  So much for a criminal mastermind.

Fashion Moment

Our killer seems to have a thing for ladies in pink.  Many (but not all) of the victims appear in a similar rosy shade. Here's Franca Santangeli (Annabella Incontrera):

Here's Lilly (Susan Scott):

Shortly after witnessing Lilly's murder, Bettina wears this hat and matching gloves:

And, finally, Barbara Capuana (Sylvia Koscina) appears in this pink housecoat:

On an unrelated note, let's have a look at that classic killer costume.