 Thanks for checking out this movie review video. So this is for the 1974 Italian giallo film the perfume of the lady in black And yes, I love my giallo I've been continuing to do these giallo reviews and if you are also into giallo first of all stick with me for this review Although if you haven't seen the film stop because spoilers ahead, but I have an entire playlist on my channel for giallo films Bunch of reviews. I'm in the 30s at this point and I'm gonna continue to go So anyway 1974 is the perfume of the lady in black directed by Francesco Burrilli. This is my first Francesco Burrilli film He also did film such as Hotel Fear and especially on Sunday Written by Burrilli as well as Massimo Diavac Who also wrote scripts for Dark Purpose the labyrinth of sex So sweet so perverse which I have seen and I have a review for on my channel And who saw her die which I'm going to be seeing because I've heard good things and Sacrifice those are just a few that I named now mimsy farmer plays Sylvia in this obviously she's the main character she's I Feel like you barely see anyone else for all that much time because mimsy farmers character of Sylvia is focused on so Much because in so many ways this film is all about her and it's not just all about her I mean I Theorize and I might be wrong so I want to hear other people's theories too That basically every character in the film is actually someone kind of from her past or Someone who is kind of made up to a degree and they're all living inside of her basically I think this whole thing is kind of like I don't know if anyone saw the film Obviously, it's much after this one but the film identity with John Cusack, but that type of ordeal where it's kind of like parts of Her psyche her multiple personalities in essence fighting for control of her But it ends up actually killing her in the end She ends up killing herself because it's this struggle and I think that the whole film is this struggle of her with herself So very interesting now mimsy farmer. I think she did a great job in this first of all Especially like her facial expressions when she acts Outstanding, you know if you watch this film again, and I do think it bears watching more than once I've only watched it once at this point I do plan to watch it again at some point because I think on a second viewing you're gonna see a lot more of these kind of metaphorical things playing out a lot of these parallels of this means this this means this and You're just gonna catch a lot more that that's for sure, but mimsy farmer plays Sylvia I already said that but she's also been in these films Four flies on gray velvet, which I have not seen that's a Argento film autopsy which I've heard good things about the black cat and Body count those are just a few other giallo-esque films Also, she went on to do sculpting apparently. She's very good at sculpting and she's done sculpting for a bunch of Hollywood films such as Tim Burton's Charlie and the chocolate factory Pirates of the Caribbean on Stranger Tides the New Earl Wrath of the Titans film that they did the live-action Beauty and the Beast and Guardians of the Galaxy so she did sculpting for all of those very very cool in my opinion now apparently Barilli has spoke to many Psychologists when he was doing research for the premise of this film and he also had said that this film was very heavily Inspired by Rosemary's baby now if you know that you can definitely see that in how the film is made in the feel of it and the material but also I think that Mimsy Farmer looks a bit like oh, why am I blanking on her name? That's the worst a Mia Farrow. Oh my gosh Mia Farrow. Yes, she looks a lot like Mia Farrow. So just saying The opening music for the film sounds very old-school Italian and it's odd with the photograph Looking still of the family. I think it's interesting because it's kind of like It looks like you're physically there with the background But it's like the cutout picture that's like pasted on top of it So it's this weird kind of look and the music that's playing with it Isn't the typical giallo type music you're used to which is like more upbeat and funky and New-agey for the time in the 70s, but it's more of like a classic Italian type sound which I mean it sounds beautiful I think they did a good job with the score for it. So I'm not complaining. I just Do enjoy the more funky fun Soundtrack of certain giallo films just saying The first camera movement from the fountain to the balcony is really awesome I love that it's showing the kid with the little boat in the fountain in the fountain and then kind of like Panning up and then actually like moving up to the balcony of the apartment and then kind of over to other people there So I thought they just looked beautiful in general There's a lot of really cool camera movement in this film and it moves a decent amount of the time And it's not just like you know moving with characters But kind of like you know doing some pivoting around characters Even when they're not you know moving forward and it just looks good looks good So directing really good cinematography really good the acting is really good Well mainly mimsy farmer because she's the main one who matters in this film obviously but They quickly hit Sylvia's home work and past to Really really really quick they kind of established those things like what's going on in her life You know this is where she lives and this is how she relaxes This is where she works and this is what she does for job And then this is what's kind of bothering her from her past now obviously what's bothering her from her past is this her mother's suicide and I think that that really ties into the title of the film the perfume of the woman in black being How a perfume can kind of remind people of someone I think it's that aspect of it Like you walk into a room and you smell perfume and there's no one there And if you've smelled that perfume before it reminds you of that person So I think it's that thing where Sylvia is constantly reminded of Her mother reminded of the suicide of her mother So all these places that she goes to there are things that kind of jog her memory like that vase being one of the big things that kind of Jogs that memory of when she saw her mother having sex with that guy or being raped. I don't I don't know what was really going on there I think it was consensual. I'm not sure because he then rapes Sylvia later, but just saying so Yeah, so I think it's that kind of aspect of like the memory of someone based off that smell of the perfume But I also think it's from in the sense of Also being tied into the trauma that she experienced from her mother's suicide and not being able to get Around that or over that Because it's like a lingering perfume that when she goes to certain places She smells that perfume and the trauma comes back to her in that way. So that's my kind of take on it The greenhouse with the foundations and the bar is amazing in this that place where she they're first talking about black Magic and voodoo and stuff like that, which by the way I think you should really notice how in Grosst and this is goes back to that facial acting situation with mimsy farmer again How engrossed Sylvia is in the story of black magic and voodoo and all those things They're being talked about when they're in this kind of like cool greenhouse bar area Which I just want to be there. It looks so cool But I think that that moment is supposed to be kind of one of the catalysts For all of her kind of hallucinations that end up going on throughout the film. That's supposed to be the start of it Do do do Roberto his room having all the taxidermied Birds and mounted insects is supposed to give an idea of someone close to a killing ability I think this kind of rolls in with the whole feel of giallo where you got to have these red herrings and have people think Oh, no, who's the killer? Although you don't actually end up with any bodies for quite some time You do get the sense that maybe they were going to try and go down the road of figuring out who had killed her mother Maybe it wasn't suicide, but then you find out that you know in the end It's her Sylvia that's killer, but I would argue like I said earlier that She's not actually killing anyone that she's just killing parts of herself It's multiple personalities and this whole film actually takes place basically within Sylvia and it's all the characters kind of fighting for control of her and I would reference back to the part where the young Sylvia the little girl she keeps seeing which is a young version of her Keeps making certain comments about like it's just Sylvia Sylvia's the good one like making those types of statements that points heavily to the multiple personality situation also There are a bunch of scenes where they use mirrors and mirrors that use multiple reflections Probably the strongest one well the one when they go see the psychic, but the strongest one I think is when Sylvia sitting down and she actually has gotten to the point where she's putting the black dress with the white poke Pokedots on and it's three mirrors and there are three reflections of her I think that was intentional for that reason to kind of show be a metaphor for the multiple personalities that are going on in her Body and it's at that point by the way that I need to mention since I just brought it up That she has basically turned into her mother She basically basically is being inhabited by a character who is her mother at that point Once she puts that black dress on with the white spots because that's how her mother is is remembered and her mother is the lady in black So it's found that interesting and I think that also is supposed to foreshadow The fact that she will also commit suicide because that was the fate that her mother had and that was how you identify Hers with that dress It kind of looks like Robert doesn't know how to have sex This was kind of a funny moment the sex scene with Sylvia and Roberto He was like it looked like he didn't know how to have sex it reminded me of the sex scene with Tommy Wiseau in the movie The Room if you know that film if you don't watch it. It's terrible, but like fun terrible He was like moving his his hips from side to side for the most part and not like thrusting I mean it was just awkward like that's some of the worst. I mean, it's one of the worst sex scenes I've ever seen honestly. It really is Andy is real creepy The guy who initially starts talking about the black magic the guy that they go and play tennis with and then when she gets Pricked in the hand with that nail that was in the handle of the tennis racket He like takes her hand and it's like sucking on it. It's so weird I took that as being like a temptation moment, but at the time that it was happening I was kind of thinking oh, you know, maybe he's trying to get close to her because they're trying to drug her and make Her have these hallucinations like I thought this was gonna tie into like a bigger plot about killing her or Something like that. I don't know but in the end I don't think that's what it is They beat you over the head with the idea that Sylvia stuck in her own head a lot of the time because there are so Many of those hallucinations. There's so many of those kind of like flashback memories that come to life for her They do it a lot and I think for that reason it kind of bogs down the pacing of the film You don't need as much as you get but that said if you rewatch it Maybe it plays better because you really know what's going on at that point So you can kind of see a little bit more in it. I'll have to go back and really suss that one out How about those scenes of Sylvia remembering the guy boning her mom I already kind of talked about that scene But uh super creepy the way he just keeps looking up at her that reminds that makes you Aware of the fact that it's not just her memory. It's her kind of reliving the memory but also Having some kind of involvement In it in that moment that she's remembering it because the character has basically come to life And you see that later on When it's that same guy who's working at the taxidermy place Who then goes and rapes her when she's in that dilapidated house Which the dilapidated house looked really cool um, so yeah Uh And the guy who ended up watching Sylvia at the framers at ends up showing up as a custodian at the zoo I thought that was going to turn into something bigger, but I think that was kind of another one of those Uh, just red herring type things although it is possible that he's the one who ended up picking up her framed picture Because if you remember she ends up going back for it and it's just not there The user's like, oh, I didn't have it which You know terrible shopkeeper, honestly Because of all the things Sylvia is seeing it definitely makes her slowly unravel and you end up feeling that now I think you you end up feeling it because of how the script is done in the directing In the music, but you end up feeling it mostly I think because of mimsy farmers performance I think she did such a good job and by the way, don't you think that millie bobby brown kind of looks a bit like mimsy farmer At least mimsy farmer in this film Cool shot of the psychic's face and Sylvia's in the mirror behind her once again going back to that whole mirror of the multiple personality situation That was just a cool scene in general The part where Sylvia tells the little girl to go away shows she believes she's losing it because the girl is her It is definitely her so At first she's kind of reluctant to Uh go with these hallucinations, but as the film goes on she just starts to kind of go with it and accept the premise and I feel like that ends up being The part where she's Opening herself up to these multiple personalities opening herself up to being taken over basically her personality embodied by Another one of these personalities that are basically inside of her And I think that they're all driven by kind of traumatic things within her life Which could also be seen as not just being like personality related But just the role that trauma plays in a person's existence going forward after that traumatic moment and how it can Play such a role in ruining your life or shaping your life so Nice reveal when rosetti feeds the bloody meat with a finger in it to his cats I don't really know in the end what that was all about. I think it was supposed to insinuate that the friend Francesca Had been killed by rosetti, but based on what I'm saying. I think rosetti was actually um silvia, so Yeah, and then silvia kills rosetti who I think was just in her brain if you can follow this Just saying am I making sense? Oh another thing to say about the character of rosetti Notice that he had like a crazy amount of hippos In his place and I don't understand the whole hippo thing. It's kind of weird just saying The shot over rosetti dead when he eventually gets gets killed by silvia Love the way that shot looks it's the shot where like it's it's from the other side of his desk Where he's working on that big like pre painting that big hippo piece And his head's like down and like the way it's shot like you can see his head Underneath like the the chin of the hippo and then to the side is silvia And just the way that shot is framed and pulled off looks really cool. I hope you agree with me on that one. It's awesome Uh There are a few times mirrors. Oh, I already talked about the mirrors The discordant music that they end up using in this when things are going badly or becoming, you know crazy Pretty disturbing music I thought I thought it was very impactful for that reason and it's supposed to give you that feeling Of just kind of like feeling off feeling a little bit on edge Disturbing it worked. It worked great And what a crazy ending It's it's a hugely crazy ending that i'm sure a lot of people don't see it's don't end up seeing coming It's kind of one of those left fieldish things. It reminds me a bit of the same type of ending of Short night of glass dolls another giallo film if you haven't seen it You should definitely see it and I have a review on my film on my film on my channel for it Um, yeah, so silvia's personality was fractured because of the trauma of her mother's suicide And then that led to her Own suicide which you could tell she was headed to when she put the black black dress on with the white dots That was kind of the the thing. I got it initially after the very very end In the end all the people who were parts of her That ate away at her over time That's what I think was kind of that very end scene where she's underground and everyone's coming together around her in a group And they're tearing her tearing out her innards and eating them. I think that's supposed to be two things I think it's supposed to be the showing of All of the multiple personalities tearing her apart and ultimately doing her in but I think it's also supposed to show The issues the memories the traumas throughout her life All converging on her as a person and literally tearing her apart tearing her in insides out Until she can't live anymore. So I think it's a lot about the dealing with trauma And how it can destroy you and end your life basically because it does in this This is a typical unreliable narrator situation in this film What's real and what's in silvia's head seems to be the constant question here And I love those types of films because it really keeps you guessing and for the longest time I didn't know how I felt about this film while I was watching it because you're not a hundred percent sure what's really happening So I really had to wait until everything played out at the end and I took I don't know like 10 15 minutes to really just sit down and just think through everything I love those types of films like they just make you keep thinking and I was thinking about it the next day too. So I I like it. I like it quite a bit Like with a lot of giallo films architecture is used to make scenes look even better I mean, that's just a thing from the 70s Giallo films architecture looks amazing if you're going to see buildings inside or out With these types of films it's going to look cool and it does And yeah, that's basically all I had to say about it But I would be very interested to hear what everyone else's theories on the meaning behind this film are or what The events actually were because you know, that's just my theory when I'm putting out there It's my take on what I saw and like I said, I saw it once. So let's talk about it. Go ahead in the comments Your theories. Let's talk Um, so out of five stars with half stars in play I'm going to give it a pretty solid three and a half star rating I kind of wanted to go up to four, but the problem is it's not paced very well It does seem to really drag But I like the overall story of it. I think it's pretty ambitious and interesting And there are a lot of good things about it. So three and a half stars Thought about four, but no going three and a half But Thanks everyone for checking this out. Like I said, put some comments down there Do me a quick favor hit that subscribe button because that is your best way to repay me If you like this video or any video I've ever done simply pay me back with that subscription I appreciate that Also hit the notification bell button because that way you'll know when I'm putting up More review videos like this or any unboxings or haul videos or opinion pieces or whatever But regardless, like I said, I appreciate you taking your time to check this out And until next time keep it brutal. Oh, did I show? I don't think I even showed this. I just got so wrapped up But uh, this is the film I watch it from it's from raro video. It's their, um, blu-ray Version of the film. It's cool. I dig it. But anyway Now i'm gonna end this. Thanks for checking it out until next time. Keep it brutal