Rating: 4/5
Silvia (Mimsy Farmer) is an industrial scientist and workaholic who puts work above all, including her budding relationship with Roberto (Maurizio Bonuglia), who cannot stand any lack of attention on her part
Similar to Carole in Repulsion, men who want to seduce her, possess her, and tame her come from all angles. One collects butterflies, another one visits the lions at the zoo, and another performs taxidermy on any animal brought in. Like something from a Lynch film, she imagines it as if they all have a private midnight meeting where they make their plans against her
The wound of a father who went to sea and never came back, and of a mother who shacked up with a man who also preyed on her as a child, send her reeling deeper inwards, revisiting the traumatic events of her childhood over and over before circling the drain to her mother’s death
Alice in Wonderland references abound — herself as a child resembling Alice, looking through keyholes and mirrors to see alternate realities — and if you don’t get it, several characters read from the book at some point. It isn’t subtle
The soundtrack is charged, turning from romantic to uneasy, capturing the unexpected dread that can come at any turn of the corner
The penultimate scene is exactly what you expect after a point, but a few key details add an extra layer of discomfort
The final scene tied up her fears about what the world wants from her, and it is one of the more disturbed and bizarre endings to a movie I’ve seen
The woman disassociated from reality is a frequent trope, but this movie is a standout in the genre