Stendhal Syndrome, The (1996)

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Stendhal Syndrome, The (1996)

Also Known As:
Stendhal's Syndrome
The Stendhal Syndrome
La Sindrome di Stendhal (1996)

Directed by
Dario Argento

Plot synopsis:
Asia Argento (Dario's daughter) stars as Anna Mani, a police detective on the trail of a serial rapist/murderer. She tracks him to Florence, where she receives a tip that he'll be at the Uffizi museum. With a police composite sketch of the rapist to refer to, she heads for the museum, hoping to capture him. But, while perusing the art there, she finds herself overcome by an unusual psychological phenomenon called the Stendahl Syndrome: a reaction to artwork that makes the viewer suffer hallucinations, disorientation and unconsciousness. Anna collapses. Suffering from temporary amnesia, she is helped into a cab by a young man named Alfredo (Thomas Kretschmann). Back in her hotel, she tries to pull herself together, only to be attacked by Alfredo - the rapist she's tracking - who stole her gun and room key while supposedly helping her. During a brutal rape at the hands of Alfredo, Anna blacks out. She awakes in the back seat of a car to the sound of screams as Alfredo rapes and murders another victim. While he's occupied, Anna escapes. After the attack, Argento spends a great deal of time on how Anna copes with not one but two devastating psychological traumas: the rape and the Stendahl Syndrome. She starts seeing a psychiatrist, and cuts her long hair short. When her boyfriend, fellow policeman Marco (Marco Leonardi) pressures her for sex too soon after the rape, she responds by saying "You want to fuck? How about I fuck you?", slamming him face first against a wall, yanking down his pants and treating him like the new kid on the cell block.

Alarmed by her violent outbursts and mood swings, and the knowledge that Alfredo is still out there somewhere, Anna takes her therapist's advice and journeys to her hometown for some downtime. Her repressed father (John Quentin) and clueless brothers aren't much help, but the round-the-clock police guard is some comfort, as is fact that the local museum is closed for renovation. Anna spends her time at the gym sparring with her brother (and kicking his ass), and doing some painting of her own as part of her therapy. But, inevitably, Alfredo tracks her down. He kills Anna's guards and knocks her unconscious. She wakes up tied to a mattress in an abandoned tunnel once used by junkies to shoot up. Alfredo spends all night assaulting her, and before he leaves for the day, he makes it clear he's going to be back again and again. Once she's alone, Anna descends into a horrific episode of THE STENDHAL SYNDROME touched off by the graffiti art in the tunnel, an episode which seems as terrifying to the helpless Anna as the rape itself. Alfredo returns later for round two. But by now Anna has freed herself. She stabs him in the neck with mattress springs, shoots him in the gut, and beats him to a pulp, taunting him the way he taunted her, before kicking him off an embankment into a river below, where he is swept out of sight. [source: feoamante.com]

Cast:

	Asia Argento	....	Det. Anna Manni
	Thomas Kretschmann	....	Alfredo Grossi
	Marco Leonardi	....	Marco Longhi
	Luigi Diberti	....	Insp. Manetti
	Paolo Bonacelli	....	Dr. Cavanna
	Julien Lambroschini	....	Marie
	John Quentin	....	Anna's father
	Franco Diogene	....	Victim's husband
	Lucia Stara	....	Shop assistant
	Sonia Topazio	....	Victim in Florence
	Lorenzo Crespi	....	Giulio
	Vera Gemma	....	Policewoman
	John Pedeferri	....	Hydraulic engineer
	Veronica Lazar	....	Marie's mother
	Mario Diano	....	Coroner
	Eleonora Vizzini	....	Anna, as a child
	Maximilian Nisi	....	Luigi
	Leonardo Ferrantini	....	Alessandro
	Sandro Giordano	....	Fausto
	Cinzia Monreale	....	Alfredo's Grossi's wife
	Michele Kaplan	....	Alfredo Grossi's son
	Laura Piattella	....	40-year-old woman
	Vincenzo Uccellini	....	40-year-old woman's son
	Elena Bermani	....	30-year-old woman
	Antonio Marziantonio	....	Museum watchman
	Luca Camilletti	....	Hotel porter
	Graziano Giusti	....	Coroner #2
	Monica Fiorentini	....	Female doctor in Florence
	Giancarlo Teodori	....	Male doctor in Florence
	Antonello Murru	....	Police officer #1
	Marna Del Monaco	....	Dining car stewardess
	Maria Grazia Nazzari	....	Night watch victim