The Perfume of the Lady in Black: The Little Girl Who Lives in My Head.

The Perfume of the Lady in Black

For today's review I thought it would be nice to change from campy Chuck Norris kung-fu to something beautiful and bizarre.  I watched The Perfume of the Lady in Black thinking it would be a giallo, but instead it turned out to be an Italian supernatural thriller and I'm okay with that.

This film has repeatedly been compared to Polanski's Rosemary's Baby and Repulsion.  The similarity to Rosemary's Baby was apparent throughout the film and even the haunting musical score reminded me of it often.  As far as being like Repulsion, it's similar in that it's also about a willowy blonde who loses touch with reality but I didn't get the schizophrenic, claustrophobic feeling that Repulsion forces on the audience.

I'm not sure what to think of The Perfume of the Lady in Black.  It's similar to a David Lynch film in that I was left scratching my head after the credits rolled wondering what the hell actually happened.  What was real and what was imagined?  I'm still not sure.  There is a twist ending that throws everything out of skew and I don't want to ruin it for anyone who hasn't seen the movie, but I will tell you that it comes completely out of left field.

"Is it your back?"

I hesitate to reveal too much of the plot, as scattered and confusing as it is.  The Perfume of the Lady in Black is essentially about a workaholic scientist who gradually loses her sanity when repressed memories begin to manifest as physical realities.  Soon there is no separation between what is objectively real and what is a projection of her own fractured psyche.  And of course there is a significant amount violence and nudity along the way.

There is a haunting beauty to this film and the ending alone makes it worth watching.

Violence Rating:  3.5 out of 5
Booby Rating:  3.5 out of 5