Il Profumo della Signora in Nero (The Perfume of the Lady in Black) (1974)

64% of users liked it
(225 ratings)

Francesco Barilli, star of Prima della Rivoluzione, made his directorial debut with this unique, hallucinatory horror-thriller. Mimsy Farmer portrays Sylvia, a chemist who begins to suffer from strange visions. She sees a mysterious woman in black applying perfume in a mirror, strangers following… More Francesco Barilli, star of Prima della Rivoluzione, made his directorial debut with this unique, hallucinatory horror-thriller. Mimsy Farmer portrays Sylvia, a chemist who begins to suffer from strange visions. She sees a mysterious woman in black applying perfume in a mirror, strangers following her everywhere she goes, and a ghostly little girl reminiscent of Alice in Wonderland, who may be Sylvia herself as a child. It turns out that Sylvia stabbed her mother's sexually abusive boyfriend to death long ago, and now her visions are driving her to madness and cleaver-murders. The other possibility, however, is that literally all of Sylvia's friends are Satanists conspiring to cause her suicide. This is a remarkable film, weaving reality, fantasy and memory into an almost seamless fabric to dizzying and poetic effect. Admittedly, there are several logical lapses and unanswered questions, but the film's singular vision more than compensates for such oversights. Barilli went on to direct the unnerving drama Pensione Paura. ~ Robert Firsching, Rovi

Rating, Runtime: PG, 1 hr. 44 min.
Directed By: Francesco Barilli
Genres: Horror, Art House & International, Mystery & Suspense

In Theaters: Mar 29, 1974 Wide
On DVD: Mar 15, 2011

Critic Reviews

Sean Axmaker, Seanax.com
... the hall of mirrors reflecting reality and fantasy back on one another is part of the fun and the Satanic reverberations of the conspiratorial climax only adds to the mystery.
Simon Abrams, Slant Magazine
It's a tradeoff, but if you can accept that The Perfume of the Lady in Black is a little too good at being alienating, then you'll find a lot to like about it.

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Featured Audience Ratings

Drew S

More or less nails the shift of tone that all giallo should strive for - gentle absurdity in the beginning that segues into complete insanity. This is a slower one, leaden with exposition (especially in its first half), but it looks great, the performances are solid, and the ending is… More
More or less nails the shift of tone that all giallo should strive for - gentle absurdity in the beginning that segues into complete insanity. This is a slower one, leaden with exposition (especially in its first half), but it looks great, the performances are solid, and the ending is wild. Definitely worth it.
Stephen M

Not knowing anything about this movie before I sat down to watch it, I'd assumed from the title and the star (Mimsy Farmer, fresh from Dario Argento's Four Flies on Grey Velvet) that it was going to be a giallo. In fact, The… More
Not knowing anything about this movie before I sat down to watch it, I'd assumed from the title and the star (Mimsy Farmer, fresh from Dario Argento's Four Flies on Grey Velvet) that it was going to be a giallo. In fact, The Perfume of the Lady in Black owes more to that particular brand of psychological horror at which Roman Polanski used to excel. Indeed, albeit substituting voodoo for devil worship, there are definite echoes of Rosemary's Baby to be found here. Attractively photographed and nicely scored throughout, the film is technically a cut above much of the trash that was being made at the time, and even the typically bad dubbing cannot quite ruin Farmer's decent performance. Unfortunately, the plot makes no sense whatsoever and, though the movie is commendably and refreshingly bloodless for most of its running time, the incongruously gory climax leaves a nasty aftertaste.