When his beloved wife Leonor (Liv Ullmann) is crushed by her horse, medieval nobleman Richard (Michel Piccoli) rushes to be by her side, the woman dying shortly thereafter. Richard attempts to assuage his grief by 'getting back in the saddle', so to speak, immediately marrying local beauty Catherine (the stunning Ornella Muti, of Flash Gordon fame) - and by 'immediately', I mean the very same day that Leonor carks it. That should take his mind off things!
Of course, some guys are never happy...
Catherine bears Richard two sons, Matthew and Gregory, but even after ten years, the wealthy lord still longs for the companionship of his first wife. So when a mysterious stranger tells Richard that he can reunite him with his long dead Leonor, he jumps at the chance. Sure enough, Leonor is resurrected, leaving Richard to make Catherine disappear - by stabbing her in the guts and chucking her down a well (divorce clearly not an option in medieval times).
This being a dark, tragic, gothic love-story/horror with strong art-house leanings, Richard's happiness is short-lived, as his undead wife begins to feed on local children, the black death approaches his castle, his livestock becomes uncontrollable and nothing grows in his garden. The atmosphere is one of morose futility, with death and decay always lurking around the corner - not exactly a barrel of laughs. Director Juan Luis Buñuel (son of cinematic surrealist Luis Buñuel) conducts proceedings with an eye for an interesting shot, but employs a languorous approach that I imagine will alienate many modern-day viewers - let's be honest, not a lot happens for much of the film. For a '70s Euro-horror, there's also a distinct lack of nudity and gore.
That said, I still found Leonor interesting enough to stay the course: there's a lyrical, haunting quality to the film, the cinematography is impressive, Ennio Morricone supplies the score, there's a scene where a young girl is burnt alive with a container of gunpowder around her neck, and the film kicks off with gang of bandits attacking Richard, one of whom is a dwarf (naturally, Richard makes short shrift of him!). I also like that the ending is totally bizarre: Richard and Leonor escape from the castle only to ride their horse off a bridge and into a ravine.
5.5/10, rounded up to 6 for IMDb.
