The Double

Like Luigi Cozzi's The Killer Must Kill Again, and Aldo Lado's Short Night of the Glass Dolls, Romolo Guerrieri's The Double has tried to do something a little different with the common Giallo formula, and like the latter film; this one isn't entirely successful, although it's certainly an intriguing take on Italy's finest style of film-making. The plot is narrated via a series of flashbacks, and while this gives the film a rather disjointed feel, the talented director ensures that every scene flows well and is relevant to the plot. The focus of this movie isn't on murder, despite someone being shot in the opening scene and it's always clear that the characters are the star of this show. The film revolves around Frank; the man shot at the beginning, as he lies in a pool of blood, he thinks back to how he got into that position - a story that centres on the mother of his nineteen year old girlfriend. Frank is an architect living off his father's allowance and he's also a jealous lover. He doesn't like his girlfriend seeing an American holidaymaker, also staying in Morocco - but he also can't resist the lure of his girlfriend's sexy mother...

The Moroccan locale that makes up the first part of the movie is beautifully shot, and director Guerrieri delights in overlapping his beautiful scenes with a catchy score from Armando Trovajoli. The film doesn't include a lot of tension or suspense, but The Double does manage to retain the viewer's interest by way of the characters' motivations. The film bathes in the glow of the people in the story, and this is one of the movie' strongest elements. The Double is brought to life by Jean Sorel, who takes the lead role. While his character is something of an interloper between the others in the plot, Sorel does well with what he has. Lucia Bosé and Ewa Aulin are both good as the female leads, and the director delights in capturing as much of their flesh as possible. The fact that the movie doesn't feature the stylish murders or exciting chase sequences that have made the sub-genre famous will leave some disappointed; and I've got to say that's true for me. Films such as The Forbidden Photos of a Lady above Suspicion have proved that sex and characters can carry a Giallo, but this one doesn't quite manage it. However; The Double is an interesting film and one that fans of Giallo will not want to miss.

I can only be honest and make it absolutely clear: I find Ewa Aulin completely cute and stunning to look at. Even the voice dubbed on top of hers doesn't compromise that. Jean Sorel as Giovanni, whose recollections make up the bulk of this film, is a classically good looking gentleman. As a couple, however, Giovanni and Lucia share a tempestuous, jealous relationship. And that is what takes up most of the plot.

Despite the appealing quality of these two performers, their various dalliances aren't quite as interesting to watch as the writers seem to think, although Romolo Guerrieri's direction lifts it into a somewhat dream-like state. But the various liaisons are virtually all that happens. The main thrust of interest involves how Giovanni ends up in the predicament he's enduring when we first encounter him at the beginning of the film.

Despite the wafer-thin plot, this is as breezy, if undemanding, entry into the giallo genre - mainly because of the appeal of the two main players. My score is 5 out of 10.

This is all most enjoyable if insubstantial. It looks good and sounds good throughout. Jean Sorel effective, as ever, without seeming to put himself too far out. Just a raised eyebrow is often all he needs to do to convey to us his thinking. Bit bewildering at times with much flashing back and forth but the two ladies help, both Lucie Bose and Ewa Aulin as mother and daughter are easy on the eye, in and out of their clothes. Many films of this time had prolonged sequences somewhere in them where half naked lovers ran along a beach or galloped horses in the surf or ran into sunlight through cornfields but this film, at times, seems to consist of just those dreamy (but insignificant) moments.

I saw this under the title Love Inferno about five months ago. It begins with a man, Giovanni, being shot in a parking garage. What did he do to deserve this fate? The film flashes back to show how things went wrong for this playboy. While on honeymoon in Africa, Giovanni meets the sexy mother of his (attractive) wife. Since the mother is played by Lucia Bose, I can understand the guy's predicament. The mother-in-law is, needless to say, appalled by the advances of her daughter's new husband and instead takes up with a young hippie type. Jealousy and frustration follow. I was certain where the film was going but turned out to be only partially right. Ewa Aulin, certainly no wallflower either, plays the wife. After only five months, I'm having a hard time remembering much about the film. It was okay but don't expect an erotic thriller - the film is lacking on both counts.

A great admirer of Jean Sorel I watched this unworthy rubbish, and although the mystery of the opening caught my attention the rest of the film did not. Lucia Bose, a long way away from Antonioni, I also admire, but definitely not here. Seeing Sorel I tried to focus on the great actor of ' Sandra ' directed by Visconti, and his role in Bunuel's ' Belle de Jour ' and Bolognini's ' From a Roman Balcony ' and wondered why he had accepted this mess of a scenario. This example of Italian cinema of the beginning of the 1970's showed to me how cinema was beginning to slide down into puerile eroticism (concentrating on the female body and considering the male body to be a substitute for the heterosexual males in the audience), and also into the domain of violence for its own sake with again the males in the audience having fantasies of violence of their own. But to return to the film in detail it has an appalling musical score, flashy and gimmicky camera work, and as I said I watched it for Sorel and yes, there were glimpses of the man who qualified for me as being the best actor of the previous decade. Saddening.