The Perfume of the Lady in Black

The Perfume of the Lady in Black is incorrectly labeled as a giallo film, though it is more of a psychological thriller a la Polanski's Apartment Trilogy (Repulsion, the Tenant, and Rosemary's Baby).

This movie took some of the more awesome elements of the Apartment Trilogy and made them more italian. The film centers around a socially and emotionally awkward pretty blond (Mimsy Farmer) who has flashbacks and hallucinations related to a lady in black—her mother.

After she encounters a black man (no, I'm not the racist one), who talks to her about “African” witchcraft in his garden (which looks exactly like a jungle), she begins her descent into madness. Not only is she really disturbed by him, but she begins to hallucinate about her past. Ultimately, it is revealed that she killed her mother, though she does nothing to recognize this act other than continue to kill people. You never see her internalize what she did, which I found interesting. She begins to regress into her childhood self, the character Alice from Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. At the point of absolution in this form, she throws herself off of her building while dressed her mother's black dress—much the way she pushed her mother off of their building years ago. You see no moment of regret or pain as a result of the murder- only as a result of other incidences, like seeing a man other than her father have sex with her mother. So, when the moment of absolution happens, you don't really know what she really resolving.

What's interesting is that her paranoia was quite reasonable-unlike in Repulsion or the Tenant, when the characters' paranoia is self-inflicted and unfounded. It appears that the neighbors, acquaintances and shopkeepers are really in on this witchery that relates back to the Black Man. What strikes me is that, in the end, all of the people she killed or encountered stab and eat her lifeless body. This confuses the shit out of me, as I assumed they were all actually dead.

Best parts of the film: 
1. Seeing Mimsy Farmer's really black pubes contrasting with her really blonde hair
2. The final feast.

-Sana