poolandrews Review of A Lizard in a Woman's Skin

A Lizard in a Woman's Skin (1971)

An OK murder mystery or to give it it's proper name a 'giallo'.

[6/10 · 28 December 2004]

Carol Hammond (Florinda Bolkan) lives in a wealthy part of London in a flat with her Husband Frank (Jean Sorel) and stepdaughter Joan (Ely Galleani as Edy Gall). Carol is an insomniac and lately has been having strange and totally bizarre dreams about her next door neighbour Julia Durer (Anita Strindberg) that involve lesbianism, long boots and a fur coat, and who in reality holds drug and sex fuelled parties that annoy Carol, her family and the rest of their neighbours. Carol has been seeing a psychologist called Dr. Kerr (Georges Rigaud) to try and learn the meaning of her dreams and help cure her insomnia. During one such session she talks of having a dream where she murdered Julia with a paper knife. Soon after Carol learns from a Mrs. Gordon (Erzsi Paal as Ersi Pond) that Julia has been killed in real life, exactly like the way it happened in her dream. Insector Corvin (Stanley Baker) and Sergeant Brandon (Alberto De Mendoza) are put straight on the case. Together with someone from the 'scientific squad'(yeah right, I've lived in the UK all my life and they aren't called the scientific squad!) called Lowell (Ezio Marano) they make a load of implausible assumptions, and the fact that it was Carol's own paper knife that was used to stab Julia, they come to the conclusion that Carol may be responsible, however Carol claims she has never even spoke to Julia before and denies the accusation. Carol's Father Edmund Brighton (Leo Genn) luckily happens to be a hot shot lawyer and takes on the case together with Frank whom works for Edmund. Meanwhile Joan and Carol set out to find a couple of hippies who were at the party that night, Jenny (Penny Brown) and Hubert (Mike Kennedy). Things turn even more mysterious and complicated when an attempt is made on Carol's life, and it comes to light that Julia may have been blackmailing Frank over an affair he is having with a woman named Deborah (Silvia Monti). Who is responsible for the murder? Who is trying to kill Carol? Will Corvin and Brandon get to the bottom of the mystery? Who knows? Watch it to find out! Co-written and directed by Lucio Fulci and known more commonly under the title of A Lizard in a Woman's Skin, I thought this was a pretty good murder mystery who dun-nit, probably one of Fulci's better films. The London locations are used well throughout, especially the sequence where Carol is chased through a church and onto it's roof, it was actually Woburn Abby that the filmmakers used for this scene. The film has good production design and values plus a nice atmosphere to it throughout. There's a surprising lack of gore and violence, just Julia Durer being stabbed. There's more nudity than violence with most of the female cast getting undressed at one point or another. The script by Fulci, Roberto Gianviti, Jose Luis Martinez Molla and Andre Tranche concentrates on Julia's murder and the subsequent investigation, it's not a slasher film where random people are killed for the hell of it so don't expect a high body count. Therefore it may be a little slow for certain tastes, but try not to let that put you off as it's overall quite a rewarding film to watch, and it certainly kept me watching right through to the twist ending. There are various red-herrings to keep the viewer guessing, just about everyone seems to have both opportunity and motive. One thing I would like to mention at this point is that I managed to guess the killer's identity quite early on, it was a complete fluke as I just thought about the most implausible conclusion and to my surprise I was right! Technically the film is fine, photography, editing, acting and music. I'm not sure if I would want to see it again in a hurry as the story obviously loses it's impact and it's surprises are no longer surprising! A good, well made, solid and entertaining giallo that I recommend to all interested in the genre, and it's a film that may appeal to a wider audience too. Give it a try, you might like it.