Carol Hammond (Florinda Bolkan), the daughter of a prominent politician Edmund Brighton (Leo Genn), is plagued by a nightmare in which she seduces and murders her next door neighbour, Julia Durer (Anita Strindberg).
Her analyst, Dr Kerr (George Rigaud), produces a perfectly rational explanation, that Carol is both attracted to and repulsed by Julia's hedonistic lifestyle.
Then Julia is found dead. Carol's paper knife, scarf and fur coat are at the scene, which is exactly as she had described it to Dr Kerr.
Is someone trying to fit up Carol, or did she murder Julia? If so, was it consciously, her confession an attempt at an insanity defence?
Inspector Corvin (Stanley Baker) of Scotland Yard is called in and soon uncovers a morass of blackmail, drugs and illicit affairs…
Though not quite a masterpiece, Lizard in a Woman's Skin is undoubtedly one of Lucio Fulci's best realised films overall.
The first 20 minutes are a truly dazzling display of technique but crucially also serve to present the viewer with a plethora of clues and symbols to interpret.
And while things do settle down somewhat after this, the viewer's interest remains engaged throughout. Besides the quality of the performances and the filmmaker's eye for location and detail, the thing that really stands out is the lack of shocks and set pieces for their own sakes, with such moments – the highlight a suspenseful stalk and chase through the abandoned Alexandra that rivals any other ten minutes in Fulci's filmography – fully part of the overall design.
Yes, there are weak spots – a slight tendency to overuse the zoom lens, the odd unconvincing effect – but these are easily forgiven.
Thematically, besides the obvious woman as mystery notion, the film is of interest for its examination of the fault lines emerging in western societies at the time between the older and younger generations. Fulci comes across as someone who didn't know quite what to make of the changes wrought by the 1960s, in so far as he might have agreed with some of what was being said politically – he, too, was anti-fascist – but couldn't accept the hippie ethos itself. (Sergio Corbucci would be another case in point here from Alex Cox's comments on The Great Silence .)
Shriek Show first announced Lizard in a Woman's Skin in 2003, the disc being plagued by numerous delays before finally being released early in 2005.
Omens were not good: The company has an unenviable reputation for botched releases, while the fact that the disc was promoted as a key part of any "Lucio Fulchi" collection could hardly be said to instill confidence.
Still, anything had to be better than the old copy I had, panned and scanned and based on the cut US release, didn't it?
To paraphrase Georg Grosz, "A little yes and a big no". While this two DVD set is obviously an improvement on that it falls down somewhat in that we get two unsatisfactory versions rather than a single definitive one.
The first disc contains the AIP edit of the film, albeit titled as Lizard… rather than Schizoid . This omits around five minutes of matinee-unfriendly material – basically some of the nudity and violence – but does present the film in its proper 1.85:1 aspect ratio. The second has the Italian version, sourced from video and cropped to approximately 4:3.
Within the English version the dream sequences in particular are adversely affected by the cuts, which destroy the rhythm and leave pieces of the puzzle missing, resulting in more confusion than was Fulci's intent.
Within the Italian version, meanwhile, the panning and scanning makes a mockery of many of the director's compositions and set ups, never more than in the split-screen sequences.
Aside from the film – the main thing, after all – things are better.
The packaging is pretty slick, with a textured "lizard skin" slipcase for the DVD case and a miniature reproduction press book that makes for an interesting and at times amusing read: "Psychology Students – Have local school's psychology classes notified of the film and invite teachers to have their students attend performances. Psychological points raised in the course of the film should provide them with important items of discussion in their groups." Pull the other one!
Best, however, is the "Shedding the skin" featurette on the second disc. Directed by Kit Gavin and introduced by Penny Brown, the hippy girl in the film, it begins with a brief overview of the giallo genre before narrowing in Lizard specifically via interviews with cast and crew, including the outspoken Florinda Bolkan and Carlo Rambaldi, demonstrating his mechanical animals, and then and now visits to some of the London landmarks used.
The other extras comprise a stills gallery, trailers and radio spots for the film and other Fulci releases.
Hopefully someday the materials to make a definitive version will be unearthed and we'll be able to see Lizard in its integral version. Till then, however, this will have to do.
Copyright © K H Brown 2002-2005
Rating:
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