As a fan of Dario Argento's distinctively bold film-making techniques, I can find little to get excited about in his 90s output: it was the decade that the director seemed to lose his creative mojo, the three (and a half) films he made during that period lacking the innovation and magic of his previous work.The Stendhal Syndrome, which followed the disappointing Trauma (1993), features a typically bizarre plot that offers plenty of potential but fails to hit the mark in almost every possible way: gone are Argento's cleverly orchestrated scenes of hyper-stylised violence, only to be replaced by uncharacteristically tawdry scenes of rape and sadism; there's little evidence of the director's trademark stunning visuals to help distract the viewer from the dull and uneven pacing (the creaky CGI just doesn't cut it); and the overall enjoyment factor is further hampered by a unlikeable central performance from Dario's daughter Asia. Even Ennio Morricone's score seems lacking.Argento's final film of the 90s, The Phantom of the Opera, also failed to please the majority of his fans (although I actually quite enjoyed it for its sheer absurdity). The new millennium saw a slight return to form with Non Ho Sonno (AKA Sleepless) and The Card Player, but the negative critical reception of Giallo and Mother of Tears suggests that his best days are long gone.

I haven't seen "Stendhal Syndrome" in more then ten years, so I was quite thrilled when I found it on DVD (the sweet 2 disc edition) and decided to give it a shot and see if I could still be amazed by Argento.and how does this movie hold? Rather well I must say. While it's certainly not good as some of the Argento's earlier work, it's still one of the highlights of Argento's career. Comparing it with his early masterpieces is hard, since "Stendhal Syndrome" is much more different. It's based on personal experience Argento had as a child, much like "Phenomena" was based on Argento's current obsession of that time.Narrative is very complex and it might be bit hard to fallow if you aren't fully concentrated or you are not familiar with Argento's narrative style - while his stories are usually linear in terms of story progression, but he often uses fragmented narrative which give some scenes dream-like narrative (this worked rather well in his supernatural movies, like Suspiria). Story itself is bit different from his early giallo movies, because in this one, violence doesn't happen often (but when they do, they are rather nasty) and it's more character driven. It's true psychological thriller (modern filmmakers who sell their torture porn as "psychological" please learn from Mr. Argento and this movie) where we fallow the psyche of detective Anna Manni (played by Asia Argento, director's daughter) as she tries to fight serial killer and her personal demons that grow stronger after each encounter with him. (I won't go into much details because of the spoilers).Dario Argento's visual style is still impressive, and his camera work fits perfectly with narrative and storytelling. There are some beautiful shots and interesting camera work. There's also use of contrast much like in Suspiria, but in SS, Argento had some very good moments that impressed me. In some scenes, where we fallow Anna in her apartment, contrast is strong and colors can be bright, but as the movie progresses, colors are becoming much darker and "realistic". There's a scene where Anna confronts the killer in underground (sewers) and movie drastically changes from white and red (Anna's apartment) into black, gray and brown (not only because of the set, but because Argento decided to saturate those colors even more).Asia Argento is beautiful as usual and she gives a strong performance here.Music is haunting and creepy, and perfectly fits with the movie. Watch this in original Italian audio, English dub wasn't that good.6.5/10 but I gave it 7, because Dario Argento is awesome guy in person. Meet him few years back and he was funny, charming and very down-to- earth.

Stendhal Syndrome, The (1996) *** (out of 4) Unsettling if flawed film from Argento about police woman Anna Manni (Asia Argento) who is investigating a serial rapist who is now starting to murder his victims. Anna is in a museum looking for the suspect when she passes out from the visions she gets from the paintings and a while later she's in her room getting brutally raped by the suspect. This here leads her to slowly begin to go insane while at the same time continuing to look for the rapist who also has something for her. THE STENDHAL SYNDROME runs right at two-hours and it would be hard to argue that the first hour doesn't feature some of the directors greatest work. It would also be hard to argue that the final hour of the film slowly starts to fall apart and leads up to one of the worst endings you're likely to see anywhere. The first hour of the film is quite remarkable as it features the director at the top of his game and especially the opening twenty-minutes, which are just as unsettling as the opening sequence in SUSPIRIA. The opening scenes inside the museum are quite hypnotic and they really bring you into the mind of our lead because Argento's style of direction really does make you feel as if these paintings are alive. These images getting inside the head of Anna are a major part of the plot and the director has no trouble at making the viewer see and feel everything Anna is going through. The rape sequence certainly isn't as graphic as some more infamous films but it's still quite shocking and unsettling simply because of how Argento directs it. Just take a look and really study the editing style of this scene because it's what really sells the material. It also does hurt that the brilliant music score by Ennio Morricone perfectly captures an atmosphere that is quite eerie and certainly very unnerving. Morricone made many great scores in his career and this one here is certainly near the top. The problems begin in the second half of the film and sadly they are quite major. For starters, the film's second half tries to be more psychological and get inside the mind of Anna but I think the film fails horribly at this. Not once does this little experiment work and I think Dario is much better at handling the fast, wild imagery than the more quiet, mental stuff. It certainly doesn't help that the majority of the visual style takes a backseat and this causes the film to slow down so much that it really does drag in spots. The two-hour running time certainly could have been helped had ten or fifteen-minutes of this been edited out including an entire sequence at Anna's fathers house. As for the ending, I won't spoil it but it's not nearly as shocking as the director intended. Asia certainly does a very good job in the role and especially considering the screenplay lets her character down in the second half. The actress certainly stands out compared to the supporting players. Some of the supporting performances are rather embarrassing but the dubbing doesn't help matters either. However, even with the countless flaws in the second half, THE STENDHAL SYNDROME is still a very effective film. The masterful direction and score perfectly make up for all the flaws and it makes the film worth viewing.

For those that don't know I'm in the process of discovering Argento's films for the first time, THE STENDHAL SYNDROME is my third endeavor following OPERA which I didn't like and MOTHER OF TEARS better than OPERA but its no masterpiece and has a lousy ending.THE STENDHAL SYNDROME wasn't as much a horror film for me as it was more of a psychological thriller, it follows assistant police inspector Anna Manni (Asia Argento) who is on the trail of a sadistic serial killer/rapist (Thomas Kretschmann) who stalks, rapes and then murders his female victims, but Anna also has to content with the fact that she has a condition called the Stendhal syndrome, a condition that causes her to lose herself in powerful works of art.In a way I liked the film, more than both OPERA and MOTHER OF TEARS, it was more unconventional than a lot of other thrillers I've seen, the acting is actually good, the best performances in the film are given by Asia Argento and Thomas Kretschmann, the storyline is well thought out despite having the tendency to drag at times.So far things are looking interesting, I can clearly tell that Argento's films are not everyone's cup of tea but for me, this is the best Argento film I've seen so far but I still feel that I have yet to be impressed by Argento's films, STENDHAL SYNDROME was a good movie sure but it doesn't mean I haven't seen better, although there are still so many to see, so who knows.Overall, STENDHAL SYNDROME is a good psychological thriller, its clearly not for everyone but if you're also not familiar with Argento and you may or may not be a little curious give it a shot, see what you think.