The Strange Vice of Mrs. Wardh DVD > Reviews > Here's One I Ripped Off Earlier - Q. Tarentino

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Did you enjoy it?	Liked it
Story	Good
Characters / Performances	Good
Special Effects	Standard
How does it compare to similar films?	Good

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yes

Full review

I have always suspected that the acclaimed Quentin Tarentino is a bit of a rip off merchant; his movies always seem a little too similar to others. I was first aware of Tarentino's interest in Italian Cinema, when he organised a glossy re-issue of Lucio Fulci's horror masterpiece The Beyond. And over the course of time I have become aware of other Italian movies that Tarentino has a liking for. Then enters The Strange Vice Of Mrs. Wardh a movie he confesses to stealing the soundtrack from for Kill Bill Volume 2; but is that all he took?

Julie Wardh on the outside appears to be a respectable woman, married to a top political figure the pair lead a normal life. Julie however leads a chequered past, prior to being married to Neil, Julie had a two year relationship with a French sadist called Jean. This relationship seems to have left her scarred; the return of Jean on the scene does little to ease her pain. But luckily Julie runs into a wealthy man who takes a determined interest in her; this develops into an affair.
A a vicious serial killer stalks the City streets, his eyes become fixed on Julie's with intentions of making her his next target. Torn between Neil, Jean and her new lover George, Julie seems to be spiralling out of control, finding it difficult to tell the difference between fantasy and reality.

The Strange Vice Of Mrs. Wardh bought together some of the finest of Italy's actors from the 1970's: Edwige Fench played Julie throughout the 60's, 70's and 80's she appeared in a massive amount of horror movies and giallo movies., and is about to make a return to the screen in Hostel 2. Ivan Rassimov starred in a large chunk of the so called Video Nasties a term that anyone around in the 1980's would be familiar with. Finally George Hilton was the Italian version of James Bond, popular in Italian cinema since the 1950's.

What the movie also did was bring together the perfect thriller. As much as I enjoy Italian giallo (murder mystery) every movie I have seen with the exception of Who Saw Her Die? Has several flaws. This early movie by acclaimed Italian director Sergio Martino is utterly flawless. Its cinematography is absolutely the most beautiful of any Italian movie I have ever seen, you can almost smell and feel the imagery on the screen. The story is spot on, as good as any high budget star studded American offering.

This murder mystery presents you from an early stage with questions about the identity of the killer, as I watched the movie I found myself asking is it Neil? Is it Jean? Is it George? Or is it her best friend Carol? Or worse still is it Julie herself confused in a world of mental illness, or drug induced paranoia? The answer to this question is bar far more shocking than you would bring yourself to believe from the movies offset.

The Secret Vice Of Mrs. Wardh presents a telling view of Italy during the 1970's, or is it just a view that the Italians were trying to purvey on the rest of the world. While Italy's neighbours were ran by dictators, or strict government regimes; Italy thrived much as America had. It was a time of free love, sex, and loose morals. All of these issues were things that occupied the live of Julie Wardh. A woman who seemed to have no self respect, and certainly limited feelings for those that loved her. While her husband is going through mental turmoil of things the couple are going through, Julie buggers off to George for sex. When Julie discovers that she is being blackmailed by someone who may turn out tpo be the serial killer, she happily lets her best friend go and face the blackmailer where she meets with a nasty death. Julie is not all bad, at the end of the day she is looking for true love; aren't we all?

This is one of those movies that leaves you with striking images, Jean breaking a bottle on Julie in a flashback scene then having sex with her while they both are covered in glass. The beautiful ride to safety at the end of the movie, as someone travels through the Italian countryside celebrating their good fortune having committed the most elaborate murder and managing to get away with it totally unsuspected. The strange hallucinations that Julie suffers, when seeing things that she may or may not have seen.

The movie has dated little in the 30+ years since it was made, of course the fashions have changed; but the accommodations (the living accommodations) all have décor you would kill for. There is no tongue in cheek humour that appears so often in Italian giallo; unless you include the demented harpoon attack on Julie during the movies last 30 minutes, and I guess this was not meant in humour.

Knowing full well Tarentino had stolen (sorry purchased) the movies soundtrack, I was keen to see if he had "purchased" anything else. Without much surprise I can find a catalogue of comparisons between Mrs Wardh and Tarentino's more recent work. Including more or less word for word lines, and scenes that obviously pleased the bogus director. In my view if far more people watched far more Italian Cinema from its heyday Tarentino would become the joke of Hollywood. I feel that time is near however, as classic Italian movies get released onto DVD with some demand nowadays. This sport of kings where you only got to see these movies if you had substantial wealth is a thing of the past. All the keystone movies from Italy are available, and long unseen movies like Mrs. Wardh bounce onto release weekly. Tarentino, you days of stealing the idea's of others are numbered!

Special Features:

Screening Of Mrs. Wardh at Venice Film Festival: Sergio Martino introduces the first screening of the movie having been exiled in obscurity for some considerable time. Martino jokes that of the many Italian directors from the 60's he is one of the very few still making movies. He also discusses his pleasure on discovering a massive cult following of the movie.

Dark Fears From Behind The Door: This feature mainly circles around Martino and Fenech; but alsoi features other stars and crew. Fenech talks about the sadist within Martino as he made her run through a wood in almost zero degree temperatures, before having her striped for a crucial love scene between her and Rassimov. She recounts a number of tales from her early days in the movie industry, and compares them to her acting life now. Interestingly enough she has retained her looks unlike many other Italian actresses from this era.

Trailer: The original Italian theatrical trailer, shows way to much of the movie, so I'd suggest watching after the movie has finished.

Booklet: A text booklet in the DVD case talks about the movie, the actors and the money the movie made.

The Strange Vice Of Mrs. Wardh is only available on Region 1 DVD, which you can pick up from Ebay for between £10-£20. It seems like a lot, but its worth every penny and will certainly be a DVD that you'll watch more than once.