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Film: The Psychic (Sette note in nero)
Year: 1977
Director: Lucio Fulci
Writers: Lucio Fulci, Roberto Gianviti and Dardano Sacchetti
Starring: Jennifer O’Neill, Gabriele Ferzetti and Marc Porel
Review:
This was a film that I’ve been meaning to watch for a while. It has been recommended by a few different people who I respect their opinion. I’ve decided to check it out as the most popular film that I hadn’t seen for Italian Horror Month. It also allows me to knock off another of co-writer/director Lucio Fulci’s filmography.
Synopsis: a clairvoyant woman discovers a skeleton in a wall in her husband’s house and looks to find the truth about what happened to the victim.
This began in Dover, England back in 1959. It is paired at the same time and day in Florence, Italy as well. We see in Dover; a woman drives to a high cliff and jumps to her death. In Italy, her daughter Virginia (Fausta Avelli) sees it happen and causes her to have a meltdown, for good reason. It seems that she’s at a Catholic boarding school of sorts.
We then shift to the present of the movie. Virginia is now an adult, played by Jennifer O’Neill. She is married to a famous writer, Francesco (Gianni Garko). They drive to the airport as he has to go away for work. Virginia then has another episode where she sees a series of strange images that involve a palazzo that her husband owns and a murder. This causes her to go to the place and see if what she was real.
It is from here that she is shown to a room by the caretaker. There is a mirror there that isn’t broken like she saw it. There is a lamp that is wrapped in newspaper. The shade is bright red like she saw it. What is different though is that there is a part of the wall that doesn’t have the hole that she saw. She searches the basement for tools and finds a hand pickaxe. With it she starts to knock down the plaster. At first, she thinks that what she saw wasn’t real, that is until she finds fingers.
She calls the police and this leads to the investigation. The missing girl is Agnese Begnardi (Camilla Fulci). They have a timeframe of when she went missing and use forensics to figure out how long she’s been there. Francesco becomes the first suspect, due to him owning the property. He doesn’t believe Virginia’s visions and wants her to stop. She does get aid from Luca Fattori (Marc Porel), who is a parapsychologist. Virginia investigates into what happened and more of her visions line up with things. This leads her to meet Emilio Rospini (Gabriele Ferzetti), who might have had an affair with Agnese. There is also Gloria (Ida Galli), who is Francesco’s sister and a woman who Virginia saw dead, Bruna (Jenny Tamburi). Luca also presents the concept, maybe what she saw wasn’t the past, but a vision of the future.
That is where I’ll leave my recap and introduction to the characters. Where I want to start with so that this didn’t disappoint. I’m a fan of Fulci, so I had a feeling that it wouldn’t, but I also had high expectations because I do know a number of people who are fans. It has a concept that I like. The giallo sub-genre was starting its decline and I like what we’re doing. It is set up that Virginia is psychic from that horrific vision she had as a child. We then move to her as an adult and through dialogue, we know that she has continued to have visions. Francesco doesn’t believe it. She does see Luca who I think wants to try to use her to help his career, but they get along well. He doesn’t believe it at first, but as pieces come together, he shifts there. I thought how this developed was good.
Now that I’ve set that up, I want to delve more into our lead character as this is a study of her. Like I’ve said, I love the fact that they set her up as a child having this vision. The nun tells her it isn’t real, but we know that it is. It is subtly done without going cheesy. Then while she’s driving, she has this longer vision that leads her to start the investigation. What I also like here is that the inspectors aren’t bumbling. She doesn’t come to them until she finds the body in the wall. They don’t believe that she had a vision, because it is fantastic. It is also fun for me as a viewer to see how things line up from the vision since there is only limited information given. It also feels like a self-fulfilling prophecy. I’d also wonder if elements for The Ring were borrowed here as well. I’ll go ahead and say that O’Neill was solid in her performance.
The vision itself is where I want to discuss next. I didn’t write down all the images. It is given in almost a montage which I like. What is great is that I couldn’t tell you everything I saw, but as Virginia gets close to things or someone is shown, it clicked home for me that I recognized it. That makes it more effective and keeps me engaged to piece them together. There are things that I’ve already said, but it also includes a statue being knocked over to reveal something, a person with a limp and she sees the face of someone with a mustache. How everything lines up to reveal the story was good. I will admit that I did guess the final reveal, but that didn’t detract from my enjoyment. It was more about the ride and how we got there as information is given.
I think I’ll then shift to the acting performances. O’Neill is great here as our lead. She’s attractive, which is a perk for sure. I like how stressed she is in what she saw and then trying to get everyone to believe her. Garko works as her husband that she doesn't know as much about as she thought. I like that he does seem to love her. He isn’t as mad as you’d think when he is taken to jail. She believes in him though and wants to get him released. We also have other potential suspects with Ferzetti, Porel, Galli and even Tamburi. I say that with the last one since we see her dead in the vision. That doesn’t mean she wasn’t the killer. Everyone here is good at different times making you think they aren’t the killer, then doing something to change that. Other than that, I thought the rest of the cast rounded this out for what was needed in providing information or the inspectors to piece things together.
All that is left then is filmmaking. I thought that the cinematography was good. Maybe not as sharp as my favorite Fulci films, but it still looks good. It captures this abandoned palazzo well. Then the different set pieces for Virginia and others to help find more information. What impressed me more was the editing, especially with the vision. Then framing certain things to catch our eye as Virginia finds them. This has limited effects compared to other Fulci films, but what we got was solid. The framing helps there as well. Other than that, I did love the soundtrack. Not my favorite from Fabio Frizzi, but I do love this chime we hear. I didn’t catch this was Virginia’s watch until a scene near the climax. The rest of the score was solid in fitting what was needed.
In conclusion, this is a solid giallo film that does something a bit different from normal. We are flirting with the supernatural, while still being grounded here. Not the strongest mystery that I’ve seen from this sub-genre, but I do think that it is still interesting in what it did. The more impressive part was giving us this vision and then allowing me to search for different images within it. I thought the acting was solid, being led by O’Neill. Everyone around her is pushing her to where things end up. I’d also say this is well made with the editing and soundtrack leading the way there. This is one I’d recommend if you want to see places the giallo film would go for sure.
My Rating: 8 out of 10