Beatrice Cenci (1969) Lucio Fulci
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I'd often heard of this but it has never been widely distributed in the U.K or U.S so i never thought i'd get to see a decent version, (like Argento's '5 days in Milan' another historical film) and being a period film i wasn't sure what i would make of it.
Beatrice is from a rich family living in 16th century Italy, she and the rest of the family hate her tyrant father, ( he sets dogs on people, mistreats everyone, including his family and is a scheming evil bastard.)
Beatrice finds some comfort in the arms of a servant who is deeply besotted by her, but she tells him she must leave to get away from the family situation, she asks her father if she can go into a convent.
Being an evil twat he throws her into a cell in his castle and tells her she will stay there till his death, his reasoning being that it's basically the same as convent life anyway.
Eventually he releases her because he is celebrating the death of her two absent brothers with a debauched feast, upset she turns up to the party wearing a mourning dress, this annoys him and he sends her to her room telling her to change.
Later and drunk he comes up to her room and rapes her.
This starts a chain of events that leads to Beatrice plotting her fathers death with her servant boyfriend.
I'm not going to say much else about the story but thought i'd set the scene because i was unsure what to expect going in to the film.
This is unlike any other Fulci film i've seen, the budget is obviously high and it shows, the costumes are lavish and really set the tone of the film, the cinematography/lighting is great and the acting is also very good. ( although obviously the english version still suffers from synch problems. )
The lead actress Adrienne La Russa is good and very pretty and elicits a fair amount of sympathy (even though in some instances she comes across as being fairly manipulative.)
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The storytelling is fractured, flickering back and forth in time without warning, so you have to pay attention but this makes the film more involving and builds up tension.
As to Fulci's trademark gore, there isn't much although an eye impalation foreshadows his later work, also there are torture scenes that although not bloody are pretty powerful in the context of the story.
I thought this was a very good film and i was surprised how much i liked it because I am not really one for historical films (this is based on a real life story), but i enjoyed the grim realism of it's execution.
Another aspect to the story is the Catholic church's corruption which shares themes with 'Don't torture a duckling', and even though there are torture scenes this never stoops to the level of 'Mark of the Devil' and is a far better film.
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So definitely recommended as long as you are not after another Fulci gore fest.
8/10
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