11 June 2012

The House of the Yellow Carpet (Carlo Lizzani, 1983)

6/10
If you didn't take one look at that name and realize this was an Italian giallo flick from the 80's, for shame. Despite its extremely unimaginitive title, this one actually plays things a bit differently. A husband and wife with alluded-to marital problems are selling a gigantic yellow carpet they got as a gift. With the husband out of the house, a potential buyer comes by and quickly traps the wife, tormenting her with psychological cat-and-mouse games. The movie mostly keeps our interest by leaving us guessing at the motives of the stranger, and it's actually pretty interesting (if supremely unlikely) the directions it goes in.
Virtually the entire movie takes place in the apartment, so no surprise to find it has its origins on the stage. The acting (and dubbing) is actually a lot better than it has any right to be, considering its low budget and anonymity. Central to this is Erland Josephson as the stranger ("The Professor" in the credits). A preferred actor of Ingmar Bergman, he was also in Tarkovsky's The Sacrifice a few years after this. He's clearly above the material, but still gives a game performance.

No comments:

Post a Comment