The Stendhal Syndrome is a 1996 Italian thriller, written and directed by Dario Argento and starring his daughter Asia Argento. It was the first Italian film to use computer-generated imagery (CGI). Argento fans generally agree it's the directors best film of the 90's and is often considered to be his most violent film ever.

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Plot Summary

Detective Anna Manni (Asia Argento) travels to Florence on the trail of a serial killer (Thomas Kretschmann). While at a museum, Anna is struck by the Stendhal Syndrome, which causes people to become overwhelmed by great works of art. The killer uses this disorder against Anna, kidnapping and raping her. She escapes, but is deeply traumatized. She eventually finds redemption and a whole new perspective to life.

Cast

Asia Argento ... Det. Anna Manni Thomas Kretschmann ... Alfredo Grossi Marco Leonardi ... Marco Longhi Luigi Diberti ... Insp. Manetti Paolo Bonacelli ... Dr. Cavanna Julien Lambroschini ... Marie John Quentin ... Anna's father Franco Diogene ... Victim's husband

Lucia Stara ... Shop assistant Sonia Topazio ... Victim in Florence Lorenzo Crespi ... Giulio Vera Gemma ... Policewoman John Pedeferri ... Hydraulic engineer Veronica Lazar ... Marie's mother Mario Diano ... Coroner

Trivia

• Argento planned on making a sequel to the film which would follow Detective Anna Manni on another case. However, Asia was unavailable, so the character's name was changed (to Anna Mari) and Stefania Rocca was cast. The resulting film is 2004's The Card Player .
• This is the second of four films in which Argento has directed his daughter Asia: the three others are Trauma , The Phantom of the Opera , and the upcoming The Mother of Tears . She also had roles in Demons 2 and The Church , which Dario Argento produced, along with her directorial debut Scarlet Diva .
• The opening scene' was shot in Florence at Italy's famed Uffizi Gallery. Argento is the only director ever granted permission to shoot there.
• In the USA, the film is distributed by B-movie company Troma Entertainment. A new special edition DVD of the film was released by Blue Underground on August 30, 2007.
• Stendhal Syndrome is a real syndrome, first diagnosed in Florence, Italy in 1982. Named after the French writer Stendhal AKA Marie-Henri Beyle who reportedly experienced like symptoms in 1817.
• Director Dario Argento tried at first to get Bridget Fonda and then Jennifer Jason Leigh to play the role of Anna. He eventually cast his own daughter, Asia Argento, in the role.
• This would be the last fiction feature film for acclaimed director of photography Giuseppe Rotunno. The following year he shot a documentary on Marcello Mastroianni before retiring.
• The painting that Anna literally steps into is a Rembrandt painting of 17th Century policemen entitled 'Night Watch'. The painting that causes Anna to faint in the museum is by Brueghel, it's called Landscape with the Fall of Icarus.
• Director Dario Argento said he experienced stendhal syndrome as a child. While touring Athens with his parents young Dario was climbing the steps of the Parthenon when he was overcome by a trance that caused him to become lost from his parents for hours. The experience was so strong that Argento never forgot it and immediately thought of it when he came across Magherini's book, which would become the basis of the film.
• Thomas Kretschmann was cast as Alfredo Grossi because Dario Argento had seen him working with star Asia Argento on the set of Queen Margot (1994). Argento was impressed enough by Kretschmann that he would later think of him for the role.
• Ennio Morricone's eerie music score for the film follows the same tune played either forward or backward!
• The footage of Anna underwater after fainting in the gallery was actually shot in the sea - not a swimming pool. The huge grouper fish that Anna kisses was a remote model that was being pulled through the waters by cables attached to a small float on the oceans surface. Mere moments after wrapping the underwater shoot, the fish stopped working.
• At one point the film was set to be made in America with Darryl Hannah cast as Anna Manni. The plans fell through and the production was moved to Italy.
• Graffiti artists were brought in to cover the underground lair of Alfredo with graffiti. In one night the group created over a hundred square feet of graffiti-covered walls on the location.

Alternate Versions

• US DVD release by Troma release is the complete version of the English language edition, but, like all English releases, is still missing around 2 minutes of material exclusive to the Italian print.
• The Italian release is around two minutes longer than the English export version, including an additional scene where Anna calls the husband of one of Alfredo's victims, and another where she meets Marie's mother, played by Veronica Lazar (whose name is included in the credits of all versions, even those in which she does not appear).
• The 2005 UK DVD release, by Arrow Pictures, has had all previous cuts waived and represents the full-length English version, although like all English releases it omits the two scenes exclusive to the Italian version.
• This film premiered on video in the UK, but 11 cuts totalling 2m 47s were made by the distributor before submission to the BBFC for a video certificate. These cuts are to rape scenes, violence and some dialogue.
• The DVD version released on DVD in the UK in May 1999 contains all the material which had been pre-cut from the UK video version. Since the uncut version has never been submitted to the British Board of Film Classification, this version was withdrawn and re-released in a cut form. The new cut release has a colour graphic on the disc itself, whereas the uncut version had a black and white label.

Pop culture instances

Stendhal Syndrome is an album by Rusty Eye. This title is an homage to film director Dario Argento and to the illness itself; a result to multiple variations in sound, style and speed that cause a bizarre confusion of the senses i.e. the Stendhal syndrome.