THE FRENCH SEX MURDERS (1972)

 

PHENOMENALITY: *uncanny*
MYTHICITY: *fair*
FRYEAN MYTHOS: *drama*
CAMPBELLIAN FUNCTION: *psychological, sociological*

SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS

For a guy who worked mostly on westerns, Ferdinando Merighi did all right with his one sleaze-filled giallo. THE FRENCH SEX MURDERS. It could have been a lot better script-wise, but at least it's never dull.

One often sees the more mystery-oriented Italian thrillers establish two seemingly unrelated social domains: one reputable, one not so much, The disreputable domain is an upscale French whorehouse run by Madame Colette (a still glamorous Anita Ekberg) and staffed by such beauties as Marianne (Rosalba Neri) and Francine (Barbara Bouchet). Petty thief Antoine has been banned because of previous bad behavior with Francine. Yet because the lusty young fellow brings a large wad of cash with him, Madame Colette allows him to have a session with his obsession. The two quarrel, Antoine slaps Francine around and then leaves. Moments later, an American named Randall-- a writer who's talked the Madame into letting him hang around and gather material for a sleazy expose on French prostitution-- investigates and finds Francine dead from bludgeoning.

The reputable domain is comprised by the representatives of the law who condemn Antoine despite his protestations of innocence. Antoine swears that he'll kill everyone who sent him to the guillotine, though he doesn't lose his life that way. Apparently just to give the movie a little more oomph, Antoine escapes jail but gets his head cut off in a motorcycle accident. In the view of Judge Tesch (William Alexander), the man who sentenced Antoine, justice has been served. When his close friend Professor Waldemar (Howard Vernon) makes the unusual request to collect Antoine's head for study, Tesch makes it happen. 

Tesch, though, is not the important part of the reputable world, for the story places far more emphasis upon the eccentric scientist, his laboratory aide Roger (Franco Borelli), and Waldemar's sexy daughter Eleanora (Evelyn Kraft). Patently some mystery-element's being set up when the script repeatedly informs us that Waldemar doesn't like anyone messing around his daughter, and that Eleanora isn't willing to challenge his authority and openly date Roger. 

Then Madame Colette is killed. Maybe her death wouldn't be enough to launch a continuing investigation, but then Judge Tesch is slain as well, and people start wondering if Antoine is really back from the dead. Inspector Fontaine (Robert Sacchi, a well-known Humphrey Bogart lookalike from the period) takes over the case, but he can't seem to prevent more murders, including the decapitation of Marianne. The mystery killer is never clearly seen and his murder-methods are basic, though Merighi tries to soup up the killings with rapid-fire repetitions of the murder-frames, but it's dire rather than exciting.

To absolutely no one's surprise, Antoine's not back from the dead. Weird Waldemar suddenly confesses a deep and abiding love for his own daughter Eleanora, and reveals that he killed Francine at the whorehouse because the prostitute (blonde like Eleanora) wouldn't play along with Waldermar's incest-fantasy. (She may have also triggered him by suggesting the daughter's unavailability, as Francine's last words include the phrase, "I'm a dirty whore, yet you can't have me!" Supposedly Waldemar commits all the other murders to "cover" for the original killing, though it's one of the later murders that allows Fontaine to solve the mystery. I suppose one might have said that Waldemar's true motives was to kill off other young women because the violence stimulated him, but then how does one explain his gory slayings of two men as well? And although Madame Colette's very comely, there's not much chance that Waldemar could imagine her to be his "forbidden fruit."

So as a mystery the film is mostly BS, but the hot women are well photographed and events move along nicely, despite the unimpressive murder-methods.