La Strega in Amore

Description

An ancient Roman house holds a terrible secret. Dust, old books and a morbid and veiled eroticism. Before devoting his career to the so-called cinema civile (political cinema), Damiano Damiani directed his most obscure and mysterious film, a jewel of the contemporary Italian Gothic style. Based on the short novel ‘Aura’ by Mexican writer Carlos Fuentes, the film is enhanced by the interpretations of the very sensual Rosanna Schiaffino and a young Gian Maria Volonté during the years of his debut on the big screen, known best for his roles in Spaghetti Western films such as ‘A Fistful of Dollars’ (1964) and ‘For a Few Dollars More’ (1965). The music of the Argentine-born composer Luis Enriquez Bacalov plays a fundamental role in weaving the spell that tightens around the male protagonist of the film, Richard Johnson, thanks to an exceptionally refined score, representing the feminine eternity with its energy of magic and perturbation. Thanks to its exotic Afro-Cuban patterns, including vibraphones, double basses, congas, percussion of all kinds, enigmatic flutes and elegant jazz vocalisms delivered by the unmistakable voice of Nora Orlandi, the entire soundtrack seems to act as a stage for an ancestral and intoxicating ritual of seduction; a panic liturgy mottled with jazz, a voodoo dance set during the years of the ‘dolce vita’.

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