A Lizard in a Woman's Skin (1971)

- Una lucertola con la pelle di donna
Not quite as good as Don't Torture a Duckling, 26 February 2005

A mentally unbalanced woman tells her therapist about a recent dream involving her neighbor. In the dream, Carol Hammond (Florinda Bolkan) violently murders her neighbor. A few days later, the neighbors body is found. Suspicion immediately falls on Carol - her fingerprints are on the knife, her scarf is on the body, and her fur coat is on the floor. Was it a dream or did Carol really commit murder?

I cannot begin to express how long I've been waiting for this movie to be released. The street date was pushed back several times over the course of about two years. And, this my be the reason I didn't enjoy it as much as I had hoped. My expectations were ridiculously high. It would have been difficult for any movie to live up to the lofty expectations I had placed on A Lizard in a Woman's Skin.

Several things in the movie really worked for me. Chief among them is the ending. The last 20 or so minutes of the movie are a mystery lovers dream. Every single character comes under suspicion of having committed the murder. And there are plenty of suspects - Carol, her husband, her daughter, her father, the hippie, and anyone else who has more than 5 minutes of screen time. It wouldn't have surprised me had the police detective arrested himself. Just when you believe you've got it all figured out, the spotlight shifts to someone else. It's not until the very last moments of the movie that everything becomes clear.

Some things, however, did not work for me. The first third of the movie is incredibly slow. Other than the murder, nothing much happens. The time is spent on developing the idea that Carol is crazy. It's not very thrilling.

The new Region 1 DVD comes with two different versions of the movie. The cleaned-up widescreen transfer is actually the cut American version known as Schizoid. The second disc has the uncut version, only it's not as good of a print and it's foolscreen. The difference between the two versions appears to be about 5 or so minutes of added gore and nudity. So, beware before you buy.

While I enjoyed the movie, I didn't find it nearly as enjoyable as Fulci's Don't Torture a Duckling. But, it's going to take more than this viewing to make me a real fan. My expectations got in the way this time.

7/10