Devil in the Brain

Il Diavolo Nel Cervello

Italy-France 1972

D: Sergio Sollima

P: Bianca Lattuada for Verona Produzione (Rome) & Universal Productions (Paris)//St & Sc: Luigi Emmanuele, Sergio Sollima & Suso Cecchi D'Amico//DP: Aldo Scavarda//E: Sergio Montanari//M: Ennio Morricone//Art D: Giancarlo Bartolini Salimbeni//Costumes: Enrico Job

Cast: Stefania Sandrelli, Keir Dullea, Michelinie Presle, Tino Buazelli, Renato Cestie, Gaia Germani, Orchidea De Santis, Maurice Ronet, Giorgio Basso, Elsa Boni, Bruno Boschetti, Alberto Carrera, Giorgio Dolfin, Gabriella Lepori, Tina Maveri.

Oscar has recently returned from Venezuela to Italy where he hopes to re-establish his relationship with Sandra, a former lover. He is shocked to find her mental state has regressed to that of a child. After several frustrating attempts to discover what happened, he and his doctor friend Amedeo finally talk to Sandra's mother, the Contessa Claudia. She explains that Sandra's son, Ricky, accidentally shot his father Fabrizio only seconds before Sandra had returned home. The doctor visits Ricky in a convent for troubled boys and comes away convinced that Ricky was not responsible for his dad's death. Oscar becomes enraged at such information because he believes it then implicates Sandra. Since he is now beginning to re-establish his relationship with her, he wants nothing to come between them. Doctor Amedeo continues to uncover facts that lead him to the true murderer just as Sandra's life becomes threatened by said killer. In an eerie sequence that reenacts the original murder, Ricky appears and this time does fire the gun, saving his mother from the fate suffered by his father.

In past interviews, director Sergio Sollima has remarked how unhappy he was that this film was marketed by its producers as a Giallo. While it's true there is no black-gloved killer roaming the countryside racking up a huge body count, The Devil In the Brain does manage to keep one in suspense trying to discover who the killer is. In Sollima's defense, this film is unlike anything usually found in the genre as it features low key acting and beautiful cinematography that emphasizes the characters and their environment, rather than sensationalizing the crimes committed by the killer. Sandra Sandrelli gives an outstanding performance as the woman-child whose world has crumbled around her. Convinced her son is a little demon along with being stuck in a loveless marriage, you can certainly understand her character's wish to return to her childhood. The sad thing is that her son truly suffers for the sins of his father and yet it is he that ultimately sets things right. I can't think of any other Italian thriller where this occurs. Ennio Morrricone was fresh from his work on the Argento trilogy and contributes one of his greatest non-western scores. Kier Dullea is an unlikely hero for most of the running time, but his breakdown at the film's conclusion is truly harrowing. Just as Sollima took the western genre and made it his own, he succeeds at putting his personal stamp on the Giallo as well.