Forbidden Photos of a Lady Above Suspicion

Le Foto Proibite Di Una Signora Per Bene

The Forbidden Photos of a Lady Above Suspicion

Italy-Spain

D: Luciano Ercoli

P: Alberto Pugliese & Luciano Ercoli for Produzioni Cinematografica (Rome), Mediterrane (Rome), & CC Trebol Films (Madrid)//St & Sc: Ernesto gastaldi & Manuel Velasco//DP: Alejandro Ulloa//E: Luciano Ercoli//M: Ennio Morricone//Art D: Claudio Gianbanco//Costumes: Gloria Cardi//Color

Cast: Dagmar Lassander, Pier Paolo Capponi, Simon Andreu, Osvaldo gennazzani, Salvador Bugetti, Susan Scott (Nieves Navarro).

Minou is the high strung wife of an industrialist named Peter. He often travels leaving Minou by herself which stresses her out to the point where she drinks and takes pills to cope. One night, while out for a walk, she's attacked by a stranger who accuses her husband of murder. Obviously shaken up by the incident, she can't seem to get her best friend Dominique, to show much concern. The next time she meets up with the mystery assailant, he rapes her and threatens blackmail. Minou tells all of this to Peter, but when the police are called in to investigate, they find no clues. As the film builds to its climax, you can't be sure whether Minou is losing her mind or is someone close to her trying to drive her to suicide.

You can always tell a Luciano Ercoli directed thriller, it features his actress/wife Susan Scott in a prominent role (here as Dominique), and, the characters never shut up! While the appearance of Scott is always a big plus (although unfortunately she keeps her clothes on while appearing in her husband's films), it's the interminable talking that ultimately cause his thrillers to fall short of the mark. A prolific producer in the sixties, he was responsible for director Duccio Tessari's best work (ie the RINGO Spaghetti Westerns). Dagmar Lassander is quite stunning here, especially the opening bubble bath scene, as Minou and she manages to involve the audience with her character's rather desperate situation. The big casting mistake was using Pier Paolo Capponi in the role of her husband. As soon as you see him on screen, you can't help but feel he's an unsympathetic bastard, capable of anything. This certainly doesn't help the supposed surprise revelation at film's end. Finally, this was the time period when composer Ennio Morricone created some of his best work and he doesn't disappoint here.