So Sweet... So Perverse aka Così dolce... così perversa (1969) On the Cusp of Neo Noir and Giallo

An impressively stylish film. 

Directed by Umberto Lenzi and written by Ernesto Gastaldi. The excellent Cinematography was by Guglielmo Mancori (Face To Face). Film Editing was by Eugenio Alabiso, and Music was by Music by Riz Ortolani.

The film stars Carroll Baker ( (Baby Doll 1956, Transitional Noirs Something Wild (1961) and Sylvia (1965)) as Nicole Perrier, Jean-Louis Trintignant (The Great Silence (1968)) as Jean Reynaud, Helga Liné as Helena, Horst Frank as Klaus, Erika Blanc as Danielle, Beryl Cunningham as the Stripper

Again here is displayed my pet peeve with all of the Proto Giallos and Giallos that I've seen. I admit that I haven't seen all that many because I just don't care for them. The majority I have seen are too akin to Slasher Films for my taste. They also seem to be predominately about the well off, and wealthy, the glitterati, and never about everyday, regular poor euro trash schumcks, nor do they take place in truck stops, cheap motels, or in the dive bars on back streets and alleys of some decaying European slum. Its as if the producers say yeah, use my opulent appointed apartment house, or my Italian Modern Riviera estate, or my ritzy flat to film in. You don't get a lot of interesting location shots.

Carroll Baker as Nicole

Jean-Louis Trintignant as Jean Reynaud

Erika Blanc as Danielle

Horst Frank as Klaus

What this film has going for it is its very stylish noir cinematography and excellent editing. It's so good that it trumps my distaste for "upper class" Noir. 

The Story

We first meet Jean driving his banana yellow 1969 Pontiac Firebird through the streets of Paris back to his apartment house. Jean is the wealthy owner of some type of pharmaceutical company. 

Just as he walks in the door of the apartment house, the elevator starts ascending. Jean takes a glance and sees a beautiful blonde contained within the ornate open grillwork of it's car. Jean asks the concierge about the empty apartment above his. 

He mentions that his wife was wanting to acquire it and put in a stairway to connect them. He tells Jean that the woman who just went up the elevator rented it. Jean tells the concierge that he will bring back the key that they had borrowed to make measurements when they were considering the remodel work.

When the car comes back down Jean enters it and finds a woman's earing. He pockets the earring and heads up to his floor. 

While in his apartment Jean hears strange noises from the upper floor. Banging and cries. He grabs his key to the upstairs apartment out of a draw. As he is about to go upstairs to check to see if everything is OK he hears the lift start downwards. He rushes out the door and tries to chase the elevator down to the ground floor. In the lobby he finds no one. 

He rides the lift back to the top floor. He rings the bell. No answer.  On the floor he sees some drops of blood. He is about to put the key into the lock to see if everything is alright inside but the door pushes open. He calls out hello. 

He calls out hello. Upon going inside and into the bedroom he finds the blonde girl laying on a bed in a fright. He asks her for her name she tells him Nicole. She tells him her boyfriend Klaus abuses her. She tells Jean that she hates Klaus's touch but that his rough treatment excites her. 

Danielle, Jean's wife of three years is depressed. After their first year of marriage the fires of passion no longer burn hot. 

Over the next few weeks Jean and Nicole fall in love. Jean starts to hang around Nicole's and Danielle can hear dimly through the ceiling their carryings on. Of course being a Noir its not all what it seems,  and being a proto Giallo nothing is what you think it is . 

Noirsville

All the actors play equally well off each other. Baker and Trintignant I was familiar with, in fact it was Carroll Baker who led me to seek this out. Horst Frank I've seen in some bad Spaghetti Westerns while Erika Blanc was completely new to me. Again the film was impressively stylish, but not enough to overcome my distaste for the Giallos, with basically unknown actors, to come. 8/10