A Quiet Place in the Country is a late 60’s blend of mystery thriller, Are-they-mad-or-not psycho drama, and uneasy/ arty horror/ ghost story. The Italian/ French production features Franco Nero and Vanessa Redgrave as its leads- each giving emotional & physically intense performances- as a painter, and his lover/ business partner. Here from Radiance Films, is a recent Blu-Ray release of the film- taking in an HD scan, a new selected scenes commentary track, and a few other new & archive extras.

A Quiet Place in the Country (Un Tranquillo Posto Di Campagna) is from the year 1968.  Been filmed between the Italian countryside & an atmospherically impressive large derelict house, Milan & Venice. It was directed by Rome-born Elio Petri, who had fourteen feature credits to his name. These take in crime thriller The Assassin (1961), dystopian sci-fi sci-fi/ dark comedy The 10th Victim (1965), Surrealist police drama Investigation Of A Citizen Above Suspicion (1970), and dark comedy regarding a disaffected media executive Good News (1979).

The film centres around modern art painter Leonardo Ferri - played by a wild-eyed & bearded Nero. His paintings are seemingly fetching more and more money as his lover/ business partner Flavia( Redgrave) arranges more and more profitable deals for him- but of late there has been a problem, as Leonardo is unable to create anymore. And one day while out having a break in the countryside he comes across a huge abandoned, overgrown, and derelict mansion, with WWII bullet shots on the outside of one of the walls.

Flavia says it’s too pricey, but months past & still no work from Leonardo – so they managed to go ahead and buy the house. As things unfold & the artist, a few staff start living in the building- we first get things moving late at night, then dangerous accidents start happening, and a Leonardo sees a woman in red dress on darting through the houses shadowy corridor.

A Quiet Place in the Country is a film that very much flits between the real and unreal, and the dream/ fantasy and real world. The film opens up nicely unbalancing the viewer- as after the shifting art, numbers, reeling textures, and avant ‘n’ angular jazz soundtracked credits. We find Leonardo in his underwear tied to a chair with rope- as Flavia shows him one electric house item after another she just brought, then removes her underwear & rides the artists. The film is scored by Ennio Morricone, and it’s one of his more experimental scores, with darts into Avant jazz/ modern composition- yet equally more atmospheric/ moody fare.

I’d say you’ll most certainly have to enjoy skewed/ arty horror, blended with a decent mix of mystery/drama to fully engage with A Quite Place In The Country. Both Nero, and  Redgrave give their all to the roles- really both mentally and physically going through the mill- moving between deranged and wild-eyed sweatiness, been dragged/ pulled about, etc.

The Region B Blu-Ray features a well-defined and bold new HD scan. With a good selection of extras- both new and old. On the new side, we have a selected scenes commentary from critic and filmmaker Kat Ellinger( 39.42) these start with the opening scene in the film stopping off at notable scenes along the way- with the focus/ pull of the track regarding the theme of existential crisis in masculinity, which appears in this film/ all of the directors work.  Next, we get a great in-depth dive into the film and all surrounding it by author/ genre expert Stephen Thrower (49.24) . He begins talking about how the unassuming title hides a lot behind it.  We find out director Elio Petri had the original idea for the back in 1962, wanting it to be his second film- but for several reasons, this never happened. Thrower dissects/ discusses the film's manic opening credits.  Gives us an interesting director's bio, where we find he was very much self-taught. We find out the film was shot between April and June of 1968- released in November of that year in Italian, before going in 1972 to show in the UK. He talks about the film's key locations and discusses the rather unlikeable artist character at the centre of the picture. He talks about how the mansion part of the film was based on Oliver Onions 1911 novel  The Beckoning Fair One, and much more. Both new extras are excellent & most informative.

Then on the archive side, we have the following- a 2017 interview with Franco Nero( 32.07), and a 2021 Interview with make-up artist Pier Antonio Mecacci(13.54). And trailer.

The finished release comes with a reversible sleeve featuring artwork based on original posters. With a booklet featuring new writing on the film by Simon Abrams.

A Quiet Place in the Country will appeal to those who enjoy the artier & more unsettling side of mystery/ horror. The film features two great leads putting their all into their roles, a wonderful angular/ skewed Morricone score, and a general feeling of steady mental unfolding. This recent Radiance Films release features both an excellent print, and a most worthy selection of extras.