The Double — The Double( Blu Ray)
From the early 1970s, The Double blends piecing-it-together mystery, romantic drama, and low-key Giallo, with moments of nudity & bloody death. It features a shifting back-and-forth-through-time structure and a steadily warping & paranoid unfolding that leaves you unsure what is real & what is not. Here from Radiance- both in the UK and Stateside- is a Blu-ray release of the film, with extras featuring input from respected genre experts Tim Lucas & Stephen Thrower.
The Double (La Controfigura, Love Inferno) is an Italian production from the year 1971. Been shot between Rome and Morocco. It was directed by Rome-born Romolo Guerrieri- who had a total of sixteen feature film credits to his name. These included the likes of spaghetti western Johnny Yuma (1966), Giallo The Sweet Body of Deborah ( 1968), Polizieschi Young, Violent, Dangerous (1976), and post-apocalyptic action film The Final Executioner (1984).
The film centres around thirtysomething Giovanni (Jean Sorel) a trained architect who has never worked, but instead lives on his parents' money. He’s in a relationship with the younger/ flirty Lucia (Ewa Aulin).
As mentioned at the start of the film, it has an unpredictable, shifting back-and-forth through time structure. We open seemingly at the end of Giovanni's life, when he’s gunned down by a shifty/ sweat bearded & bespectacled man in an underground car park.
The remainder of the film sees us darting back & forth through his life to get answers to why he was shot.
So, we move between a holiday the pair had in Morocco, where Lucia is seemingly flirting/ maybe more with a few men, including bearded American hippie Eddie ( Sergio Doria). Early on in their relationship, when Giovanni meets Nora ( Lucia Bosè) glamorous mother, the pair clearly have chemistry from the off ( or is it in Giovanni's mind). And back in Rome, just before his murder.
As the film unfolds, there are seemingly five or six other murders, but in reality, I think only one of these is real; the others are linked to Giovanni paranoia/ jealousy. They take in a shot with a spree gun in a water kill, a tense and sweaty sniper shooting, and a few others.
The film's score effectively enhances the film's steady skewing/ unravelling, moving from upbeat/ grooving organ driven cue to a fraught and stripped-back piano work, onto paired back/ gloomy under toned percussive workouts. And at points the cues themselves are seemingly been warped / over played.
The cast is largely good/serviceable, with the film's unpredictable structure done in a rewarding & engaging manner. The location shooting in both Morocco & Rome is done well, with a real sense of unease/ intriguing present, and in particular the shots of markets in both locations bring a rewarding contrast.
I’d say you’ll have to at least be tolerant of arthouse cinema to get the most out of The Double and not be too frustrating/ annoyed. But I thoroughly enjoyed piecing together the puzzle of it all, as well as some believable moments of argument/ emotional upheaval.
The Blu-ray features a 4 K print- this features wonderful clarity and depth, with nice bold colouring. The score and dialogue are well balanced, with readable English subtitles.
On the disc, we get two worthy new extras- first off is a commentary track from genre expect / author Tim Lucas, and as we’ve come to expect from this commentary pro- it’s very well researched, informed, and wholly interesting affair. He goes from touching on the novel the film is based on, and points out how the score mixes harmony and discord. He talks about how/ why the film is not a Giallo. He discusses the film's lead actor, giving a bio as well as touching on other notable films he was in. Later on, he points out haphazardly placed scenes, discusses plot points/ reading between the lines, and how the novel.
Next on the new side, we have an interview with always worthy Stephen Thrower ( 26.06), the author/ genre expert moves from talking about how misleading the English title is. We get a bio of the lead actress- who we find out started life as a beauty queen- winning competitions in her native Sweden & the US. He talks about how the male lead was very much a poster boy for the Giallo, as it featured many films in the genre. He talks about pairings in the films made/ not made. He chats about the structure of the picture, and its blending of fact and fantasy.
On the archive side, we have an interview with director Romolo Guerrieri and star Eva Aulin, newly edited for this release ( 14.25)
It comes with a twenty-page inlay booklet, featuring colour stills from the film. Cast and crew details, a new article from genre expert Nathaniel Thompson- it’s entitled Compelled To Death In The Double, which runs at twelve pages. And transfer credits.
The Double is an arty/ mind bending mystery- which certainly needs your focus/ concentration to fully understand what’s going on, but it’s worth it. This new Radiance features a lovely scan and interesting extras.