"The Bird with the Crystal Plumage"**** (out of ****)
Dario Argento gives us a bird's eye view of murder in "The Bird with the Crystal Plumage" (1970).
"The Bird with the Crystal Plumage" marked the directorial debut of the famed Italian horror filmmaker, Dario Argento. Perhaps the greatest Italian filmmaker working in the giallo sub-genre of horror. It was also the beginning of what some refer to as his "animal trilogy". The first three movies Argento directed had animals in their titles.
If you are a fan of Argento's work but haven't seen his films in chronological order, "The Bird with the Crystal Plumage" will feel a bit familiar. It's story-line is somewhat similar to "Deep Red" (1975). An innocent man witnesses a murder and begins to play detective to solve the crime. In the process he becomes a "man who knows too much" as the killer knows his identity and tries to prevent him from learning too much.
At the same time "The Bird with the Crystal Plumage" won't feel like an Argento movie. It lacks the grisly death scenes we expect and the fetish appetite for blood Argento delights in. It is however one of his most classically structured movies and one of his best.
Sam (Tony Musante), is an American novelist, who has not written anything in the last two years. At the suggestion of a friend he travels to Italy, with his girlfriend, Julia (Suzy Kendall), where the scenery should provide inspiration. It doesn't. However, Sam lucks into a job writing a manual on the preservation of rare birds, thanks to a friend, Garullo (Gildo Di Marco). The job gives Sam, enough money to head back home to America. While things are starting to look up for him, this is where his troubles begin.
Walking home, late at night, Sam notices an art gallery from across the street. The lights are still on and two figures (a woman and a man) are visible. They seem in be in struggle. Sam crosses the street, wanting to enter the gallery. He is not able to make it inside and sees the woman has been stabbed by a knife. The man, wearing a black trench coat and hat, has escaped.
We learn from the police in the last month three murders have occurred. All the victims were women. No clues are ever left behind. Although the woman Sam saw, Monica (Eva Renzi), did not die, Sam remains the best lead police have in trying to identify the murderer. Unfortunately, Sam never got a good look at the man.
"The Bird with the Crystal Plumage" is a blend of eroticism and darkness, literal darkness. The fact that Argento makes each victim a woman, would lead some to say there is also misogyny in the story.
Two death scenes really stand out in the movie with each emphasizes the erotic nature of the movie and the choice of filming scenes in the dark.
In the first scene, an exceptionally beautiful woman (Rosita Torosh) is being stalked by the killer. It is filmed from the perspective of the kiler as he is taking photos of the woman. She walks home and gets ready for bed. She is wearing a see-through piece of lingerie and no bra. While in bed, we see the killer standing in doorway. Holding a knife he makes his way to the bed and gets on top of the woman. With the blade of the knife he cuts her lingerie, which ever so slightly covers her nipples. He then proceeds towards her panties and cuts them off.
While the scene is meant to be scary and build suspense in anticipation of the cruel fate of the woman, there is still an erotic quality to the scene with the man on top of the woman and the phallic symbol of the knife. Did the killer really need to cut her panties in order to kill her? Watching this scene I was reminded of another giallo movie, "What Have You Done To Solange?" (1972) where the murderer inserts a knife in a woman's vagina. The sexual connection should be obvious.
Also adding to the erotic nature of the movie is the soundtrack. A woman's voice can be heard. She is moaning. On one level we can associate the moaning with that of fear as the woman confront the killer and try to fight him off. But, listening to the soundtrack with your eyes closed. Now that you have divorced the sound from the image, it sounds like a woman having sex. Just listening to the soundtrack, with your eyes closed, you would think pornography was on. This is especially apparent in the movie's climax (a deliberate word choice).
In the second death sequence, another attractive woman is walking into her apartment building and up a spiral stairwell. The lights are out and the woman lights a match. The sequence is so dark at times we can see nothing in the background, only the woman's face in the forefront.
Argento films a couple of other scenes in the same darkness. The entire frame of a shot is black. One interesting scene has only light coming from the background of an open door. A character walks to the fore and is invisible in the blackness.
I can only suspect this was done as a variation on "are you afraid of the dark"? Night and dark rooms can be scary. Terrible things can happen in the shadows of the night. Argento plays with our fear of the dark in this movie.
For a movie about a murderer there is actually little violence seen on-screen. Today we think of Dario Argento as a master of gore but in his early days his movies showed were restrained. In he second murder scene I outlined, once the killer catches up with the woman, he attacks her with a switch blade, hacking at her. The camera shows the blade and cuts to the woman screaming. While we see blood on the wall we never actually see the blade touch the woman. This should make some recall the famous shower scene from "Psycho" (1960). I would be very surprised if Argento was not inspired by that scene. Keep in mind, with the release of this movie and his next two pictures, Argento was referred to as "the Italian Hitchcock". And, as in "Psycho" we also end the movie with psychiatrist giving us a psychological explanation of the killer and motive.
As in Hitchcock movies as well, Argento adds humor to his story. The recent murders are what end up inspiring Sam, not the beautiful Italian landscape. Sam, during his investigation, encounters a colorful cast of characters from a homosexual antique dealer, who has a crush on Sam, a pimp with a stuttering problem, and an eccentric painter, who has a lot of pet cats, for reasons I won't reveal.
"The Bird with the Crystal Plumage" (the title still doesn't make sense to me) displays what a talent Argento was at one time. He isn't working at the top of his game but there is more than enough to show us what lies ahead. Some may call this movie "conventional". I believe it is a great work by a great filmmaker. Now if only they could have improved on the audio, which isn't properly synced.
Posts
