Stephania Sandrelli is a thriller in the brain Italian thrillers of the 70s were in a special ideological relationship with the literary works of Wilhelm Reich. Many of his assumptions and ideas were given as desired in a relatively large number. He was also involved in psychoanalysis. Sergio Sollim's film is built strictly on the basis of known theories, using a theoretical scientific layer.
So, if you do not go into details to take and impose on the plot of the film the classical stages of psychoanalysis, then there will be identity. The beginning of the tape really resembles the methodology of “free association”. Sollima skillfully mixes facts and conjectures, trying to hide the truth as deep as possible from the viewer. This gives an impression completely surreal, for we are told about the banal seemingly murder of a rich and honorable father of the family (played by Maurice Ronet). But the director craftily and carefully translates the entire narrative into a set of "bright spots," flashes of memory and anchors of attention.
Then, without much warning the viewer about his plans, Sollima goes on to interpret the primary sources of conflicts. The background is opened and the viewer gets into a strange likeness of Rasemon, where facts, truth and truth swirl in a strange dance without coming to agreement.
Waiting for the point when the most loyal viewer could already “boil,” Sollima fixes the issues of “resistance” and “transfer” in the history, twisting the finale along the way so that the main contradiction was worked out by the heroes. Thus, the logical elaboration of the final is symmetrical to the initial absurdity.
I am very surprised by the selection of actors. Known for “Space Odyssey” Kubrick Keir Dullea and does not need additional introduction Stefania Sandrelli give quite self-sufficient performance. Their characters seem completely knocked off the path of life, and therefore it is impossible to make out where the actors replay, and where they “get” to the point. You just believe them. Just like any other actor.
The Devil in the Brain is a very uneven film. He wags from detective to giallo, then to art house, and from there to a simple and understandable drama that can claim a special philosophical subtext. After all, the characters here are so archetypal that it is impossible not to draw parallels between the death of his father and the Oedipus complex, the unknown criminal and the Other, a cold and kind mother and a guilty child who has to justify himself for violence. It's like a kaleidoscope. Slightly change the angle of view, shift the viewing tube and before us will be an ordinary and boring thriller. It turned out to be contradictory and profound, so it is worth watching and discussing.
8 out of 10