From en.wikipedia.org:
[1969 film by Umberto Lenzi] [the 1997 American comedy film] [date=August
2023] {{Infobox film | name = Orgasmo | image = Orgasmo-poster.jpg | alt = |
caption = Italian theatrical release poster | director = Umberto Lenzi<ref
name="bfi-credits" /> | writer = {{Plainlist|
- Umberto Lenzi
- Ugo Moretti
- Marie Claire Sollenville <ref name="bfi-credits" />
}} | producer = Salvatore Alabiso<ref name="bfi-credits" /> | story = Umberto
Lenzi | starring = {{Plainlist|
- Carroll Baker
- Lou Castel
- Colette Descombes
- Tino Carraro
}} | cinematography = Guglielmo Mancori<ref name="allmovie-cast" /> | editing
= Enzo Alabiso<ref name="bfi-credits" /> | music = Piero Umiliani<ref
name="bfi-credits" />[1] | studio = {{Plainlist|
- Tritone Filmindustria
- Société Nouvelle de Cinématographie [2] }}
| distributor = {{Plainlist|
- Titanus (Italy)
- [SNC] (France) [3]
}} | released = [df=y] | runtime = 90 minutes<ref name="allmovie-cast" /> |
country = {{Plainlist|
- Italy
- France <ref name="allmovie-cast" />
}} | language = Italian | budget = | gross = }}
_ORGASMO_ (Italian for "orgasm") is a 1969 _giallo_ film co-written and
directed by Umberto Lenzi and starring Carroll Baker, Lou Castel, and Colette
Descombes. It follows a wealthy American socialite who finds herself preyed
upon by two nefarious young siblings who indulge her with sex, drugs, and
alcohol while she vacations at an Italian villa. This film helped launch the
second phase of Baker's career, during which she became a regular star in
Italian productions.[Luther-Smith]
After its Italian premiere in February 1969, _Orgasmo_ was released in the
United States under the alternative title _PARANOIA_ later that same year. It
was one of the first films to carry an X rating in the United States under the
newly established Motion Picture Association film rating system, and this fact
was sensationalized for its American promotional materials.
The film marked the first of four collaborations between Lenzi and actress
Carroll Baker, who also starred in _So Sweet... So Perverse_ (1969), _A Quiet
Place to Kill_ (1970) and _Il coltello di ghiaccio_ (1972).
** Plot
American socialite Catherine West arrives in Italy from New York to a flurry
of journalists following the car accident death of her husband Robert, a Texas
oil baron who left her his $200 million estate. She retreats to an Italian
villa rented by her austere lawyer, Brian Sanders. Catherine soon meets Peter
Donovan, a young American man from Boston whose car has broken down nearby.
Peter manages to manipulate his way into staying with Catherine, who is
initially icy toward his romantic advances. However, Peter swiftly manages to
seduce her, and the two engage in a passionate affair.
Catherine travels to London to visit with her late husband's relatives to
discuss property she is bequeathing to them, but finds them to be abrasive and
angry with her, believing she married Robert solely for his money. Late one
night, Catherine senses someone has broken into the house, but the housekeeper
Teresa attributes Catherine's paranoia to her abuse of alcohol and
prescription drugs. When Catherine invites Peter to stay with her for a week,
his sister Eva arrives at the villa unexpectedly. Catherine enjoys the
siblings' companionship and youthful vivaciousness.
During a dinner meeting with Brian, Catherine admits she is suffering from
liver failure due to her alcoholism. Upon returning to the villa, Catherine
finds Peter and Eva in bed together nude. She presumes the two have engaged
in incest, but Peter informs Catherine that he and Eva are not blood-related,
and are in fact only stepsiblings. Eva confesses that she is sexually
attracted to Catherine, and the three soon engage in a series of nightly
debaucherous threesomes fueled by Peter and Eva's indulging of Catherine in
liquor and stimulant drugs.
One night, Catherine, disgusted with herself and in a drunken rage, orders
Peter and Eva to leave the villa. They oblige, but soon return, and begin
physically abusing Catherine and taking control of the house, subduing
Catherine by forcing her to drink. Finding herself held hostage by the
siblings, Catherine becomes increasingly desperate to escape Peter and Eva.
She manages to produce a gun, with which she shoots Peter. Catherine loses
consciousness due to a sedative fed to her by Eva, and awakens to find that
the gun was loaded with blanks by the siblings, and that Peter was unharmed.
The two bind and gag Catherine, tying her to a bed. When Brian visits the
villa, Peter tells him that Catherine has descended into a depression, and has
threatened to commit suicide.
Locked in her upstairs bedroom, Catherine is further tormented by the
siblings, who, on one occasion serve her a live toad for dinner. The two
later bring her whiskey and a large number of barbiturates, along with a
falsified letter stating Brian has died in a plane crash, with the hope that
Catherine will voluntarily kill herself by overdosing. Catherine manages to
escape her bedroom and flees to the attic, accessing the roof of the villa.
Brian arrives, and witnesses Catherine collapse over the edge of the roof,
falling to the veranda below and fracturing her skull. Brian picks the
injured Catherine up in his arms. The two briefly make eye contact before he
ruthlessly throws her over the veranda onto the driveway below, killing her.
Brian, who has conspired with the siblings to steal Catherine's fortune,
produces two forged suicide notes and orders Peter to alert authorities to
Catherine's staged suicide. It is revealed that Brian is in fact Peter and
Eva's uncle, and had Catherine unknowingly sign documents that bequeathed her
estate to the trio.
After the reading of Catherine's last will and testament, Brian is met by a
detective who notifies him that New York police discovered that the brakes in
Robert's car were tampered with, causing his fatal road accident. Brian
momentarily fears their plot has been discovered, until the detective states
that police believe Catherine caused the accident, as Robert had planned to
divorce her. Based on this conclusion, Catherine is not legally entitled to
her husband's estate, which Brian is informed will instead go to his aunt.
Meanwhile, as Peter and Eva gleefully drive through the city in their
convertible, they are killed in a head-on collision with a truck.
** Cast
{{Cast list|
- Carroll Baker as Catherine West [Some sources spell the character's name as "Kathryn", but newspaper clippings shown in the film spell it as "Catherine".]
- Lou Castel as Peter Donovan
- Colette Descombes as Eva Stuart
- Tino Carraro as Brian Sanders
- Lilla Brignone as Teresa
- Tina Lattanzi as Catherine's aunt
- Franco Pesce as Martino
}}
** Analysis
Film scholar Robert Curti considers _Orgasmo_ a variation on Pier Paolo
Pasolini's _Teorema_ (1968), another film in which "seductive strangers
[disrupt] the bourgeois status quo and its morals".[Curti] Curti also compares
the film to the novella _Carmilla_ (1872), about a young woman seduced by a
lesbian vampire.[Curti]
** Release
_Orgasmo_ premiered in Italy on 7 February 1969. The Italian version of
_Orgasmo_ has a different ending than the American version.[Luther-Smith] In
the United States, _Orgasmo_ opened under the _Paranoia_ title on 13 August
the same year.<ref name=ad>[work= Chicago Tribune] The film was among the
first to receive an X rating in the United States under the newly-established
Motion Picture Association film rating system,[Muller] and its X rating was
sensationalized in advertising materials.<ref name=ad/>
The film's title has led to confusion due to its re-titling in the United
States as _Paranoia_.[Shipka] Umberto Lenzi's next film (which also starred
Carroll Baker) was released as _Paranoia_ in Italy in 1970, but was retitled
_A Quiet Place to Kill_ for its American release.[Shipka]
Like other early giallo films, _Orgasmo_ was not popular among Italian film
audiences upon its initial theatrical release, as the genre never gained
popularity in its home country until the release of Dario Argento's _The Bird
with the Crystal Plumage_ (1970) and _The Cat o' Nine Tails_ (1971), but it
was a major hit outside of Italy.[Brizio-Skov] _Orgasmo_ was released in
France as _Une folle envie d'aimer_ ([_A mad desire to love_]).[Luther-Smith]
Baker commented in 1971 on the success of her Italian films:
<blockquote>My pictures in Italy have grossed so much money that I don't have
to search the rest of the world for work. They build movies around me and the
percentages are sensational... _Orgasmo,_ which was called _Paranoia_ in
America, grossed $8 million there alone![4]</blockquote>
*** Critical reception
From contemporary reviews, the _Monthly Film Bulletin_ wrote that "this high
gloss melodrama rings enough changes on an old theme to keep one watching
right up to the grisly retribution of the finale, even if the denouement is a
trifle rushed".[5] The review concluded that "it might have been even more
enjoyable - on its own low camp level - if Umberto Lenzi had not been so
determined to match style to subject, with the camera deliriously sliding in
and out of focus as the tormented lady totters down the stairs and every scene
shot from behind a bit of the furniture".<ref name="mfb-review" /> Roger Ebert
gave the film a negative review, stating that "only the haunting memory of
_Succubus_ prevents me from naming [_Orgasmo_] as the worst movie of the
year".[6]
From retrospective reviews, the online film database AllMovie gave _Orgasmo_
one star, referring to it as less interesting than _A Quiet Place to Kill_ and
stating that "there are some interesting moments, but this is clearly the
lesser of the two films".[7] Troy Howarth reviewed _Orgasmo_ favorably in _So
Deadly, So Perverse: 50 Years of Italian Giallo Films_, writing that "the film
is a classic example of the so-called sexy _giallo_, with plenty of cool
eroticism and a pleasantly 'mod' aesthetic". Howarth added that director
Lenzi "displays a sure and steady hand in gradually unveiling the various plot
twists".[Howarth] In _Sleazoid Express_, Bill Landis wrote, "The photography
seems filmed through a shot glass. The use of red lighting and off-kilter
shots, while simple and inexpensive, are extremely effective in reproducing
the state of being slowly overdosed on liquor and prescription pills." Landis
continued, "_Paranoia_ established director Umberto Lenzi as the king of
giallos, an effective melodramatist who delivered the goods. Lenzi was
sleazier and more bluntly sexual than more revered figures like Mario Bava and
Dario Argento".[Landis]
<gallery class="center"> File:Orgasmo (1969).jpg|_Orgasmo_ (1969) features a
female protagonist (played by Carroll Baker) who becomes embroiled in a
psychological, sexual conflict. File:Colette Descombes 1.jpg|Colette
Descombes in a psychedelic scene from _Orgasmo_ (1969). </gallery>
*** Home media
The X-rated U.S. cut of _Paranoia_ was released on VHS in 1985, in pan and
scan 4:3 aspect ratio, by Spotlite Video, a division of Republic Pictures
Corporation.[8]
The film was released on Blu-ray in a box set by Severin Films in June 2020,
featuring all four of Lenzi's film collaborations with actress Carroll Baker
(including _So Sweet... So Perverse_, _A Quiet Place to Kill_, and _Il
coltello di ghiaccio_). The box set includes both versions of _Orgasmo_.[9]
** See also
- List of thriller films of the 1960s
- List of French films of 1969
- List of Italian films of 1969
** Notes
[Noteslist]
** References
[reflist]
** Sources
[refbegin]
- [last=Brizio-Skov ]
- [last = Curti ]
- [last=Howarth]
- [last1=Landis]
- [last=Luther-Smith ]
- [last1=Muller]
- [last=Shipka ]
- [title=Paranoia ]
[refend]
** External links
[Commons category]
- [IMDb title]
- [id=485432]
- [Letterboxd title]
[Umberto Lenzi]
Category:1969 films Category:1960s erotic thriller films Category:1960s French
films Category:1960s Italian films Category:Films about casual sex
Category:Films about alcoholism Category:Films about inheritances
Category:Films directed by Umberto Lenzi Category:Films scored by Piero
Umiliani Category:Films set in country houses Category:Films set in Italy
Category:Films shot in Italy Category:French erotic thriller films
Category:French LGBTQ-related films Category:French thriller films <!--
http://www.allmovie.com/movie/orgasmo-v65719/ --> Category:Giallo films
Category:Films about incest Category:Italian erotic thriller films
Category:Italian LGBTQ-related films Category:Italian thriller films <!--
http://www.allmovie.com/movie/orgasmo-v65719/ --> Category:Titanus films
Category:1969 LGBTQ-related films