The Strange Moments in Mrs. Wardh

Lo strano vizio della signora Wardh was my first giallo ever and when I rewatched it, after seeing some 20 other gialli, I realised it is simply the best I saw. Sorry, Argento or Bava, the two best were made by Sergio Martino. Edwige Fenech as the lead is not THE reason, why this one and All the Colors of the Dark are my favourite gialli, but definitely she helps a lot :) Well, I chose some of my favourite moments (not quite strange, I have only paraphrased the original title) in the movie to remind. Sorry, this article is full of SPOILERS:

• The shot with Edwige's eye in the middle of dark screen. Magic cinematography by Emilio Foriscot, if I'm not mistaken.

• Laughing Ivan Rassimov, half of his face covered in dark. Splendid. 

• The rape in the rain scene doesn't appeal to me that much, but the scene with the bottle is really beautifully shot and scary. It must have really hurt, hasn't it?

• I'm 20 minutes in the movie, did I REALLY saw already five nude chicks, and Edwige being nude THREE TIMES so far? Well, I'm not complaining though.

• The ugly truth about this giallo - the murder scenes are the least inspired part of the movie.

• The scene in the park is really scary though.

• Not talking about the scene in the underground garage. A masterpiece.

• While watching it the second time, I realized how clearly De Mendoza just takes Edwige to show her that Rassimov is "dead". 

• Bruno Corazzari is the killer! Unfortunately he says nothing and dies. Not so important murderer - the real menace is somewhere else. I'd love to see a movie about Corazzari killing everyone through the whole footage. That would be funny.I guess it doesn't exist.

• Wasn't she supposed to sleep all night long? Never mind, soon enough she sleeps again. Forever?

 

• So Edwige "dies" and the movie changes from a not so much whodunit into a western. Really! Desert location and a duel between Hilton and Rassimov ending with close-up of eyes (in mirror sunglasses though) and a close-up of a gun.

• Then arrives a train and De Mendoza gets off just like Bronson in Once Upon a Time in the West. The one and only passenger getting off. 

• And slowly walking Edwige just like an avenging angel.

• The ending is not so good for a giallo, but as a revenge of a mistreated lady it works perfectly. Not mentioning the nod to La salaire de peur, where Yves Montand ends quite the same way.

 

• One last thought - Mrs. Wardh has actually no vice. No evidence of her being actually excited by blood apart from what Hilton and Rassimov tell to the authorities (police comissioner and psychiatrist) to portray her as a psychically unstable person.