Le foto proibite di una signora per bene: Forbidden Photos of a Lady above Suspicion

Sucking unknown dicks.

Following our Italian roots, today's entry is a very different kind of Giallo. Can a Giallo be a PG rated film? Can a Giallo lack graphic violence scenes? Can a Giallo lack gratuitous nudity? Well, apparently director Luciano Ercoli answered those questions with a stunning "Yes, it can!" Le Foto Proibite di una Signora per Bene (The Forbidden Photos of a Respectable Lady) AKA Forbidden Photos of a Lady Above Suspicion is a 1970 "clean" Giallo you should watch with your kids, grandparents and pets all together, while zipping A&W root beer. Nevertheless, this film isn't a Disney roller coaster ride. After all, it's about murder, cheating, blackmailing and fucking, just like any other Giallo would be about.

Forbidden Photos of a Lady above Suspicion is a Giallo that is different to what most fans will be used to, as the graphic, over the top murder scenes have been scrapped in favor of a sexually charged, yet not graphic, plot line. Starred by German redhead Dagmar Lassander & Spanish-Italian brunette Nieves Navarro. Although they have both worked in many Italian sexploitation films where nudity was required, in FPOALAS, they never share a second of their bare humanity, which leads me into thinking it was Luciano Ecoli's conscious decision to film this movie with a more delicate eye, avoiding any exploitative filming trick.   

Just chillin'

Are you gonna fuck me or what?

The film works wonders, thanks to Ernesto Gastaldi's clever script, that manages to keep most of the elements that make a movie a recognizable Italian Giallo but the above mentioned items. The movie's atmosphere is charged with desire and frustration, and the plot; which features blackmailing, sex and mystery, makes best use of its array of amoral and perverse characters. The film focuses on Minou(Lassander); the attractive wife of a businessman named Peter. The story picks up when Minou is attacked by a stranger on a lonely late night beach walk. The mysterious man reveals Minou, his husband is a murdering bastard and then disappears as quickly as he run into our lady in distress. Obviously, Minou is immediately affected by the apparent sexual harassment and runs into his husband telling him everything that happened but saving the murdering bastard info for later. For reasons unknown,  she somehow mistrusts her significant other. 

Later we're introduced to Dominique (Navarro) Minou's sophisticated slutty best friend and that's it. The film revolves around 4 characters from start to finish: Minou, her husband Peter(Pier Paoli Capponi), Dominique and the mysterious unnamed blackmailer. I know what you're thinking "with such few characters, I'm sure the mystery will be solved pretty quickly due to the predictability fact that one of the characters is hiding more than meets the eye" Well, yes and no.

 

Two best friends checking porno photos.

I can't believe it was you in that bukkake photo.

This movie works mainly because of the acting. Dagmar Lassander was one of the better actresses to appear in giallo, second only to Edwige Fenech at playing these hysterical, beleaguered victim roles. Even better is Nieves Navarro as her sex-hungry best friend who has pornographic pictures taken of herself and says at one point, after Lassender's character confides about her near rape, that she would have "adored being violated" (there's a kind of refreshingly politically incorrectness to the ridiculous dubbed dialogue of these movies). She is such a dubious and ambiguous character that even at the end it is not clear whether she is a loyal friend to the protagonist or an unexposed villain.

The director, Luciano Ercoli, is the Italian husband of former Spanish model Navarro. He made several other giallo, all featuring his wife, but this is probably the one where he made the best use of her. He is no Dario Argento or even Sergio Martino, but his direction is certainly adequate. The screenwriter, Ernesto Gastaldi, contributed scripts for any number of these pictures and he puts forth a pretty decent and suspenseful one here. This movie is kind of hard to find right now, but it is worth seeing if you like these kind of movies.

 

a Tape recorder with microphone.

Cassette tapes are making a come back guys!

Luciano Ercoli can be called many things. He might not be the most innovative director, but he definitely is the king of fashion, with all the women dressed up in some truly outrageous '70s outfits. His muse Nieves Navarro in particular parades through the film in some truly skimpy outfits, resulting in unintentional campyness. When talking camp, watch the dancing scene in the club in the beginning of the film with Dagmar Lassander. In God's heaven, this is one tacky dancing scene we're watching. All the men are in suits, the women are outrageously dressed, the music is a hallucinate boggle of easy-listening tunes James Last wouldn't even dare to come up with and the way they dance (how do you even dance to this kind of music?) is truly a perfect showcase of tacky '70s euro-nonsense. Guilty. Case closed. Still, it's a complete riot when watching it now and that's probably why I enjoy these films so much.

In all his three Gialli, FORBIDDEN PHOTOS, DEATH WALKS ON HIGH HEELS and DEATH WALKS AT MIDNIGHT, Ercoli presents his story from a female perspective, but they are presented as utterly helpless when dealing with the various male perpetrators and chauvinist male detectives surrounding them. Even husbands or boyfriends, or any male capable of help turns out to be just as malevolent as all the blackmailers, wife-beaters and murderers. Nudity level and body count are extremely low, but as a mystery it's actually much more effective than most Gialli, stylishly filmed, well acted and permeated with intrigue, blackmail and fetishistic violence, supported by a groovy Ennio Morricone score. Although graphic violence is restricted to a minimum, Dagmar Lassander has to undergo quite the ordeal with a mire of sedatives, alcohol and sleazy sex and strange conversations with the assertive bisexual figure of Nieves Navarro. She repeatedly keeps hearing from all male characters: "Get undressed!"

I wonder who's fucking him now.

Don't worry Minou, it's only anal.

Luciano Ercoli is never going to get huge respect from Giallo fans simply for the fact that he hasn't made a great deal of films; but it seems that the ones he has made get rated down too often, and just like Death Walks at Midnight - Forbidden Photos is an underrated Giallo. The director does an excellent job of ensuring that Forbidden Photos fits the plot in terms of look and style. The lighting and scene setting is excellent, and the upper class locations bode well with the central cast of characters. The acting is also surprisingly high quality with Dagmar Lassander impressing in the lead role. She is joined by Pier Paolo Capponi who takes the sinister role of her husband, while the cast is rounded off by the talented Nieves Navarro AKA Susan Scott. The bisexual element of Scott's character fits the film well, and provides more perversion to the already sleazy atmosphere. The plot is significantly less convoluted than most Giallo's, but if you ask me; this is a good thing as it allows the director to put all the implications of the story across without being bogged down by plot details. 

Dagmar Lassander.

Nieves Navarro.

Overall, this is a great Giallo film and while I know that it's high praise - I really wouldn't hesitate to list it alongside Gastaldi's collaborations with Sergio Martino in a list of premium Giallo films. Highly recommended! 

Here's the movie trailer: