The Stendhal Syndrome (1996)

Original title

La sindrome di Stendhal

Directed by

Luigi Cozzi, Dario Argento

Genre

mystery film, thriller film, giallo, suspense film, psychological thriller film, horror film

Country

Italy

Runtime

2h

Rated

NR

Rating

5.5 of 10 from 294 voters

Elsewhere

IMDb

How it feels

A policewoman in Rome is an art lover. She is attacked and changes after a traumatic encounter in a museum.

psychologically intensevisually strikingdisturbingdreamlikeunnervingsuspensefulart-obsessed

What happens

The Stendhal Syndrome (Ital. La Sindrome di Stendhal) is a 1996 Italian psychological thriller film written and directed by Dario Argento and starring his daughter Asia Argento, with Thomas Kretschmann and Marco Leonardi. It was a critical and commercial success in Italy, grossing ₤5,443,000,000 Italian lira (US $3,809,977). The title refers to a psychological condition in which a subject enters a fugue state induced by the presence of art. Argento said he experienced Stendhal syndrome as a child. While touring Athens with his parents young Dario was climbing the steps of the Parthenon when he was overcome by a trance that caused him to become lost from his parents for hours. The experience was so strong that Argento never forgot it; he immediately thought of it when he came across Graziella Magherini's book about the syndrome, which would become the basis of the film. (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

Trailer

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