How the hell should I describe this one then? Hmm. It’s difficult. The thing is that I didn't know it existed until yesterday when I found a bootleg DVD in a second hand store in Stockholm (I later found out it’s out on DVD in Italy, but with no subs - I’m sure this version from “Video Dimension” is using the same video file, but with added English subs) and I couldn't resist it. It’s hard to define the genre of Eyes Behind the Wall. Some people would say it’s a giallo, and it is kinda… because Italian thrillers is called giallo no matter if there’s a murder or not. But still, it’s more a drama with a touch of thriller and tons of sex and nudity. But with an art house quality and some excellent acting.
Fernando Rey plays an invalid writer, confined to his wheelchair. His slight younger wife Olga keeps him company, but he’s bored because I can’t have his freedom. So that’s why he’s installed an advanced spy cam-thingie in the apartment he’s renting out. This time it’s rugged but still hot stranger John Phillip Law who’s paying the rent. He likes to spend his days working out in the nude and sleep. Rey makes his wife watch the young man, and triggers her into following him, reporting his whereabouts to her husband and soon also making a very personal contact with him. But things get more fucked up than expected…
Wow. What a great movie! I didn’t expect it to be so excellent, a twisted and brave psycho-sexual thriller-drama with some genuine surprises and nude shocks! Maybe I’m out of my league here, but somehow… it could have belonged with the erotic, twisted thrillers of the 90’s - but this one still feels very 70’s and with the same kitschy sets as always. What I love is that there’s no judgement going on here from the old man, he’s defending a sexual adventure his young neighbor experiences to his shocked wife, his open-minded and wants to learn and see. When the final twists comes it’s not as shocking actually, it feels more like completely natural considering the drama we’ve just seen unfolded in front of our eyes.
A the same time the movie is so twisted - only the technical issues with this hidden spy-thingie is right out from an Italian James Bond rip-off, and the twists it takes to show the decandent life of the four people living in this house - and that includes the butler. We see straight sex and gay sex, full frontals and completely without shame. What makes Eyes Behind the Wall such a pleasure is also the absurdly awesome disco scene, probably one of the coolest I’ve seen in an Italian film from the time. It’s both cheesy and genuinely good.
I wish I could tell you everything in this movie - but I can’t! It would be so many spoilers and this is a movie that wants to surprise the audience. But see this in front of you; Alfred Hitchcock’s Rear Window + Brian De Palma’s Body Double, but with a huge splash of european art house absurdities and the storyline from Fulci’s New Ripper with the husband sending out his wife to fuck unknown men. That kinda describes it okay, but it’s still a unique film of it’s own.
Eyes Beind the Wall is from now on one of my favorite genre films from Italy!
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