Una sull'Altra |
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Synopsis: The asthmatic wife of shady doctor George DuMaurier (!) is found dead under slightly questionable circumstances. At first, it seems certain to us (though not to the police) that the doctor has killed her; however, very gradually we become certain he is innocent, while the police become convinced he is guilty. A strange woman turns up who bears a striking resemblance to the dead woman. The last third of the movie follows DuMaurier as he awaits his inescapable doom in the gas chamber... or is there another turn of Fate ahead that will free him?
Notes: Una sull'Altra is so full of unbelieveable plot twists that it would be pointless to try to explain them here. As in Fulci's later thriller, Non Si Sevizia Una Paperino, the strength of this thriller is its exploitation of ambiguity. The hero is, especially at first, unlikeable and certainly untrustworthy. He behaves very badly to his wife - but on the other hand, he is very devoted to his mistress. We come to accept him, however hesitantly, as our protagonist as we realize that nobody around him is exactly who he or she seems to be. Even the identity of the victim becomes confused. The feeling of oppression and hopelessness against Fate generated by the last Act of the movie is overwhelming. Although the movie is completely unbelievable, the feeling of entrapment it creates as it speeds to its conclusion is genuine and frightening.
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