Madeleine: Anatomy of a Nightmare

1974 [ITALIAN]

Action / Drama / Fantasy / Horror / Mystery / Romance

1
IMDb Rating 5.5/10 10 302 302

Plot summary

A young woman is tormented by nightmares of her miscarriage. She becomes unfaithful to her husband and meets various lovers. Eventually, reality begins to unfurl around her.

Director

Roberto Mauri Photo
Roberto Mauri

Top cast

Camille Keaton Photo
Camille Keaton as Madeleine
Lorenzo Piani Photo
Lorenzo Piani as (credit only)
Alessandro Perrella Photo
Alessandro Perrella as (credit only)
Pier Maria Rossi Photo
Pier Maria Rossi as Thomas
720p.BluRay 1080p.BluRay
941.87 MB
1280*534
Italian 2.0
NR
Subtitles us  
23.976 fps
1 hr 42 min
Seeds ...
1.71 GB
1920*800
Italian 2.0
NR
Subtitles us  
23.976 fps
1 hr 42 min
Seeds 3

Movie Reviews

Reviewed by Rose_Noire 6 / 10

«Dreams are fine till you wake up: awakening is always terrible.»

This psychological thriller follows the troubles of Madeleine (Camille Keaton, Cosi avete fatto a Solange), a young woman married to the much older Franz (Silvano Tranquilli, La Gatta in calore), a ship broker fond of parapsychology. Madeleine lives through a schizophrenic mood, "an evil thing that appears and disappears", where mixed with reality she has nightmares and visions of harassment by black-caped women with colorful whigs, a doll's funeral and a dreadful car accident during a race.In their luxurious summer villa in Rome, cared by a whole staff of servants (the butler Giovanni, Nando Sarlo, Carnalita; the gardener Antonio, Gualtiero Rispoli, Amori morbosi di una contessina; the maid, Maria Teresa Piaggio, L'Ossessa), Madeleine multiplies her love affairs under the comprehensive look of her complacent husband: with Thomas (Pier Maria Rossi, Quelli che contano), a young Swiss student in philosophy, with his girlfriend Mary (Paola Senatore, Il Fiore dai petali d'acciaio), and even with her husband's son Louis (Riccardo Salvino, Il Tuo Vizio è una stanza chiusa e solo io ne ho la chiave).Where is the truth among the chaotic thoughts of her mind? Is her past "a fantasy or a reality"? Could she find the way to free herself and find a more peaceful life with her real self? Does her husband involved in strange experiments really want to help her? Could she be harmful to her entourage or to herself? Through this initiatory and erotic journey, the film will help us to find the key to the truth embedded in Madeleine's mind. (Viewed in English 1h42 version.)
Reviewed by BandSAboutMovies 10 / 10

What a magic find!

I have no idea what category to place Madelaine: Anatomy of a Nightmare of a nightmare into and that's great. It resists buckets, it avoids categories, it detests convention.Madeleine (Camille Keaton) is a young American woman who is vacationing for the summer at one of the many homes of her much older, much richer an much Frencher husband Dr. Franz Shuman (Silvano Tranquilli, So Sweet, So Dead). Every night, she dreams the same dream, one of women with multiple colored hair chasing her through the woods and demanding to live through her, which may be a manifestation of the miscarriage she's just suffered. Then, they lead her to the wrecked car with her husband's charred body inside and then the coven throws the a child's coffin into the inferno.Franz permits his wife to do whatever she wishes, including bringing home a college student named Thomas (Pier Maria Rossi) home to seduce (while he watches, his eye inside the eye of a portrait of his son Luis, who is played by Riccardo Salvino). She mentions that Franz studies both psychology and the occult; Franz mentions that she's probably schitzophrenic, to which she adds that she feels as if someone else controls her.Thomas confesses that he has a girlfriend and can no longer see Madeleine. She coldly invites im to a gathering at their home to celebrate Luis returning from America. Thomas's girlfriend Mary (Paola Senatore, Eaten Alive!, Emanuelle in America) who proceeds to gets drunk, strip in front of the assembled guests and writhe like a possessed animal. Both Mary and Franz take turns seducing her, followed by Thomas discovering Franz just as he's finished. In response, he walks into the swimming pool and drowns.In response, Madeleine leaves Franz and meets with her other lover Antonio (Gualtiero Rispoli) and their canoodling is interrupted by her husband, who makes her confess her many affairs, causing Antonio to abandon her and Franz to shoot her.If a giallo/possession/art/ghost/demonic movie can have a Wizard of Oz twist, why not? Luis, Thomas and Franz are all watching over Madeleine in a hospital. Luis is truly her husband, Mary was her nurse and Franz and Thomas are the psychiatrists who have been trying to help her.Se's left with crystal clear therapy, their Night Killer-level weird therapy session seemingly fixing her mental illness. As she leaves with Luis, she literally breaks the credits by loudly proclaiming that Franz is her husband.Directed and written by Roberto Mauri and featuring gorgeous cinematography by Carlo Carlini (Enter the Devil, Street Law, Autopsy), it's easy to see why this was Keaton's favorite of the six films that she made in Italy. I may have a weakness for movies where women go mad, but this is a wonderful example of that story, told well, looking gorgeous and filled with moments of unexplained strangeness, such as when the butler sees something at the edge of the estate, recoils in horror and wanders back to the house.
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