Anima persa (1977)

AKA Lost Soul AKA The Forbidden Room

Bizarre events keep occurring in an old mansion in Venezia, and it’s soon obvious that something mysterious is up in the attic.

Cast: Anicée Alvina, Catherine Deneuve

What is it about Venice and melancholy? Anima Persa is a slow-moving but masterfully-controlled drama in which Tino, a boyish amateur painter, arrives in the city to stay with his uncle and aunt while he gives art school a go, only to discover that their run-down mansion is host to a world of secrets, recriminations and resentment, not to mention Uncle Fabio’s insane brother. Fabio is an incredible creation: a learned, charming, patronising, domineering, old-fashioned sexist who’s probably cinema’s all-time most horrible creation without actually being a villain. Catherine Deneuve plays Fabio’s younger wife Elisa with an overwhelming sense of sadness, but while this is all very moving and watchable (and frequently laugh-out-loud funny too), with fantastic simmering sexual tension between Elisa & Tino, you may start to wonder where it’s all heading. Unusually for this type of film, the mystery element doesn’t rear its head until the final 20-odd minutes, as two conflicting accounts of a young girl’s death emerge. The ultimate revelation is a stunner, even moreso because all the clues were right there the whole time.