The Forbidden Photos of a Lady Above Suspicion

Fetishistic and dark, this early giallo thriller from Italian filmmaker Luciano Ercoli prefigures such sexually-themed gialli as La Ragazza dal Pigiama Giallo and Tenebre in its explicit connection between female sexuality and violence. Dagmar Lassander stars as Minou, who is threatened at the beach by a mysterious figure (Simon Andreu) who caresses her body with a knife and intimates that her businessman husband Pierre (Pier Paolo Capponi) is a murderer. Slowly, she begins to believe him, because Pierre was in debt to a murdered businessman, Jean Dubois. The stranger soon shows up with a tape recording which seems to verify his claim, and forces Minou to perform degrading sexual acts in order to protect her husband. When she later balks, he produces the titular photos to blackmail her into even more depravity. Like many giallo heroines, Minou can get no sympathy from anyone, particularly her kinky bisexual friend Dominique -- played by Ercoli's real-life wife Nieves Navarro (aka "Susan Scott") -- who actually claims to enjoy being forced into sex. The situation begins to take its toll, and Minou slips into a haze of tranquilizers and shame, finally confessing to Peter and leading the stranger to attempt silencing her permanently. Backed by a vibrant Ennio Morricone score and slick photography by Alejandro Ulloa, the film co-stars Osvaldo Genazzani and Salvadore Huguet. Available versions run between 91 and 96 minutes.