A Perversion Story

If you only know Italian niche director Lucio Fulci for his eye-gouging fromaggio zombie flicks of the late 70s and early 80s, then you don't really know Fulci. Perhaps his most accomplished film is A Perversion Story (aka Una Sull'altra, which translates to One on Top of the Other), released in 1969 and while quite racy for its time, is still very Hichcockian with only a twist of giallo.

The luscious yet lascivious San Francisco setting is exploited to the nth degree as stars — fabulous femme fatale Marisa Mell, foxy fashion model Elsa Martinelli, Howard Hughes' pretty protégé Faith Domergue, Oscar-nominee John Ireland playing a police detective, and Brad Pitt's doppelganger Jean Sorel as the suspect — cross, double-cross, and seduce one another.

When a doctor's wife dies under mysterious circumstances, and another woman who looks just like her appears in a burlesque show (authentic locations were used here, showing off San Fran's famous strip clubs, pasties and all), suspicion is aroused and when the medical man is put under the lawman's microscope, he and his mistress take matters into their own hands to solve the crime and prove his innocence. The trail leads them into the seedier side of the City by the Bay, but Fulci makes the gutters gorgeous thanks to talented cinematographer Alejandro Ulloa (he also shot 1973's Autopsy) and a timeless, jazzy score by Oscar-nominee Riz Ortolani.

As with most gialli, A Perversion Story can be hard to follow at times, but this actually predates the genre's heyday and is therefore more linear than most. That covers the "story" part; as for the "perversion", it's fairly tame by today's standards yet still titillating enough. The gratuitous nudity in general gave the film notoriety back in the day, but there's also some oddball moments with a photographer and his stark-white milk model, females frolicking with furs, and a little lady-on-lady temptation.

The acting is really the draw here. Jean Sorrel isn't well known outside the cinefile world or in America, but he's not only very good-looking: he can act. My favorite role of his is probably still from a few years later in Short Night of the Glass Dolls (a fantastic puzzler directed by Aldo Lado, and costarring Barbara Bach), but he's great here as the cocky doc who winds up crumbled in despair as his once-perfect world is destroyed. The woman are lovely as well as talented, and John Ireland is spot-on as a dogged detective.

For those who can't get enough of the swinging 60s and those who thrill to a good, sexy mystery, A Perversion Story is recommended.

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