Convincing an audience that a cuddly, furry ginger cat is any kind of arbiter of doom was never going to be easy, but 'Seven Deaths' makes a good, er, stab at it.
Jane Birkin plays Corringa, who we first see returning to her family home: a splendid, Gothic castle in the highlands of Scotland. Here, she is reunited with her neurotic mother, salacious uncle, and petulant cousin. And a wandering orangutan.
Serge Gainsberg, 41, and Birkin, 23 collaborated in 1969 on the controversial hit single 'Je t'aime... moi non plus' (originally written for and sung with Brigitte Bardot). Here, Serge briefly plays the Police Inspector; it is strange to see him dubbed with a think Scottish accent. For an Italian film set in a small Scottish village, however, results could have been far less convincing. This leads me to continue my belief that as a genre, giallo films are consistently well made. Having said that, this is somewhat less satisfying than others I have seen.
The ape seems merely a reference to Edgar Allen Poe, as is the idea of a cat somehow orchestrating/influencing dark events. Both animal-related concepts pretty much disappear some way into the story anyway.
The ending is also reliant on the unmasked villain gloating and explaining the plot, and his part in it, which is something these kind of films don't often feel the need to resort to.
Jane Birkin plays Corringa, who we first see returning to her family home: a splendid, Gothic castle in the highlands of Scotland. Here, she is reunited with her neurotic mother, salacious uncle, and petulant cousin. And a wandering orangutan.
Serge Gainsberg, 41, and Birkin, 23 collaborated in 1969 on the controversial hit single 'Je t'aime... moi non plus' (originally written for and sung with Brigitte Bardot). Here, Serge briefly plays the Police Inspector; it is strange to see him dubbed with a think Scottish accent. For an Italian film set in a small Scottish village, however, results could have been far less convincing. This leads me to continue my belief that as a genre, giallo films are consistently well made. Having said that, this is somewhat less satisfying than others I have seen.
The ape seems merely a reference to Edgar Allen Poe, as is the idea of a cat somehow orchestrating/influencing dark events. Both animal-related concepts pretty much disappear some way into the story anyway.
The ending is also reliant on the unmasked villain gloating and explaining the plot, and his part in it, which is something these kind of films don't often feel the need to resort to.