Awesome hyper-stylized Euro-trash thriller and a rare film for its time to dive headfirst into the world of S&M and roll around in the flesh and chains. A woman stumbles into the clutches of a wealthy sexual sadist and winds up in bondage and servitude, but not all is what it seems. I won’t reveal the twists—consider me bound and gagged when it comes that—but they’re pretty great. Tell this story in purple prose and it can make the bestseller list. Here, the story unfolds in fine 1969 psychedelic fashion with wild dream sequences, garish sets full of unsubtle innuendo and a sexed-up music score by maestro Stelvio Cipriani, whose very name sounds like soft fingers stroking your skin. No, it doesn’t all make sense, but if that matters to you, you’re too stiff in the collar for this movie. Go find a nice film that doesn’t have a scene where a skeleton walks out of a doorway made to look like a vagina with teeth. Go find a movie that when the girls dance they don’t do it dressed only in a few sheer white scarves.
Also known as The Laughing Woman or by its original Italian title Femina ridens. Take your pick.