Search - The Embalmer on DVD

Interesting and stylish, filled with obsessive sexual needin

C. O. DeRiemer | San Antonio, Texas, USA | 04/24/2007

(4 out of 5 stars)

"For those who enjoy creepy psycho-sexual thrillers which feature determined dwarves who are taxidermists, sultry, sulky and equally determined Italian temptresses, and tall, handsome and dumb apprentice taxidermists, The Embalmer (L'Imbalsamatore) might be the movie for you. "It's a shrew," says Peppino Profeta (Ernesto Mahieux) to Valerio (Valerio Foglia Manzillo), showing a tiny little animal perfectly mounted on a bit of wood. "Very rare! Imagine, my cat caught this, and what a battle to yank it out of its mouth!" It's not long before Valerio, who is far too dense to appreciate a metaphor, will be the object of a nasty and deadly tug-of-war between Peppino and that determined cat Deborah (Elisabetha Rochetti).

Peppino is a very small (think of a thin and younger Danny De Vito), lonely man who has great charm and a sly, determined will to win what he wants and to keep it when he thinks he's won it. Valerio, a tall young man he meets at a zoo, is what he wants. Valerio is as good-natured and gullible as a puppy, and just as liable to roll over for the first person who wants to rub his stomach. Deborah is a woman who knows what she wants, is just as determined and manipulative as Peppino in getting it, and just as willing to rub the puppy's stomach. Peppino disguises his objective by arranging parties with easy women, but it's clear he prefers to watch Valerio rather than the females. Deborah is too experienced not to know what Peppino wants even if Valerio seems a bit dense about things. One would think Valerio would find himself in the best of all possible worlds. However, he's too naive to simply accept the blessings of circumstance and too easily influenced by the almost ruthless neediness and guilt both Peppino and Deborah use on him. As the story moves along, we learn that Peppino is in debt to the mafia and keeps in their good graces by opening corpses to insert packages of drugs for delivery. He knows that sideline can't be maintained forever. And Deborah, not only using her sexual skills on Valerio to keep him close-by, also announces to him that she's pregnant. This obsessive, bizarre contest over Valerio ends when he takes some decisive steps that involve gunshots and sinking cars.

Is this movie a minor masterpiece that dwells on neediness and sexual manipulation? Well, no. But it certainly is a stylish and intriguing film, even with an ending that dissolves into loony violence and a certain nihilistic artiness. The story is interesting, the direction has style and the director keeps things moving. The film features an underlying and growing uneasiness, especially as Peppino's obsessions grow and Deborah's clutching anger becomes clear. The best thing about the movie, however, is Ernesto Mahieux. The actor is probably no taller than 5 feet. Acting against the more-than-six-feet-tall Valerio Foglia Manzillo, Mahieux must project charm and sincerity. But then Mahieux must also show us Peppino's subtle and then not-so subtle intentions and his growing insecurity, neediness and desperation. It's quite a performance, and every bit believable.

The DVD has a fine picture and audio transfer. There are two or three inconsequential extras."