The Stendhal Syndrome

The Stendhal Syndrome
Italian theatrical release poster
Directed by	Dario Argento
Produced by	Dario Argento Giuseppe Colombo Walter Massi
Screenplay by	Dario Argento
Story by	Dario Argento Franco Ferrini
Based on	the novel "La Sindrome di Stendhal" by Graziella Magherini
Starring	Asia Argento Thomas Kretschmann Marco Leonardi
Music by	Ennio Morricone
Cinematography	Giuseppe Rotunno
Edited by	Angelo Nicolini
Production company	Cine 2000 Medusa Produzione
Release date	26 January 1996
Running time	120 min.
Country	Italy
Language	Italian
Budget	$3,800,000 (estimated)
Box office	₤5,443,000,000 (Italy)

The Stendhal Syndrome (Ital. La Sindrome di Stendhal) is a 1996 Italian horror film written and directed by Dario Argento and starring his daughter Asia Argento. It was the first Italian film to use computer-generated imagery (CGI).

Stendhal syndrome is a real syndrome, first diagnosed in Florence, Italy in 1982. Argento said he experienced Stendhal syndrome as a child. While touring Athens with his parents young Dario was climbing the steps of the Parthenon when he was overcome by a trance that caused him to become lost from his parents for hours. The experience was so strong that Argento never forgot it; he immediately thought of it when he came across Graziella Magherini's book about the syndrome, which would become the basis of the film.

It was a large box office hit when released in Italy, grossing ₤5,443,000,000 Italian lira (US $3,809,977), making it Argento's highest grossing film in his native country.

Detective Anna Manni (Argento) travels to Florence on the trail of a serial killer, Alfredo Grossi (Thomas Kretschmann). While visiting a museum, Anna is overcome by Stendhal syndrome, a condition which causes the sufferer to become overwhelmed when viewing great works of art. When Alfredo learns of Anna's disorder, he uses it to disable her before he kidnaps her and subjects her to a brutal and sadistic sexual attack. Although she manages to escape, Anna is left deeply traumatized. Alfredo continues to track her movements and is able to capture her again. This time, however, Anna turns the tables on her abductor, breaking free of his grasp, badly wounding him in the process, and knocking him into a river.

While the police, believing Alfredo to be dead, search the river for his body, Anna meets and soon falls in love with Marie, a young French art student. Anna also takes sessions with a psychologist in an effort to come to terms with her own deep-seated emotional trauma. That trauma is intensified when Anna begins to receive phone calls from the supposedly-dead Alfredo. When Marie is found murdered, Anna's psychologist, concerned about her mental state, visits her at home. While he is there, a colleague of Anna's, Marco, calls to notify her that Alfredo's body has in fact been found. This leads to the psychologist realizing the truth, and he confronts Anna with the reality that she herself is Marie's murderer. Marco arrives at Anna's apartment, only to find that she has killed her psychologist as well. As he attempts to take Anna's gun from her, she confesses that Alfredo is now inside her, ordering her to do terrible things, whereupon she murders Marco. The police arrive on the scene and ultimately arrest her after she wanders the streets.