Although featuring one of composer Gianfranco Plenizio’s most distinctive and original scores, Nello Rossati’s THE CAT IN HEAT (1972) has remained a relatively obscure effort for most English-speaking viewers, stuck in that unforgiving no-man’s land between genres. Neither an all-out giallo or erotic drama, this thoughtfully plotted chamber piece emerges as one of Rossati’s more intriguing and compelling films, which is also greatly aided by a pair of uniformly fine performances from Eva Czemerys and Silvano Tranquilli.
While driving through the desolate, fog-enshrouded motorways of Northern Italy, Paolo (Tranquilli) quietly reflects on his recent marriage to Anna (Czemerys), and through Plenizio’s evocative title theme and Aristide Massaccesi’s moody photography, Rossati effectively establishes a highly-potent and inescapably gloomy atmosphere, which neatly foreshadows the impending predicament. Shattering their already fragmenting marriage, Paolo arrives home and is shocked to discover his neighbour Massimo (Anthony Fontane) dead on his front lawn and his distraught wife in the kitchen staring down at a gun. After haphazardly concealing the body via some leaves, the film becomes something of a psychological mood piece, brooding on the protagonists’ tenuous relationship and what led to the film’s opening murder…
Based on an original story by Rossati, THE CAT IN HEAT incorporates many a giallo motif while simultaneously combining elements from Claude Chabrol’s LA FEMME INFIDÈLE (1969), and to a lesser degree, the melodramatics of Douglas Sirk’s ALL THAT HEAVEN ALLOWS (1956) peeling back the veneer of a seemingly ideal marriage. Through some clever framework, Anna relates what led to the murder via flashbacks (“He was my lover. And I murdered him.”), which eventually reveals the prestige and sense of security assured by her marriage to a wealthy businessman such as Paolo is no replacement for the love and attention she so obviously craved (“A woman needs some romance, and above all, be wanted.”). Through her hermitically sealed home of material privilege, Massimo’s almost otherworldly visage haunts Anna to such a degree that their mutually exclusive worlds eventually collide, leading to a spurious love affair and even an LSD-drenched orgy (“Now we can make it a foursome.”), a typical heightened fantasy nightmare of many ’Seventies gialli.
Although making token allusions to the fanciful title (“When you’re in heat, any man will do I’ll bet!” Remarks Massimo rather callously), this is a more ‘artistically’ inclined picture, which conveys meaning through visual cues such as the film’s rather sombre opening and Franco Bottari’s relatively sparse art direction, which further suggests the emptiness of Paolo’s and Anna’s marriage. Although visually very savvy and well-constructed (Lamberto Bava also served as the film’s assistant director), it’s the sincere performances, which allowed Rossati to transcend the rather ordinary material. As the morally conflicted and unsatisfied Anna, Czemerys is the star in every sense herein unveiling a torrent of anger and sadness throughout the film, which is even depicted in some the picture’s more exploitable scenes where she heeds her urges and disrobes to examine her naked body in front of a mirror. Veteran actor Tranquilli is also thoroughly convincing as the emotionally wounded but uptight businessman who manages to coax some sympathy out of his earnestly aggrieved husband, straddling the ethical twilight zone between protecting his wife and his reputation, which provides a vibrant social comment on bourgeois hypocrisy.
Never released on North American VHS or disc, Austria’s Cineploit Records & Discs really came to the rescue of this little-seen film with their impressive “worldwide 2K Blu-ray premiere” (Region B locked), which exemplifies plenty of depth and appropriate grain textures, which gives considerable prominence to Massaccesi’s beautifully refined and shadowy photography. The DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 mono tracks, which include English and Italian options (the latter with English subtitles) also sound clean and free of any issues, and it’s great to finally have the English dub readily available, which includes well-known voice talent such as Susan Spafford and Frank Von Kuegelgen. Optional German subtitles are also included.
Extras begin with an introduction by Mark Thompson Ashworth (5m43s) where he discusses this “perplexing and quite intriguing crossbreed” as well as film’s very “disparate” themes and temporal shifts, and of course, Plenizio’s wonderful score and Edda dell’Orso’s sublime voice. In the archival Calling the Nurse (23m04s), which originally appeared on No Shame’s DVD of THE SENSUOUS NURSE (1975), director Rossati and costume and production designer Toni Rossati are interviewed and mostly discuss their time working in the industry and how they came to be involved with the film, and even though they don’t discuss the film at hand, it’s a nice document of their working process. In the final featurette, Christian Kessler is interviewed (13m28s) where he also talks about the difficulty of classifying Rossati’s sophomore effort, which was usually regarded as an erotic film, sexuality in Italian cinema, the influence of Salvatore Samperi’s MALICIOUS (1973), and how the film “follows in the footsteps of Chabrol.” A brief poster, photo and video art gallery (1m14s) concludes the special features.
Housed in one of Cineploit’s customary Mediabooks with a choice of two different styles (as of this writing Cover A is now sold out), this rather striking release also comes with a 28-page liner notes booklet with writing by Uto Rotenberg (in German and English), which also includes several photos of worldwide promotional material on the film and a nice fold-out poster. Order the Blu-ray from Cineploit Records & Discs or DiabolikDVD.
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