Carol Hammond (Florinda Bolkan) lives in a fancy apartment building with her husband Frank (Jean Sorel) and her stepdaughter, Joan (Ely Galleani). Carol’s father, Edmund Brighton (Leo Genn) owns a prestigious law firm, and Frank is a partner in the firm. Living in the apartment next door is Julia Durer (Anita Strindberg). Julia is a self-indulgent free spirit who has rowdy drug and sex parties.
Recently Carol has been having wild dreams where she is on a crowded train surrounded by naked people. She then finds herself in Julia’s bed, naked and having sex with Julia. Carol has been seeing a psychoanalyst, Dr. Kerr (Jorge Rigaud) about her dreams. Her most recent dream starts out like the others, however, in the latest dream she stabs Julia with a letter opener. After stabbing Julia, Carol looks up and sees two stoned hippies, Jenny (Penny Brown) and Hubert (Mike Kennedy) up on a mezzanine appearing to stare down at her.
Not long after that, Carol learns that Julia was found murdered, the exact same way as in her dream. The investigation into Julia’s death is assigned to Inspector Corvin (Stanley Baker). As the investigation goes forward, Carol is named the number one suspect. As the evidence mounts Carol Is arrested and sent to a sanitarium for observation. While she is there she is attacked by Hubert. Joan tries some investigating on her own and ends up murdered as well.
Eventually, Corvin discovers that Julia was blackmailing Frank, who was having an affair with his secretary, Deborah (Silvia Monti). He also finds out that Julia contacted Edmund to try to get money from him as well. Inspector Corvin is challenged with trying to determine if the killer is really Frank, Edmund, or if Carol really did kill Julia and is laying out an insanity defense.
“A Lizard in a Woman’s Skin” AKA “Una lucertola con la pelle di donna” was released in 1971 and was directed by Lucio Fulci. It is an Italian Spanish and French co-production thriller mystery and a giallo.
There is a scene in the movie where Carol is in the rest home and comes upon several dogs that have been vivisected while they are still alive, and their hearts are still beating. The scene is only there for shock value and has no point in the plot. Still, the scene ended up controversial because of how realistic the dogs looked. Director Fulci ended up in a lot of trouble when people assumed that animal cruelty was involved. The special effects artist who created the prop dogs, Carlo Rambaldi, had to testify in court that the dogs were not real and had to bring them to court to prove it. It is noted as the first time and effects artist had to testify, in court, to their work being fake.
There are a lot of surrealistic images in the film, especially when Carol is dreaming. Mixed with a lot of gore, the movie has an artistic vibe to it. The plot is slightly confusing, but it is interesting. It goes from one unbelievable scene to another and many of them filled with orgies, drugs, nudity and a dollop of homosexuality. Each scene feels as if it is by itself, almost like a string of vignettes separate from each other but still connected. Unfortunately for some, there are various versions out there, depending on the censors in each country. Sliced up versions lack most of what makes the movie good. To appreciate the film, make sure you get a good version of it. A trimmed down version isn’t going to be near as good.