THE SUNDAY WOMAN (1975)
Label: Radiance Films
Region Code: A,B
Rating: Cert. 15
Duration: 109 Minutes
Audio: Italian PCM 2.0 Dual-Mono with Optional English Subtitles
Video: 1080p HD Fullscreen (1.33:1), 1080p HD Widescreen (1.85:1)
Director: Luigi Comencini
Cast: Jacqueline Bisset, Marcello Mastroianni, Jean-Louis Trintignant
When a pervy architect named Garrone (Claudio Gora, Seven Blood-Stained Orchids) is found bludgeoned to death with a large stone phallus (A Clockwork Orange anyone?) Turin police Commissioner Santamaria (Marcello Mastroianni, Fellini's 8 ½) and his partner De Palma (Pino Caruso) are on the case. The suspect list is made-up of upper-crust high society, with the key suspects being bored wife of an industrialist Anna Carla Dosio (Jacqueline Bisset, Cul-de-sac) and her secretly gay best friend Massimo Campi (Jean-Louis Trintignant, Death Laid An Egg), both of whom comically pop-up on the cop's radar after Dosio's disgruntled housekeepers give the police a discarded letter written in jest that implicates them in the violent crime.
Other suspects emerge and as the film plays out what at first sounds like it would be a giallo-esque murder mystery is actually more of a comedy of manners that satirizes Turin's high society; having fun with the sexual tensions and petty inclinations of the wealthy characters, all of whom are preoccupied by how they are perceived. The film is flush with interesting characters including an old woman looking to make a buck on a real estate transaction and Massimo's gay lover Lello (Aldo Reggiani, Cat O' Nine Tails) who takes it upon himself to sleuth the murder mystery to clear his lover's name, with tragic results.
The film is bizarrely sunny and light for a whodunit, playfully and subversively executed and inhabited by characters who are almost uniformly bad people in various ways, but they're quite charming, which makes for an entertaining comedy-thriller watch. There's not a high body count here, while there are two bloody deaths by bludgeoning we only briefly see the after effects and not the attacks as they happen, the film preferring to focus on eccentricities of high society and not the violent acts, and it's all the better for it. The film is beautifully shot by cinematographer Luciano Tovoli (Suspiria), handsomely directed, and features a gem of a score from the late composer Ennio Morricone (Cinema Paradiso), which all adds up to a delightfully quirky and engrossing murder mystery, highly recommended.
Audio/Video: The Sunday Woman arrives on Blu-ray from Radiance Films sourced from from the original negative, presented in both 1.33:1 and alternate 1.85:1 widescreen presentations. Both look great, I personally mostt enjoyed the matted widescreen framing, which didn't feel cramped by having been cropped at both the top and bottom. Organic textures are pleasing throughout as are the colors which are well-saturated, it's a very handsome looking presentation, I have zero complaints. Audio comes by way of Italian PCM 2.0 Dual-Mono with optional English subtitles, the audio is crisp, clean and well-rounded, and the score from the late-legendary Ennio Morricone sounds terrific.
Extras for the Sunday Woman kick-off with an 18-min Interview with academic and Italian cinema expert Richard Dyer, who looks back at The Sunday Woman, a 22-min Archival Interview with Cinematographer Luciano Tovoli from 2008, a new 36-min Interview with academic and screenwriter Giacomo Scarpelli who discusses the life and work of his father, Furio Scarpelli and his writing partner Agenore Incrocci, plus a 4-min Archival French TV Interview with Jean-Louis Trintignant, and a stone-phallus packed Trailer for the film.
The single-disc release arrives in a clear, full-height Scanavo keepcase with a Reversible Sleeve of Artwork featuring three featuring designs based on original posters, all options featuring a numbered spine, this being #4, plus it has Radiance's removable OBI strip, aka a spine card. The OBI strip is an additional removable strip of paper wrapped around the spine of the release containing a rating, synopsis, technical info and advert for other Radiance releases on the flipside of it. When the strip is removed it leaves the wrap free of the ratings logo and text. Inside there's a 23-Page Limited Edition Booklet with information about the cast and crew, images from the film, notes and credits for the transfer, new writing on the film from Mariangela Sansone and an archival review from film critic Gerard Legrande from 1976.
Special Features:
- 2K restoration of the film from the original negative, presented in the original 1.33:1 and an alternate 1.85:1 widescreen presentation
- Original uncompressed mono PCM audio
- Newly filmed interview with academic and Italian cinema expert Richard Dyer, who looks at The Sunday Woman (2022, 18 mins)
- Archival interview with cinematographer Luciano Tovoli who discusses his work on the film (2008, 22 mins)
- Newly filmed interview with academic and screenwriter Giacomo Scarpelli, who discusses the life and work of his father, Furio Scarpelli and his writing partner Agenore Incrocci (2022, 36 mins)
- Archival French TV interview with Jean-Louis Trintignant in which the actor discusses The Sunday Woman (1976, 4 mins)
- Trailer (4 min)
- Reversible Sleeve of Artwork featuring designs based on original posters
The Sunday Woman (1975) is an unusually light and offbeat murder mystery that offers a subversively humorous take on the classic whodunit. Radiance Films did excellent work with the transfer and the extras are insightful, an easy recommend for fans of quirky murder mysteries and breezy gialli, so get at it.
