The Passion of Evelyn

Hold on, this movie actually has its charms. It’s slow, the actors are a bit theatrical and it can be reproached for its naïveté, but this kind of endearing naïveté makes the given type of film a pleasing guilty pleasure. Primarily, however, the subject itself is engaging (if you have at least a bit of curious pervert in you) and its characters are sufficiently diverse for satisfying intrigues to play out between them. This movie has everything – self-confidently liberal lesbianism, a charming count who sincerely loves and courts his sweetheart like in the golden age of Hollywood, a wanton horny MILF whose pleasure from a fling with an unknown fisherman is a joy to see, and the mysterious domestic staff of a castle on an island where everyone gets individual experiences – romantic, sexual and lethal. Desire and pleasure must be punished, after all! It’s not bloody, oversaturated with eroticism or even suspenseful, but it’s still good to watch. Rizzo tells the story in a subtle or even noble way, and – like his characters – he enjoys it. As early as in the opening scene of their meeting in the theatre, his creative qualities of traditional, “classicist” filmmaking parameters are obvious in the camerawork and editing. The casual viewer may not even watch it to the end, but for me this is an interesting case study of distinctive trash film culture. (07/29/2020)