You know you’re in the swinging sixties circa 1969 when the powers that be override the director and change the title of the film in its native Italy from Paranoia to Orgasmo. Keeping the original title for the American release, this Umberto Lenzi directed and Carroll Baker starring giallo becomes all the more confounding when considering that the film maker’s next feature also stars the same leading lady. . . and it is decided that it will be called Paranoia – leading to much confusion to this very day.
The first of four movies the pair would make together in just a short four year period (all of which are reviewed on Filmizon.com), Orgasmo (aka Paranoia) follows seven week widowed alcoholic American socialite Kathryn West (Baker) as she flees the media attention in her native country, settling in picturesque Italy – where her lawyer (who also manages all of her assets), Brian Sanders (Tino Carraro), has found her a relaxing villa to stay in.
Coming with a live-in judgmental caretaker, Teresa (Lilla Brignone), and simple near deaf gardener, Martino (Franco Carraro), it might just also come with someone much more dangerous. . . as there is a suspicious looking fellow with a club foot stalking the grounds from time to time.
It does not take long for the rich American to get bored with her rural surroundings. . . imprudently inviting in a much younger hippie, Peter (Lou Castel), who comes knocking after being stranded in the countryside with a broken car. Making himself more than comfortable (and I can say – you can say that again), in turn, he sends word to his sister Eva (Colette Descombes), who he basically summons to join in on the free mooching vacation.
With their free loving ways (and perhaps something more sinister), it does not take long for them to make Kathryn more than just an alcoholic, but also addicted to a slew of other mind altering substances. . . and, as the title suggests, some misguided sexuality might also be thrown in there too.
Soon, the pair have overstayed their welcome (just one example – they keep replaying the pop/rock song “Just Tell Me” by Wess and the Airedales so much that it could cause a breakdown), but now with an inside knowledge of her unladylike habits, won’t go. . . and poor Kathryn doesn’t have the strength or willpower in her stupor to absorb the blow to her very public character and kick them out. Could there be more to this sordid tale other than a clash between generations and culture – in which Lenzi has very little positive to say about either? Do any of the other players, including that club footed individual, have a part in this story? Might Kathryn, who has always seemed a bit of a wreck, simply be going mad?
Living in a kaleidoscopic haze, Lenzi is at his best making us feel like we are in just as much of a fog as Kathryn. Utilizing everything in his stylistic handbook to tell the story of this meandering narrative of Kathryn’s precarious psyche, we get: Dutch angles that put us off kilter, unfocused lenses that make us feel inebriated (I am quite sure Vaseline over the lens is also used for a different distorting effect), frequently steaming water from the shower that impairs our vision, and other camera movements added for a jarringly successful, if eccentric product.
A swinging sixties movie that checks off all the boxes of sex and drugs and rock `n roll, Orgasmo was one of the first motion pictures to receive the harsh X rating under the new ratings system that was implemented in the United States in 1968. . . though it was still a big success in America. Not without its flaws, its curio subject, Baker’s performance, Lenzi’s style, and a classic gialli twist makes for a fun, if wild Italian vacation. So, strengthen your will to watch this psychological thriller, you might just fall for it.
This film can be watched in Italian with English subtitles, or in dubbed English