Your Vice Is a Locked Room and Only I Have the Key
Encyclopedia
Your Vice Is a Locked Room and Only I Have the Key is a 1972
giallo
film directed by Sergio Martino
. The picture stars Edwige Fenech
, Luigi Pistilli
, and Anita Strindberg
. The film uses many elements from Edgar Allan Poe
's short story The Black Cat
, and acknowledges this influence in the film's opening credits.
Your Vice Is a Locked Room and Only I Have the Key was Martino's fourth giallo film. The title of the film is a reference to his first one, Lo strano vizio della Signora Wardh (The Strange Vice of Mrs. Wardh, 1971), in which the killer leaves the phrase as a note to his victim. The victim in the film was played by Fenech.
With no-one knowing the identity of the murderer, Oliviero's paranoia builds and leads to more abuse of Irina. Then Oliviero's niece Floriana (Fenech) suddenly arrives for a visit. Irina finds comfort in Floriana's arms and bed, and the two decide to find a way to deal with Oliviero.
After Irina kills Oliviero with scissors, Floriana reveals that she has been after the jewelry that Oliviero had stashed in the mansion. Irina humbly gives her the jewelry and the two part ways. However, Irina also had a plan of her own and she turns to Walter (Ivan Rassimov
), the original murderer. Walter kills Floriana and her boyfriend making it look like an accident. Later, Irina pushes Walter off a cliff to have the jewelry all for herself. When Irina returns to the mansion, she finds the police there. An old woman had filed a complaint for animal cruelty, as she had seen Irina stabbing Satan. Inside the mansion, the police officers notice that the cat seems to be mewing in agony inside a wall. As they tear down the wall, they discover the cat and the dead body of Oliviero inside.
1972 in film
The year 1972 in film involved some significant events.-Top grossing films :- Awards :Academy Awards:*Avanti!, directed by Billy Wilder, starring Jack Lemmon and Juliet MillsB...
giallo
Giallo
Giallo is an Italian 20th century genre of literature and film, which in Italian indicates crime fiction and mystery. In the English language it refers to a genre similar to the French fantastique genre and includes elements of horror fiction and eroticism...
film directed by Sergio Martino
Sergio Martino
Sergio Martino is an Italian film director and producer, notable for his contributions to the giallo genre.Martino is the brother of producer Luciano Martino. They collaborated frequently in their respective professions...
. The picture stars Edwige Fenech
Edwige Fenech
Edwige Fenech is a French-born Italian actress and film producer.- Biography :Fenech was born in Bône , in French Algeria to a Maltese father and Sicilian mother. From the late 1960s to early 1980s, Fenech starred in many types of European movies...
, Luigi Pistilli
Luigi Pistilli
Luigi Pistilli was an Italian actor of stage, screen, and television. In theater, he was considered one of the country's best interpreters of Bertolt Brecht's plays in The Threepenny Opera and St Joan of the Stockyards....
, and Anita Strindberg
Anita Strindberg
Anita Strindberg is a former Swedish actress who became one of the most well-known stars of the Italian giallo films in the 1970s.Strindberg started her career in "gialli" with Lucio Fulci's Una lucertola con la pelle di donna in 1971 and starred in her first lead role that same year, in Sergio...
. The film uses many elements from Edgar Allan Poe
Edgar Allan Poe
Edgar Allan Poe was an American author, poet, editor and literary critic, considered part of the American Romantic Movement. Best known for his tales of mystery and the macabre, Poe was one of the earliest American practitioners of the short story and is considered the inventor of the detective...
's short story The Black Cat
The Black Cat (short story)
"The Black Cat" is a short story by Edgar Allan Poe. It was first published in the August 19, 1843, edition of The Saturday Evening Post. It is a study of the psychology of guilt, often paired in analysis with Poe's "The Tell-Tale Heart"...
, and acknowledges this influence in the film's opening credits.
Your Vice Is a Locked Room and Only I Have the Key was Martino's fourth giallo film. The title of the film is a reference to his first one, Lo strano vizio della Signora Wardh (The Strange Vice of Mrs. Wardh, 1971), in which the killer leaves the phrase as a note to his victim. The victim in the film was played by Fenech.
Plot
Oliviero Rouvigny (Pistilli), a failed writer and an alcoholic, lives in a crumbling mansion with his wife Irina (Strindberg), who is scared of Oliviero's cat, Satan, that used to belong to his late mother. To fight boredom, Oliviero organizes decadent parties for local hippies and humiliates and abuses Irina in front of the guests. After his mistress, a young student, is found murdered, Oliviero becomes the primary suspect. When he finds their maid dead on the premises, he decides to conceal it to avoid further suspicions.With no-one knowing the identity of the murderer, Oliviero's paranoia builds and leads to more abuse of Irina. Then Oliviero's niece Floriana (Fenech) suddenly arrives for a visit. Irina finds comfort in Floriana's arms and bed, and the two decide to find a way to deal with Oliviero.
After Irina kills Oliviero with scissors, Floriana reveals that she has been after the jewelry that Oliviero had stashed in the mansion. Irina humbly gives her the jewelry and the two part ways. However, Irina also had a plan of her own and she turns to Walter (Ivan Rassimov
Ivan Rassimov
Ivan Rassimov was an Italian film actor of Serbian origin who appeared in many horror and exploitation films....
), the original murderer. Walter kills Floriana and her boyfriend making it look like an accident. Later, Irina pushes Walter off a cliff to have the jewelry all for herself. When Irina returns to the mansion, she finds the police there. An old woman had filed a complaint for animal cruelty, as she had seen Irina stabbing Satan. Inside the mansion, the police officers notice that the cat seems to be mewing in agony inside a wall. As they tear down the wall, they discover the cat and the dead body of Oliviero inside.