“I

mitation is the sincerest form of flattery”, the brilliant Oscar Wilde once affirmed. An irrefutable game changer for big-screen scares, it’s no real surprise to spot the narrative crux and mesmeric visual witchery of 1968’s Rosemary’s Baby—Roman Polanski’s insidious reading of the satanic Ira Levin page-turner—looming large over The Perfume of the Lady in Black (Italian: Il profumo della signora in nero, 1974), a gorgeous, dreamlike Rubik’s Cube of a giallo constructed by co-writer/director Francesco Barilli. From painterly splotches of bold primary colour to an accent on offbeat framing, tight close-ups, and illusory mise en scène, comparisons between this spiritual twosome are plenteous—and, as illustrated in this modest video essay, a veritable banquet for the eyeballs.

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