Rent The Sister of Ursula (1978)

Spoilers follow ... - The Sister of Ursula review by NP

I quite enjoyed this rather heavy-handed giallo entry. The direction (courtesy of Enzo Milioni, who also wrote this) veers from beautifully capturing some incredible locations to ham-fistedly inserting close-ups clearly not taken from the scenes they then return to. The score, by Mimi Uva is a mixed bag too – some nice synthesiser sweeps and some less effective moments that occasionally end abruptly as we move to another scene.

In short, you could say ‘The Sister of Ursula’ doesn’t quite know what it wants to be. It is difficult to ignore the distractions of drug-addict Fillipo (Marc Porel, a drug user on both sides of the camera) and some hirsute sexploits, and concentrate on a meandering plot-line with too many characters.

Bad-tempered Ursula is played very well by Barbara Magnolfi. Magnolfi has expressed disappointment with the erotic nature of the finished film, believing it was to be more of a psychological drama. I can only agree really. Ursula’s sister is Dagmar (Stefania D'Amario), and the two siblings find plenty of reasons to squabble throughout.

And yet enjoy this I did, with reservations. It’s not in the top tier of giallo by any means, but the performances and especially the choice of locations are breath-taking. Equally, there is a certain dream-like atmosphere during many of the latter moments.