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Dr. Fugazzi (October Kingsley), though still in her twenties, is one of
the best psychotherapists in town, treating all kinds of weirdos from
pedophile Carducci (Gary-7) and paranoid clairvoyant Madame Tulare
(Christie Lynn-Smith) to kleptomaniac Leonard (Jereme Leason) and her own
mentor and colleague professor Elam (Steve Larkin). However, while most of
the time she seems to be completely composed, she is suffering from random
nervous breakdowns which bring horrific images to her mind about which she
has no idea where they come from ... yet they seem weirdly familiar. Plus, in
her private life, Dr. Fugazzi has violent fits, enjoys torturing her
boyfriend Maynard (Jeff Van Atta) and participates in orgies. More and
more though, Dr. Fugazzi is losing grip to reality, like when she
repeatedly dreams about waking up in a white room that feels just as real
as her real life, when one of her patients shows up in her bathroom,
utters weird warnings, then disappears into thin air, and when another
patient claims he's actually treating her, not the other way around. When she finally learns that
Professor Elam has killed his wife and is questioned by detective Rowland
(Faye Dunaway) about it, Dr. Fugazzi is finally totally sucked into
another world, where she is Anna, a girl who has spent the last 10 years
in an asylum for killing her parents, with detective Rowland being the
doctor treating her, and her boyfriend Maynard being an abusive orderly.
Rowland claims her life as Doctor Fugazzi was only an illusion which was
induced as a means to overcome her amnesia that blocked out the murder of her
parents. Little by little, Anna comes to accept who she is now ... but not
without planning an escape ... True, the story of the woman
living in a dream world who has to come to grips with reality is not nearly half
as original as writer October Kingsley wants it to be, but as a director,
she infuses the story with enough twisted ideas to give the somewhat
tried-and-true plot an original spin and she proves to be capable enough to
give the film a David Lynch-like feel without ever becoming a copycat. As
an actress, October Kingsley seems to be miscast the first few minutes,
but she quickly makes the role her own and gives an impressive
performance, and also watch out for the ironic yet self-assured performance
by veteran Faye Dunaway. That all said, the film is not perfect though, in part
due to October Kingsley's refusal to do nudity in several scenes that
would have demanded it, making certain sex scenes look kind of ridiculous (as a director, Kingsley doesn't shy away from
showing other women in the nude though), in larger part due to a below-average
supporting cast. Plus, as mentioned above, the story could have been a tad more
original. But while The Seduction of Dr. Fugazzi is not the
masterpiece it could have been, it's a diamond in the rough, and
October Kingsley is definitely someone to watch out for, both as a
filmmaker and as an actress!
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