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Giulio (Elio Germano) gets more and more fascintated by his
across-the-street neighbour Sasha (Elisabetta Rocchetti), who often
parades in the nude in front of her open window - in Giulio's plain sight.
Eventually, Giulio, a film student, runs into her in Andrea's (Iván
Morales) videostore and overhears her talking to another customer,
Federica (Chara Conti), commenting on Alfred Hitchcock's Strangers
on a Train ... and the next day, Sasha's mother (Milvia
Marigliano), with whom she constantly quarelled, turns up dead, and it
turns out that Sasha is all of a sudden the sole heiress to a large
fortune - which would make her the perfect suspect, thing is, she has a
waterproof alibi !
Police investigations seem to lead to nowhere, and soon enough, it
looks as if this would become another unsolved murder, only Giulio doesn't
give up, and soon enough, he thinks he has it all worked out: just like in
Strangers on a Train,
Sasha and Federica have swapped murders, and all Giulio has to do now is
to try and find some definite proof for his theory ... but unfortunately,
Giulio is not the best of investigators, and before long, Sasha knows he's
on her trail - and doesn't even seem to care -, and when he tries to dig
up some dirt about Federica, he breaks a leg and is almost killed after
having witnessed her having sex with her boss. And as if that wasn't
enough, he becomes so tied up with his investigations he is even dumped by
his girlfriend Arianna (Cristina Brondo).
Ultimately though it turns out he really was on the right trail all
along when he is attacked by video store owner Andrea, who brutally tries
to kill him - and is only saved in the nick of time by his mother (Elena
Marina Bellini) and her boyfriend. When Andrea tries to get away, he runs
in front of a car and is killed, but his attack on Giulio gives the police
enough evidence to arrest Sasha for the murder of her mother.
Now everything has turned to the sunny side for Giulio, he has solved
his case - sort of at least -, his girlfriend comes back to him,
and he once again has enough time to focus on something other than some
stupid investigations ... when he and Arianna witness a hooded figure
entering Sasha's appartment ... and somehow, Arianna all of a sudden gets
bitten by the same bug as Giulio and wants to investigate, going into
Sasha's appartment after the hooded figure - who soon enough turns out to
be Federica.
Giulio manages to call the police just soon enough before anything can
happen to Arianna, and ultimately Federica almost commits suicide before
confessing to everything: Yes, it was really her who murdered Sasha's mum,
and in exchange she wanted her to murder her abusive boss - just like
Giulio suspected -, but after Sasha got imprisoned, Federica realized
Sasha still had her key which would have been the only clue leading to
her, and now she has come to get it back - which ultimately was her
downfall, thanks to Giulio ...
For all who have followed Dario Argento's career so far, this one must
come as a bit of a surprise: Despite being another murder mystery (or
giallo, if you may), the genre Argento has become popular with, this is
not his usual, often self referential horror-thriller mix full of exciting
and gruesome setpieces but a rather light-footed whodunnit that puts more
emphasis on its story and pays loving yet never overpowering hommage to
some of Alfred Hitchcock's best films, especially above mentioned Strangers
on a Train, Rear Window and Dial M for Murder ...
and somehow the movie works just fine.
Truth to be told: If all of Argento's films fould have looked like
this, I doubt if he would still be a cult favourite, but that said, Do
You Like Hitchcock ? is pleasently entertaining, suspenseful and
totally enjoyable nevertheless !
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