Dario Argento
Non ho sonno

After the unfortunate flops of "La sindrome di Stendhal" and, especially "Il fantasma dell'opera", in 2001 Dario Argento returned to film a classic-style thriller reminiscent of his best works from the early '70s, setting it in Turin and surrounding himself with a host of old Bergmanian glories (Max Von Sidow), lead actors from our local theater (Gabriele Lavia and Rossella Falk), and young rising stars (Dionisi, Caselli, Zibetti).

More so than in other films by the Roman director, which have vague literary origins, the inspiration for the subject of the feature film (to which the famous mystery writer Carlo Lucarelli also contributed) is drawn directly from a novel by Ellery Queen ("The Tragedy of Y"), of which it constitutes a sort of ideal sequel: it essentially explains what would have happened if, in that novel, the murderer had not met a grim fate, and if an innocent had been charged with his crimes, thus giving him the opportunity to return to his killing spree calmly.

This is, in fact, the mystery around which the film revolves: in 1983, a dwarf writer commits suicide after being accused of the murders by a mysterious serial killer active in a certain area of the Turin territory; seventeen years later, a killer strikes again with techniques similar to those of the past, leading a now-retired policeman, who was already involved in the original investigations, to reopen the case, assisted by the police and a relative of one of the early victims. The truth, as always, lies in a detail ("sonorous") missed by most, and in the double meaning of a nursery rhyme.

The reader will have already understood from these brief notes how "Non ho sonno" mirrors, in setting, actors, narrative developments, overlooked details, abandoned houses in the Gran Madre area, childhood traumas, the past returning, double endings, false leads, murders in domestic settings the traces of "Profondo Rosso", the undisputed masterpiece of the Roman master, already subject to a partial remake in "Trauma".

From here come all the film's limitations, similar to those in "Trauma": a clichéd story for genre enthusiasts, little surprise factor, a more solid mystery plot than usual but, nonetheless, quite bland. Added to this are the inherent flaws in Argento's cinema, that is more attention to form and the packaging of the product than to actor direction, relying on the autonomous sense of role of some old lions like Von Sidow, Falck, and Lavia (the latter metaphorically reabsorbed into the "mirror" of Profondo Rosso, given his role here). Unconvincing, and professional, is the soundtrack by Goblin, called to reiterate the usual partnership with Argento.

Having said this, it seems that the film is terrible; however, the work seems saved, achieving sufficiency, thanks to some scenes of genuine tension, that bring the director back to the glories of the '70s (like the initial train chase, or the attack of a victim at her doorstep and the decapitation at the ballet), to a subject nonetheless appreciable for its Queenian origins, and to the taste of discovering the culprit and their motivations. Especially the correlations with the crimes of 1983 leave the reader stunned, who may not have already read Queen or an Agatha Christie book that practically plagiarizes Dannay and Lee: "It's a problem".

And by the 2000s it's been understood that for Argento, it's a problem, not only to break out of clichés but to bring them to completion with full and authorial control of his own products. A pity.