Maybe there are minutiae of Italian culture and history in the 1960s that I'm not privy to that would help to elucidate certain aspects of the picture, but even if that's true it would only go so far in smoothing over the rough spots I recognize in short order. The kidnapping scheme we're greeted with in the opening scene seems specious, and it's accompanied by animal cruelty that in this case strikes me as something that would be hard to fake. The scene writing seems fundamentally disordered and sometimes purely flailing, a sense worsened by sequencing, direction, and cinematography that's often dubious, unimpressive, or downright unconvincing. As a prime example, consider how quasi-protagonist Christina switches on a dime in early scenes between hard-nosed frustration and determination, and care-free frivolity; even if we assume she's just putting on a brave face, the disparity is curious. The plot development frankly feels altogether scattered, to the point that the narrative itself comes across as weak and thin even as a complete tale is told. So it is, too, with the characters and dialogue - there is substance here, yet it doesn't feel like it. Gavino in particular is written with no rhyme or reason I can discern, and there's one or two characters who as far as I can tell are never particularly identified with a place in the story.
Though I'm not entirely sure why, I had high expectations before I sat to watch 'Sequestro di persona.' Those expectations have not been met. There are times when I think the acting is admirable, not least from Charlotte Rampling and perhaps Franco Nero. Too often, however, particularly where supporting parts are concerned, performances seem plainly overdone; I trust this, too, is attributable to the guiding hand of director Gianfranco Mingozzi. There's no consistency in the performances, and even if there were, the material the cast have to work with is so flimsy in both writing and realization that their skills amount to nothing here. As if to illustrate the point, at the one-hour mark we're treated to the infusion of a romantic element, as terribly contrived as one could ever be in that medium where A Man and A Woman sharing the screen must always result in their pairing. More than that, the accompanying sex scene is so laughably, amateurishly shot that on this basis alone it joins the ranks of some of the most pathetically un-sexy love scenes I've ever seen (to wit: 'BloodRayne' in 2005, 'Fatal passion' in 1995, 'Vampyres' in 1974). By this point, too, the narrative writing has become so lackadaisical that I'm not even sure what's going on any more, and I wonder if the cast knew, either; the kidnapping that kicked it off has become a mere footnote.
For as floundering as the feature is, it becomes soporific; I had the foresight to pause, but I actually did fall asleep at one point. I detect the possibility of thrills in how this is written, but as it is no excitement ever manifests, and I've all but totally checked out such that the climax doesn't bear a fraction of the impact that it should have. Why was it, again, that I watched this in the first place? I think it was Rampling's involvement that drew me in; I guess this proves again that even broadly reliable stars sometimes participate in bad movies. I at least like the filming locations. There were good ideas somewhere in here; too bad they don't meaningfully produce results. Clearly there are folks out there who find 'Sequestro di persona' a captivating, satisfying crime thriller. I'm hugely disappointed, and when all is said and done, I for one don't think this is very good at all.
