La stanza del vescovo

Messy and slightly disturbing film that juggles the ingredients of a drama, a sex comedy and a murder mystery. Orimbelli (Ugo Tognazzi), a rich and eccentric war hero befriends Maffei (Patrick Dewaere), a loner with a sailboat and takes him home to meet his estranged wife Cleofe (Lia Tanzi Gabriella) and sexually repressed sister in law Matilde (Ornella Muti).

Maffei has trouble sleeping in the Bishops bedroom. Instead of finding out where the film gets it's title from, he prefers peeping at Ornella Muti instead. Both the mystery and the unhappy maiden are forgotten when Ugo and Patrick go out sailing and pick up some floozies for a wild weekend. After this rather explicit and totally unnecessary episode Orimbelli confesses his love for Matilde to Maffei. Forgetting the fact he is actually married to her sister, they take Matilde out on Maffei's boat. But just when this love triangle is getting interesting, they are called back home to testify in a murder case.

The movie keeps the twists coming and throws in another couple of pointless subplot about Matilde's first husband and strange nighttime noises, but it is hard to stay interested with all these unlikable characters. Maybe the original novel by Piero Chiara made more sense of it all, but as a film it is pretty incomprehensible. Of course this is quite normal for a film starring Ornella Muti.

4 out of 10