When a report of a dead body being found in a washing machine turns up little more than soiled undies, The police have to invest time in finding out the truth. When they find a dismembered body it is not clear what has actually happened and why. The assigned police detective finds that the dead man’s lover, Vida, and her two sisters, Sissy and Ludmilla are not what they seem and know more than others suggest. They are monsters that are leading him into a world of horror and surreal desire…
Ruggero Deodato made films that challenged conventions and expectations. He also made a film that had to be taken to court in order to prove that it was no a snuff film. That film, Cannibal Holocaust, was a found footage gem and also the hardest watch I have ever had. Its animal deaths, stock footage of real death and the very well put together gore effects still live with me. Holocaust had a point however and asked questions about colonial rule and international relationships with the other.
The Washing machine is not as challenging as that film was in its visual form. It is instead a very clever analysis of the tired genre that was falling into absurd emptiness. It uses the convention and resets it, Then reforms it and then finally stops it and replays it… It makes you question the idea of reality and the question of cinema as a tool of explaining a coherent series of events. Deodato is very clever at making the film constantly question you and it. You are unsure of truth and lies, fiction and fact, verisimilitude is subverted, gorgeously.
So the film is script, content and idea great. It is slightly weak in performance and persuasion. The blind sister is not greatly executed. The cop is a wet weekend in the end and the film can occasionally become difficult to work out. I liked this however as it added much to a complex dish. I also loved the editing, musical score and cinematography. All three make you realise the skill and artistry of the Italian Exploitation film industry of the 60s- 90s. Now Shameless have left everything to you on this disc but I would say it is worth your time and money…
