MUBI brings you a great new film every day.  Start your 7-day free trial today!
Watch a new film every day for $4.99.
Try MUBI for FREE.
 

One on Top of the Other

Una sull'altra

Italy, France, Spain

1969

107 Min
Color
1.66:1
Italian
  • Currently 3.5/5 Stars.
  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • 5

   |   

DIR Lucio Fulci

EXEC Maurizio Amati

PROD Edmondo Amati

SCR Lucio Fulci, Roberto Gianviti, José Luis Martínez Mollá

DP Alejandro Ulloa

CAST Jean Sorel, Marisa Mell, Elsa Martinelli, Alberto de Mendoza, John Ireland

ED Ornella Micheli

PROD DES Nedo Azzini

MUSIC Riz Ortolani

SOUND Mario Ligobbi

Synopsis

The wife of a doctor (Jean Sorel) is murdered. He had a mistress a long ago, since his wife (Marisa Mell) always begged herself out of engagements because she is a asthmatic. On the other hand, she enjoyed a part time job as a stripper. Did the doctor kill her? —IMDb

Director

Original

Lucio Fulci

Though more often than not working on a strict budget and a short time line, Lucio Fulci ranked among the masters of blood-soaked Italian horror/fantasies and sexy thrillers. Fulci’s zombie films, beginning with Zombi 2 (1979), a loose sequel of George Romero’s Dawn of the Dead (1978), are especially prized by genre aficionados for their shocking violence and graphic gore.

According to Fulci, it was the love of a woman, not a passion for cinema, that led him into filmmaking. He met her while studying medicine and working as a part-time art critic. Their affair was brief for she came from a wealthy family who lost their fortune after the war, and so wanted a man with more income. Following the breakup, Fulci spied a newspaper ad announcing the reopening of the Experimental Film Studios. Thinking a filmmaking career might provide him with an impressive income, Fulci decided to apply. The great director Luchino Visconti, impressed by Fulci’s examination, personally admitted the… read more

Wall

Displaying 4 wall posts.
Picture of Mr. Arkadin

Mr. Arkadin

3Feb13

I'd love to be able to watch the non-sexed-up version, just for comparison's sake, but it's still full of classic giallo moments. In the first third especially you have his repeated use of indeterminate screens to reflect (or project) "doubles" of the various characters: Marisa Mell (in one of her two roles) shown, reflected in a mirror, gliding through her bedroom. Or Sorel's brother appearing suddenly

  • Picture of Mr. Arkadin

    Mr. Arkadin

    3Feb13

    as a dissolving reflection of just his shoulders and head, almost as if he's being front-projected into his speaking part in the scene. Or even the love scene shot from under/inside the bed's sheets, showing Sorel and Martinelli as if they're making love through veils. The fact that this visual theme then manifests itself as an additional character/plot device—in the appearance of Mell, in her second role—gives some idea of how much is actually at work in this *Vertigo*-inspired giallo.

Picture of Silenzio

Silenzio

3Jun12

Terrific, ultra stylish 60s giallo from Fulci. It is just a shame about the final scenes with the reporter who explains what happened.

Mr. Arkadin likes this

Picture of Konrad Szlendak

Konrad Szlendak

4Dec11

One of the most facinating giallo movies ever made. In my opinion it makes first 10 without any effort. It's like watchig Godard going B-movie! Very interesting screenplay, which bumps unfortunately after an hour within a movie, but it's still goddamn sweet and sexy considering acting and beautiful cinematography.

Mr. Arkadin likes this

Picture of Christopher Smith

Christopher Smith

24Jan11

An offbeat, sexy giallo mystery from director Lucio Fulci. It is slow in spots; but its dripping with style, late-60s Euro-excess (even though it was shot in San Francisco), and satisfying plot-twists - all set to a great jazz score by Riz Ortalani. A strong entry to the genre for fans of Italian exploitation.

Silenzio likes this

Related Films

Fans

Displaying 5 of 27 fans.

Articles

Our roundup of essays and articles on this film.

DVD-review: PERVERSION STORY aka ONE ON TOP OF THE OTHER

By Twitchfilm.com on May 17, 2011
A rant of mine concerning Lucio Fulci: if there is one film in my collection which failed to live up to my anticipation, it’s his “Zombi 2”. Seeing as how that has many titles I’ll elaborate: it’s the
read on Twitchfilm.com

Lists

Displaying 5 of 28 lists.

Reviews

Displaying 1 of 1

When Fulci really ruled...

By Konrad Szlenda​k on April 25, 2012

If there’s one Lucio Fulci’s film you cannot afford not to watch, it’s “One On The Top Of The Other” aka. “Perversion Story” (Italian title: “Una sull’altra”). Inspired by Hitchcock’s famous “Vertigo”…  read review

Forum

Displaying 0 discussion topics.