The underseen French giallo film “The Strangler,” from 1970, never saw a release in the United States. That’s until this year, when the psychosexual chiller — about a young man targeting women he believes are too depressed to go on living — played the New York Film Festival and Fantastic Fest in all its restored glory. French director Paul Vecchiali (“Women Women,” “At the Top of the Stairs”) died this year before he could finally see a stateside release, but Altered Innocence will now open “The Strangler” this November. IndieWire shares the exclusive trailer for the re-release this year.
Initially a selection of the 23rd Cannes Film Festival’s Directors’ Fortnight section, “The Strangler” stars Jacques Perrin (“The Young Girls of Rochefort“) as serial killer Emile. As multiple women fall to Emile’s suffocating white scarf, inspector Simon Dangret, the detective assigned to track him down, resorts to seriously unorthodox and even unethical methods to get his man with the assistance of Anna, a beautiful woman who believes herself to be a potential victim.
“The Strangler” was praised as a “complex, melancholic meditation on isolation as well as a portrait of collective hysteria” by the New York Film Festival. Vecchiali’s work has rarely been distributed in the United States, but he was known for his experimental storytelling and queer themes, often busting taboos in French cinema. His 1987 film “Encore” is considered the first French film to deal explicitly with the AIDS epidemic and its link to homosexuality. His final film, “Bonjour La Langue,” which he co-wrote, directed, and produced prior to his death, premiered posthumously at the Locarno Film Festival.
The new 2K version of “The Strangler” was restored with the help of Centre national du cinéma et de l’image animée (CNC). The film will premiere at the Anthology Film Archives in New York on November 15 before heading to the Austin Film Society on November 17, with more dates to follow, along with a VOD and physical media release.
