Blu-ray Film Review | Radiance

A Quiet Place in the Country (1968) • Limited Edition Blu-ray [Radiance] — unsettling supernatural psychosexual shenanigans

After moving into a dilapidated rural villa to reinvigorate his creative energies, a neurotic artist becomes obsessed with a beautiful coquette who died there many years prior.

Elio Petri’s extraordinary psychosexual thriller A Quiet Place in the Country is usually discussed in terms of the Italian giallo because it’s a notable precursor of the genre. But it’s not quite that straightforward. It’s an experimental art movie that is, itself, about art… I might add “among other things” but in this context, art encompasses all its entangled socio-political themes of creativity, consumerism, perception, sexuality, sanity, and identity. It’s an intriguing treatise on the similarities that bridge madness and creativity. There’s a lot to unpack here, so it’s great news that Radiance is releasing an uncut high-definition digital transfer on Blu-ray, presenting the perfect format to…