182 The Double

[Finch]

Giovanni (Jean Sorel, Rosa la rose, fille publique) is shot in an underground parking garage by a mysterious bearded man. As his life flashes before his eyes, through flashbacks we learn about his life and what led to this moment. His flirtatious wife, Lucia (Ewa Aulin, Death Smiles on a Murderer) and the fissures her behaviour creates, complications with the family business, Lucia’s relationship with a travelling hippie and her beautiful mother-in-law (Lucia Bosé, Fellini Satyricon). With its delirious editing, continually returning us to the site of his murder, Giovanni’s life turns in on itself as the film explores masculinity, eroticism, and the uncanny. One of the undiscovered greats of the genre, Romolo Guerrieri’s (The Sweet Body of Deborah) The Double is a sexy, metaphysical giallo newly restored and officially released for the first time since VHS.

BLU-RAY LIMITED EDITION SPECIAL FEATURES

4K restoration from the original negative
Optional Italian and English audio tracks
Original uncompressed mono audio
Audio commentary by Tim Lucas (2026)
Archival interview with director Romolo Guerrieri and star Eva Aulin newly edited for this release (2026)
Appreciation by author Stephen Thrower (2026)
Easter egg (2 mins)
Reversible sleeve featuring artwork based on original posters
Limited edition booklet featuring new writing by author and critic Nathaniel Thompson
Limited edition of 3000 copies, presented in full-height Scanavo packaging with removable OBI strip leaving packaging free of certificates and markings

[colinr0380]

Very interesting, and sounds as if it could be in quite similar territory to the other film that Jean Sorel starred in the same year, Short Night of the Glass Dolls.

[domino harvey]

Where's Sausage, has he seen this one? I will say that the Sweet Body of Deborah is objectively a better title than the fiftieth iteration of "the Double". Also, why does the description for this not mention the top-billed Carroll Baker?

EDIT: Wait, these are different movies. Radiance needs a someone to look these writings over, I thought the title in parenthesis was the alternate title. Between this and people struggling with the UHD membership thing, not a great month for clarity!

[swo17]

That's pretty common for them to list a different movie for every person they credit. This blurb does it four times, although I agree the one for the director reads awkwardly

[domino harvey]

Yeah, they did that one right next to the actual title of the film though, and the one in the parenthesis also stars Sorel, hence my confusion

[Finch]

Radiance needs a someone to look these writings over, I thought the title in parenthesis was the alternate title. Between this and people struggling with the UHD membership thing, not a great month for clarity!

The Two Boxes page also had the plot description for Highway to Hell which made me think wait what? The extras section corresponded to the correct title though.

[Mr Sausage]

Where's Sausage, has he seen this one?

Nope! From the title I thought this was going to be some Dostoevsky thing.

[BoltzmannBrain]

Sorry but this is pretty darn weak, I was barely able to get through the film. I don't remember much about the plot anymore as it bored me so much but the opening shooting was laughably detached from reality (though certainly not the only film to do that kind of thing in this era) and I didn't really think that it was an actual giallo, maybe you can call it "giallo-adjacent". The Sweet Body of Deborah and Short Night of Glass Dolls are way better but there are also worse giallo-adjacent flicks out there, this at least has the good looks of Jean Sorel and Ewa Aulin going for it. A single by Radiance seems too generous for The Double, a more appropriate release for it would be the last volume of Vinegar Syndrome's Forgotten Gialli series.