Of the many Euro arthouse B-pictures that didn’t make their way into the official story of Elizabeth Taylor’s career as she was eulogized in 2011, the variously titled Identikit—released in the U.S. under the original novella title The Driver’s Seat—is a bizarre curio from her Europhase, roughly 1968-74.
Adapted from Scottish novelist Muriel Spark’s (The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie) novella by co-screenwriter Raffaele La Capria and director Giuseppe Patroni Griffi, Identikit sank like a stone at the box office when it was released in the U.S. in 1975 as an arthouse second bill. Its next life, as an Avco-Embassy video release in the 1980s, found a new audience as a Seventies relic that seemed to be the perfect accompaniment to box wine, marijuana and pizza. Now, in recent years, it seems to be entering a third, post-video phase of its cinematic life, as a number of critics have been dusting it off for a second look. David Ehrenstein argues convincingly that its merits may add up to a film better than its historic “so-bad-it’s-good” reputation. It seems as though this orphan film is finally finding a home—and rightly so—within the queer canon.
A lonely woman, Lise (Taylor), flies from her home in a cold, northern European city to Rome on a quest to find a man. She’s not looking for love. Who that man is, or what she wants from him is not clear to any of the people who encounter her, including an elderly tourist from Nova Scotia and a macrobiotic and sexually frustrated businessman from England. As she navigates the sultry streets of Rome, dodging terror attacks, shopping in empty department stores, and wandering through hotel lobbies, Lise rebuffs offers, and threats, of sex. When it becomes clear what purpose she has in mind for this man, when she does meet him, all the loose ends of the story tie up elegantly in this scattered jigsaw puzzle of a film.
Taylor gives a performance of barely controlled madness, maybe one of the most bizarre of her career, resembling mid-70s Divine in a gaudy, multicolored dress. Scene after scene feature a tight shot of her head, filling the entire frame with her Medusa-like hair and staring, kohl-rimmed eyes as she delivers her odd bits of dialogue. It’s as though she’s sleepwalking, but with her eyes fixed on a point in the distance, conveying her single-minded quest. When she has to deal with irritating obstacles, she becomes a screaming drag queen on a rampage. It’s both jaw-dropping and hilarious.
After Taylor herself, the best thing in this “bad movie” is Vittorio Storaro’s luminous cinematography. Seizing on the chiaroscuro of Lise’s mental world, he paints the film like a canvas in a range of light and shadow, all of it looking supernaturally beautiful.
Identikit screens in 35mm at Roxy Cinema October 11, 12, and 14 in Screen Slate & Steak Mtn.'s series Death Takes a Holiday. On Saturday, October 14 it will be introduced by Steak Mtn.'s Christopher Norris. This article was originally published April 2015.
