UW Cinematheque | The Strangler (L’Etrangleur) (1970)

Perrin stars as Émile, a handsome and disturbed young man targeting women he believes are too depressed to go on living. As multiple women fall to Émile’s suffocating white scarf, a police inspector (Guiomar) resorts to dangerous and unethical methods to track down the killer with the assistance of Anna (Simonet), who believes herself to be a potential victim. Filmmaker Vecchiali’s strange, hypnotic, and wildly stylish tale of murder was mostly unknown in the U.S. until this restored version screened to rapturously enthusiastic audiences at the 2023 New York Film Festival and Fantastic Fest.