The Embalmer
The Embalmer
| 12 October 2002 (USA)
The Embalmer Trailers

Peppino is an aging taxidermist constantly ridiculed for being short and somewhat creepy. He meets Valerio, a handsome young man fascinated by Peppino's work. Peppino, in turn, becomes entranced by Valerio and offers him a large salary to come work as his assistant. But when Valerio meets Deborah, their fledgling romance is threatened by an insanely jealous third wheel.

Reviews
Hellen I like the storyline of this show,it attract me so much
Greenes Please don't spend money on this.
Intcatinfo A Masterpiece!
Catangro After playing with our expectations, this turns out to be a very different sort of film.
columbusbuck Two scenarios. Scenario One: A beautiful man meets another gorgeous hunk, finds that besides having a lot in common the hunk is down on his luck. The man, out of the kindness of his heart and more than a little chemistry, gives the hunk a job as his assistant. When the hunk is evicted, the man even lets him move into his home. Chemistry between the two grow until one day, during an intense sexual encounter with two girls, the pair cross a line into a burdening relationship when the man finds himself interacting with the hunk sexually. A lovely romance that makes your heart melt. Scenario Two: A short, toadish looking man in his 50s meets a gorgeous hunk, finds that besides having a lot in common, the hunk is down on his luck. The man, out of the kindness of his heart and more than a little chemistry with the hunk, gives him a job as his assistant. When the hunk is evicted, the man even lets him move into his home. Chemistry between the two grow until one day, during an intense sexual encounter with two girls, the older man crosses a line and dares to attempt the hunk sexually. A stalker story that makes you fear ugly people who might think you are attractive. The difference: Physical appearance, genetics, and age. Offensive and repugnant.
latinese It's a noir, no doubt... you even have the dark lady. Take three excellent actors, a well-chosen setting, a young and talented director, and you have L'imbalsamatore. Once again, when an Italian director is really good, like Sergio Leone, he can take an American film genre, turn it upside down and make a great Italian movie. However, Garrone proved how good he is not just by filming this, but by making another masterpiece, that is, Gomorra. If you like this one, try also the other movie. Basically one of the plots of Gomorra is set in the same places where L'imbalsamatore is set.Another important element of the film is the landscape. When Italian directors are at their best, they can render landscape like no one. Garrone can do this with the wastelands of Northern Campania. Hats off, then, to Ernesto Mahieux, who delivers an impressive performance that you won't forget easily...
Asa_Nisi_Masa2 "The Embalmer" (which is what the title translates as) is, in a sentence, about Peppino, a middle-aged Neapolitan taxidermist of stunted growth (verging on dwarfhood) who employs a good-looking young assistant he soon becomes obsessed with. Furthermore, Peppino has Camorra connections (the Camorra is Naples's equivalent of the Sicilian Mafia) and is employed by the Neapolitan mobsters to sew drugs in and out of their excellent cadavers. With its superb cinematography, photography, soundtrack and imagery (some of the scenes featuring dead, stuffed animals in the lab are unforgettably eerie), the film will be appreciated by anyone who loves a well-scripted, steady but confidently-paced, subtle little thriller that's never a crowd-pleaser.The sense of impending danger is always very strong and real in the viewer's mind, though it never really lashes into sensationalist, gratuitous violence. In fact there's next to no violence or blood in this film and not one single Tarantinesque, gun-waving shouting match between mobsters scene: in fact you hardly ever see a gun in the film. In L'Imbalsamatore, anger IMPLODES and is the stronger and more threatening for it, and the human element is far more prominent than the formal crime element. Though obviously, its organised crime subplot (which you only ever glance at sideways) is pivotal in heightening the sense of threat in the film. But it never crowds the film, which simply isn't ABOUT organised crime. L'Imbalsamatore boasts a psychologically credible theme of obsessive love and attraction which would make Fatal Attraction look hollow and fake. It's also never distasteful and never, ever makes cheap use of the main character's semi-disability as a shock element. Also, unlike the crass Michael Douglas movie, L'Imbalsamatore's obsessive lover is vulnerable and human, as only someone who constantly holds his bleeding heart in his hand can be. But when said obsessive lover starts resenting that the object of his adoration has had the emotional upper hand for too long, things can get REALLY scary. This is especially true when the spurned lover, any spurned lover has major Camorra connections, and the chestful of treasures he's been so selflessly offering his beloved is being dismissively waved away for the umpteenth time! You really get a sense of all the characters playing with fire in L'Imbalsamatore, which is why it succeeds in creating a sense of suspense which just never lets up (and yet never climaxing when you expect it to). The film is also invested with genuine humanity and is never judgemental or moralistic. It moves us to sympathy towards the obsessive and love-lorn character, who despite his physical appearance and potentially lethal reactions, is invested with true pathos and dignity. His tears are bitter and no different from those of any other lover, no matter how good, handsome or psychologically healthy. And that's precisely why he's so scary. Please watch l'Imbalsamatore: it really deserves more international acclaim.
camel-9 A neat little gem, this movie. Not the greatest, but yet, approaches with a careful plot, the relationships between several people. Shot in outdoor location of Castel Volturno, a grayish wintery concrete condominium on the coast between Rome and Naples, and using direct sound and not the usual studio-added dialogues, it gives an immediate feel and support for the main character, Peppino, who, feeling lonely, convinces a young man to follow him into his trade of taxidermy. Peppino is a virtuoso in establishing relationships, and like a magician, he moves his hands and talks big without really revealing much, and gets the young man's attention. It reminded me a bit of "L.I.E.". Would love to see the actor and Danny de Vito in a movie together.