Berberian Sound Studio (2012) User Reviews

Great original concept, but lacks a clear direction towards the end

[Gonz42 · 7/10 · 30 March 2013]

This film is a pleasant homage to Italian giallo and to the under-recognized art of sound editing. A bit like Hélène Cattet & Bruno Forzani's "Amer" did, but in a more conventional, more "easy watching" way.

It begins as an amusing comedy with a cast of characters gently mocking the 70's Italian machismo. The very exciting central concept of the film is to deal with graphical horror without showing any real violence on the screen. This counter-fashion idea clearly marks its distance from the recent escalation in the graphic horror genre cinema, which I find honorable.

The imagination of the spectator is highly put to use compared to these days' standards. A truly outstanding atmosphere is obtained thanks to a really terrific sound editing. The atmosphere moves from light fun to disturbing fantasy with elegance.

But near the end, the story lost me. I eventually didn't understand where the film wanted take me. For that disappointing feeling, I don't rate it very high, but this movie is definitely a good piece of artwork and is more interesting than most of what is to be seen nowadays.

Pretentious, pointless and muddled

[tobias2020 · 5/10 · 6 May 2014]

This is a movie that seems to have no purpose. The way that the sound effects were generated in the film is mildly interesting, and the xenophobia that the main character experienced made me believe that the storyline would go somewhere. However, this was not the case. Sitting through this, I found it hard to understand why the actors were even drawn to the material; it is so uninteresting. Technically the film has its merits, and it might be relevant for someone who has worked as a sound effects technician and editor in movies, but for the general population it is probably a waste of time. I know that it contains references to Italian horror movies of the 70's and 80's, but so what? My advice is to stay away.

Great sound and framing

[kosmasp · 6/10 · 26 October 2012]

The story on the other hand is confusing to say the least. But that is meant to be experienced like that. The question is if you are willing to enjoy the ride. You could also say it's a bit of style over content, though I'm sure the director must have a plan in mind and could explain it all to you.

The cast is great, the pace of the story on the other hand is really slow. Another factor that might make this unbearable to watch for some people. It's definitely a great look behind the scenes of sound making, whatever you think of the movie. Another great thing is that the movie can be watched a couple of times, so you could discover new little things in it.

Club Silenzio: Peel Sessions of mind

[chaos-rampant · 30 June 2013]

I'm a big fan of films where impressionable protagonists enter a world of images and fictions. The challenge is how to model madness, by what degrees to confuse and clarify. DePalma could do this type of film, fooling with layered placement and identity of the eye—it'd be as cool as this and obvious in its main thrust about madness, but probably not as ambient. Lynch could in a more powerful way.

The story is that a shy sound-man goes to work on an Italian exploitation movie, this is to establish him as a creative person who will have to imagine things, and to establish the things he's going to imagine as of some darkness. He is an introvert, so we can have this conflation of inner and outer sensitivity to phenomena. Funny: shy is here equated with unattractive appearance in the main actor.

The film is entirely contained on a soundstage and around the studio where the soundtrack is being prepared. The actual horror movie is never seen (except for the opening credits which serve as the credits to our film), always inferred from what we see of the sound-carpet being fitted, the screams and slashing sounds, and this is a crucial point: the horror movie never quite materializes, so there's widespread negativity in reviews.

Oh, we get obvious hallucination in the latter stages that I could do without, linked to movie screens as borders of reality — it clarifies too much. But there's something else I liked, simple and inventive.

All sorts of sound effects are constructed over the course of the film before our eyes, from ordinary means: melons are slashed, pumpkins are splattered, broth is boiling. The first time we see the effect being recorded, and then an off-screen voice announces what it is supposed to be the sound of, and it's done a second time. It's fun to see on a fundamental level as exposing the kind of unceremonious but inventive technical work that takes place behind cinematic curtains of illusion.

But more marvelous is exemplifying the mechanism of that illusion that creates the imagined horror story in our mind — the second time the sound becomes the mental image just described to us. By making it so immediate, it's a powerful exhibit, observable in your own self, of the mind acquiring illusory images — the images become what the off- screen voice announces. Wickedly clever! Because it puts us in the protagonist's shoes, by introducing a disruptive level of imagination.

So I think you must see this at one point. Based on his previous film and now this, I have this filmmaker on my short list of talent that I expect he has it in him to be a leading voice a decade from now.

Don't expect a Horror or Thriller film and you might enjoy it more...

[Sandoz · 6/10 · 13 January 2015]

About half way through viewing this film I had to temper my expectations when it was apparent that the plot was not heading in the direction I had hoped it was, that is, a Thriller or a Horror film, but was going to stay a psychological study of a man becoming unhinged from working in a strange and uncomfortable situation. I can understand how a lot of the frustration I've heard mentioned with this film stems from these dashed expectations, and that's because it sort of plays around with and teases the audience by disingenuously making the genre of the film within the film that the main character (a reserved, mild-mannered, and tightly-wound sound editor played by Toby Jones) is working on a '70s-ish Italian Nunsploitation/Torture/Black Magic Horror film. If it wasn't for that, "horror" as a descriptive genre would never even be applied to this film.

And I have to admit that while casting Toby Jones in the lead role was a bold and risky choice for the lead character and gets my respect, ultimately I can't say he held my interest (or garnered my empathy) all the way to the conclusion. I think the guy is a fine character actor from other films I've noticed him appearing in, but as the protagonist for a feature-length story I found him wanting.

Still in all, if you enjoy watching non-English language Horror films from the 60s and 70s, you'll be entertained from the depiction of a post-production session for one of them that the film stages. And also, if you like films that fck with your head as to what is "real" and what's only in the mind of the character(s), you'll find plenty to enjoy here. Berberian Sound Studio is not an instant classic, but it's definitely worth a look for film fans who like fictional films about the filmmaking process.

Sounds like trouble.

[Pjtaylor-96-138044 · 7/10 · 27 June 2021]

'Berberian Sound Studio (2012)' is essentially an arty ode to cinematic sound design, focusing on a mousy sound technician who begins working on an incredibly violent 'Giallo' film and finds himself increasingly disturbed by it. You don't actually see any of the film-within-a-film except for its opening credits, with the sounds created by the characters being the only indication (as well as some brief verbal descriptions) of what's going on in each scene. It works surprisingly well, conveying the brutality of the piece without portraying even a single drop of blood. The picture itself has phenomenal sound design, the kind that can make even the simplest of things seem entirely otherworldly. It's often used to create a creepy atmosphere where something just doesn't quite sit right and it works wonders. Where the film sort of falls down a bit is in its ending, which is a little underwhelming and kind of makes the movie feel as though it lacks an actual point. Still, the third act is suitably strange and the way in which the very fabric of the film itself starts to unravel is actually rather riveting. Ultimately, this is an exercise in style over substance. Thankfully, that style is superb. 7/10.

Powerful atmosphere; light touch plot

[jon_pratt12345 · 7/10 · 20 September 2021]

This film is much more about mood and character than plot. Very stylised with beautiful colours and lighting that made it seem like every scene was surrounded by darkness. It did a great job of building dread and was easy to feel immersed in its world but after one watch, I'm not sure that I could easily describe the story.

A pretentious mess

[rebecca-ry · 3/10 · 17 January 2013]

'Berberian Sound Studio' is a film about an English sound technician (Toby Jones) who is used to creating sound effects for children's TV shows, who travels to Italy to work on a horror film. We follow him as he grows more and more homesick and as he gradually becomes hopeless.

There isn't much in the way of acting in this film but Toby Jones is a very talented actor and does perform well here. The other actors certainly are not poor, they give decent performances but none of them are particularly memorable.

The script is so basic and undeveloped you can practically see the writer shrug and say 'that'll do,' by the end. The first half hour is interesting because you get to see how sound effects are made and the whole dubbing process in general. After 30 minutes this gets tiresome however and I know it is supposed to be cyclical and seem never ending for Toby Jones, but it is so obscure you don't really care. When a film gets to the point where it thinks it's smarter than everyone else it becomes a pretentious mess, leaving you thinking they could have written that same concept with a more understandable and entertaining script. It deliberately tries to confuse you by adding pointless scenes here and there but in the end you realise the film only lasted an hour and a half but seems to last three hours.

Overall, this was quite disappointing. I really wanted to like this film; I had read so many great reviews on it and was looking forward to seeing it. Unfortunately it made me question the judgement of so many film critics that I follow.

Atmospheric, loving homage to Italian horror

[newtt11 · 8/10 · 26 June 2012]

Saw the film as part of EIFF today, and I mostly liked it. It's an immensely stylish homage to 70's Italian horror cinema. I was ridiciously excited for it going in , being a big fan of Peter Strickland's last film Katalin Varga, and it only really disappointed me towards the end.

The sets, costumes, lighting, music and most importantly sound effects all gave the film an awesome 70's atmosphere not dissimilar to Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy that kept me transfixed throughout.

And something that surprised me: as well as being unsettling, the film was actually really, truly funny in parts (humor wasn't a big part of Katalin Varga). There's a lot of winks and nudges to fans of films like Suspiria, that would have been made in these studios in the first place. The ridiculous descriptions that the sound recordist gives of the scenes we only ever hear- "the two women creep along the secret subterranean poultry tunnel only to find the putrid corpses of the witches" - are hilarious. The tension and uncertainty builds slowly as Toby Jones ' gentle British sensibilities clash with the gruesome scenes he has to score (he has to stab cabbages, pull apart radishes and smash in courgettes) and with the brash Italians (some really well played escalating conflict).

But in the last act the film became a little too ambiguous for my liking. It seemed to attempt a Mulholland Drive-style reversal which for me didn't really work...I didn't really get what the intention was, and felt like Strickland had just used it as a flashy excuse to avoid giving it a real satisfying conclusion.

Still, I had a lot of fun watching the film and would definitely recommend it.

An irony was that, for a film so dependent on sound for it's atmosphere,during the screening there was construction going on outside the screen. So to add to the diagetic horror sounds we annoyingly had some non-diagetic construction noises!!

Great Atmosphere but Unsure About Plot Intent

[thalassafischer · 6/10 · 5 June 2023]

I watched this a few years ago and thought it was a decent film with good atmosphere. I started to re-watch this film and began to wonder if director Peter Strickland is racist towards Italian people or if he is saying that people who make horror movies are bad people. I do not really approve of either message at all.

With this in mind, the film became less enjoyable to me wondering what a non-Italian director could possibly have in mind about a white English man being victimized in Italy by a group of giallo film people.

I do love all the scenes of how the vocals and special effects are made, if you don't think too deeply about the implications of the plot itself Berberian Sound Studio is a spooky, interesting watch.

Great sound, looks good but terrible story

[darren-153-890810 · 3/10 · 4 September 2012]

So I've read the raving reviews, not one bad one to be found, which is odd, as I heard at least 5 people leaving the cinema tonight muttering the words 'what a cr*p film that was'.

I understand it's a take on 1970's horror movies, blah, blah, blah. But imagine if you hadn't seen one?

The sound is amazing, interesting, atmospheric and amusing, (did they really make sound effects like that back then?) but once you realise that's all the film is all about you begin to lose interest. Personally I like a storyline, but isn't one.

As for the last 20 minutes, I have absolutely no idea what that was all about. Being a massive Kubrick fan I'd normally love surreal scenes like this. But it all felt a bit like we've run out of ideas here, lets just add a twist to make it more interesting. Which doesn't work at all.

If you like self indulgent stylized films then you'll love this. I prefer films with emotion that move you. This couldn't move me to the exit quick enough

The sound of horror

[Red-Barracuda · 8/10 · 1 July 2012]

The horror and giallo films produced in Italy in the 70's are possibly more respected now than at any time before. Their unique combination of salacious content with cinematic style, outstanding musical arrangements and Italian chic is truly a thing of wonder and a type of film-making we may never see again. These are the kinds of movies that belong to a specific era, indeed the décor, fashions and look of the women from early 70's Italy are significant factors in the pleasure of watching them. It seems that any film nowadays that tries to capture the essence of these movies has to do it in a slightly post-modern or retro way rather than as a straight copy. Amer (2009) was a movie that adopted the former approach with many references to films from the time. Berberian Sound Studio does the same but with the addition of the film itself being set in Italy in the early 70's and, moreover, it is explicitly about the making of such films. However, neither Amer nor Berberian Sound Studio could exactly be called a giallo. They are films constructed from the motifs of the genre. They are both highly original films in their own rights.

Berberian Sound Studio is almost a deconstruction of the giallo. The film is set in a sound recording studio for movie audio effects and dubbing. Italian genre pictures from the time were always shot soundless and then post-dubbed into a plethora of languages in order to maximise international sales; so for this reason it's obvious that the sound recording part of the process was even more important in these films than normal. So we have bizarre scenes where the sound engineer 'murders' various vegetables in order to get just the right noise. Similarly music plays an important part. The music throughout the picture recalls the early 70's Italian prototype. There are haunting female wordless vocals that recall the work of the one and only Edda Dell'Orso who was the vocalist on countless Italian soundtracks from the time and almost something of a muse for the legendary Ennio Morricone. Indeed, the excellent score from post-rock outfit Broadcast also has nods to Morricone as well as Bruno Nicolai, Goblin and others.

A film set almost entirely within the confines of a sound studio needs something to ensure it's cinematic. Director Peter Strickland maintains a stylish look and feel, combining sound and image in consistently interesting ways. Little details are magnified and treated with visual flair such as the close-ups of the rotting vegetables discarded after being 'killed' for sound effects or the detailed scanning shots of the sound engineer's chronological notes. We never see the film in question but we are given a tantalising intro to it that certainly resembles movies from the time period. It's a Warholesque pop art intro with lots of black, lots of red and cool music. Instead of seeing the clips of the movie we have instead voice-over descriptions of gloriously ridiculous scenes that any fan of the genre will immediately relate to. Within these there are references to some cult genre flicks such as Suspiria (witches) and Death Laid an Egg (poultry), while throughout the movie an unseen black leather gloved figure flicks various switches which of course is a fetishtic detail that relates to countless gialli.

The central character is British. So on another level this movie is about an Englishman in Rome. The culture clash is evident throughout, where the Italians just do things in a different way. They have unorthodox ideas on paying money and utter ambivalence to the violence in their film. Their Latin sensibilities are constantly at odds with the English sound engineer, who is more used to recording sounds of cows in fields. With time he becomes psychologically warped by his constant exposure to the movie he is dubbing and his reality starts to become intertwined with it. In one trippy scene he sees himself on the cinematic screen dubbed into Italian being terrorised by a sexy giallo killer-witch. In another his mundane letter from his mother becomes part of the film dialogue. One of his amateur films even becomes spliced into the middle of the horror film, creating a bizarre contrast. By the end, the protagonist's psyche is inextricably mixed up with that of the film he immerses himself in. It's a pretty Lynchian conclusion to a loving homage to Italian horror-thrillers of the 70's.

Beautiful but self-absorbed

[parkerbcn · 7/10 · 28 May 2021]

Having watched "In Fabric" from this director, before this previous (and more famous) incursion in the horror genre, it's easy to see a pattern: both in the homage to the greatest period of Italian horror films and in a kind of surrealistic and experimental narration (even more prominent in this film). But, in the same way that happened to me with "In Fabric", it doesn't completely reach me, even when I find the proposition incredibly attractive. Both movies are beautiful and kind of mesmerising, but the director also tends to feel self-absorbed in his own creation at times and lose focus. But it's a very different film and a love letter to the art of making movies.

A collection of great techniques in search of a film

[basilisksamuk · 4/10 · 15 July 2013]

First and foremost it has to be recognised that the design and execution of the sound sequences in this film are outstanding. It's almost worth ninety minutes of your time just to listen to this film, the sound design is so good. It's also pretty satisfying if you have a fetish for old sound equipment – all those reel-to-reel tape decks and retro-futuristic signal generators and so on. From that point of view and from the sound perspective this film was absolutely up my street. Toby Jones as the lead could not be faulted and I would happily watch anything with him in it.

So what was wrong with it? Well it was sub-Lynchian without ever coming near to the pleasures and terrors of an actual David Lynch film. You can almost hear the director straining to hit the tone of a Lynch film and falling badly short every time. The script was at times very amusing but mostly it was just plain trivial or superficial. The story was incomprehensible, again not in a Lynch fashion where the very incomprehensibility adds to the mystery but in the fashion of someone striving for portentous but merely achieving pretentious.

It's worth seeing/hearing for the fantastic design but as a film it fails to engage and it fails to be half as clever as it thinks it is.

The sound engineering is great and the build is engaging, but the delivery is really lacking

[bob the moo · 13 April 2014]

There is a pressure associated with watching a film considered one of the best of its year; there is of course pressure on the film to live up to the hype but when it comes to smaller films such as this one then there is a certain amount of pressure on the viewer to be part of the people who "get it" and not one of the dullards who should just stick to blockbusters. Of course this is message board talk but it exists in the mind too and for sure I came to this film wanting to come out praising it. Indeed I felt this to the point that even as it ended I felt like I should have enjoyed it more and thus started to rationalize myself towards that position, but it isn't the case because while I appreciated aspects of this film, generally I found it pretty dull and lacking a sharp edge.

The plot is that a British sound engineer comes to Italy for a project and finds himself doing ADR and Foley for a film containing a lot of graphic violence; as he works he finds his grip on his sense slipping, with his days spent not understanding what is being said around him and acting out violent acts on vegetables while watching women be brutalized on film over and over again. The concept I am fine with and I liked the ideas in the plot of exposure to this material having an impact and I even enjoyed the slow burn of the horror, but it slow burnt its whole way to the end and really didn't deliver too much. It has some nice touches as the plot develops but the "inside a movie" thing feels trite and isn't developed enough here to stand up on its own. I was drawn into the built but then surprised by how little delivery there was at the other end.

Of course the one thing the film does great is the sound engineering. As my partner was studying upstairs, I watched this through a very good set of headphones and it added a lot to the film to be so immersed in the audio aspect. The violence of the sounds and the persistence of them is very engaging and involving, just as it is for the main character, although the screaming gets very old very quickly. The decision to have the majority of the dialogue in Italian without subtitles was an interesting one which cuts both ways; on one hand it disorientates the viewer as it does the main character, but then it does put more pressure on the feel of the film – which then doesn't deliver. The cast are solid, with Jones in good form throughout.

I did want to like it more than I did but while the sound and the slow burn pacing is engaging, it goes on too long and doesn't have enough in the way of development of delivery to really payoff at the end. Trust me, I wanted to go with the majority on this and be seen as one of the cool kids, but it really only worked for me up to a point.

A giallo twist on "Barton Fink," derailed by geekiness

[ProfSpielberg · 6/10 · 19 April 2014]

Analog audio nerds and Fangoria contributing editors will love it, but for everybody else the surrealistic-horror-to-comedy balance is out of whack. Instead of being darkly amusing it's more often awkwardly dark -- with all their scrupulous attention to period detail and vintage equipment they should've sought some input on pacing and editing. The concept depends on a bunch of stereotypical Italians, specifically Italian exploitation movie folks, who straddle the line between fearsome and ridiculous, in a culture clash with the nebbishy unnerved Brit they've brought on to their diabolical mission. The trouble is that the protagonist just isn't comically fluent, so that even the rare bits of humor make him seem disturbing instead of disturbed. He's hilariously awkward when stabbing into fresh produce to make sound effects but dissonant for the purpose of obvious jokes such as the mundane letters he's shown reading from his mother. Nevertheless I was enjoying the first 60 minutes or so, before they went film school and gave up the ironic detachment for a psychedelic collage project (for that I could've just watched the real thing from Mario Bava or Dario Argento instead). Rather than restraining itself to the flavor of the genre this one wanders too deep into homage.

Berberian Sound Studio for those with an ear and a brain

[HOWLING_MAD_DOC · 7/10 · 29 August 2014]

I'm afraid I'll have to take bradleybean86 to task on his review of the aforementioned movie.

At first, I'll admit I was a shade in BB86's camp. Berberian Sound Studio started out a bit slow for me, but as I tend to be a bit cerebral when it comes to certain genres of motion pictures I saw the premise and the promise of what turned out to be a good thinking man's movie.

I was quickly engrossed into Toby Jones' character the sound engineer, Gilderoy and was quickly captivated thereafter by the story.

Toby known by most flick fans from his character Dr. Arnim Zola in Captain America: The First Avenger and CA: The Winter Soldier. I was first introduced to him on screen as the Judge in The Messenger The Story of Joan of Arc. Then again as the voice of Dobby in Harry Potter and The Chamber Of Secrets/Deathly Hollows.

I pondered fairly early on wondering it was a spin on the Truman Show in a different guise. Far be it from me to throw any spoilers in here so I was partially, to a certain extent, correct.

I said No Spoilers,so let it suffice to say, don't go into this with any preconceptions, minds are like parachutes, they work best when open. :) Watch it a your leisure, settle into your favorite spot with a good bowl of buttered popcorn, a Coke, and enjoy the journey.

Then post your own thoughts on the fascinating bit of film magic.

An Impressive Film, Worth a Second or Third Look

[gavin6942 · 7/10 · 17 July 2014]

A sound engineer's work for an Italian horror studio becomes a terrifying case of life imitating art.

This is the sort of film that jaded horror fans will love. They will love that it was set in the realm of an Italian giallo in the 1970s (one of the most highly regarded subgenres during their finest decade). They will also love the variety of sound effects and how they are accomplished.

Some have compared the plot to "Evil Ed", which is fair, but it is not remotely derivative and should not be seen as a ripoff. If anything, I felt the mood was much closer to "Pontypool", one of the best horror films of the past decade.

Most fascinating is that while the action takes place during the editing phase of a movie, the film itself is never seen. Not a single frame. We pick up bits and pieces about priests and witches, but really have no idea how terrifying the images are -- it is all sound effects and imagination. Just brilliant.

Pretentous, self indulgent nonsense!

[Redcitykev · 1/10 · 5 November 2012]

So, this sound engineer goes to Italy to act as an effect expert on an Italian horror film. Whilst doing his job the constant repetition of hacking melons, recording screaming women, crunching leaves underfoot - added to the problems of trying to get reimbursed for his travelling expenses - drive him... well, does it drive him mad, or is what we are watching real (within the content of the film) or is itself a film being made about this sound engineer who goes to Italy to act as an effect expert on an Italian horror film.

Now, there are some good things to be said about this film - Toby Jones as said sound engineer, about whom the film may be about or not as the case may be, is very good, and the use of sound is well done - but, having laid out a most promising situation, and apparently leading to a shock ending, the film suddenly disappears up its own backside. At one point - SPOILER ALERT! - an actress comes in and, when asked to speak her lines, starts to quote from a letter from home that the Toby Jones character has received. Then Mr Jones starts speaking in Italian as the film begins to repeat itself... and... well, by this time I had totally lost the plot and was looking at my watch wondering how much longer I had to endure this nonsense.

There are some films which get caught on the festival/critical merry-go-round, and garner awards by the truck load, coupled with glowing reviews which other critics, not wishing to swim against the tide, endorse. Yet when these films are watching by genuine, fee paying members of the public the reaction is totally different, and a completely - more real - idea of the film emerges. This is one such film, one beloved by the critics, yet disliked (or at best met with indifference) bu the viewing public. Certainly when my local film club screened it the general reaction was "what on earth was all that about"! No, I'm afraid this is pretentious, self indulgent load of nonsense, loved by critics and wannabe intellectuals who think they can read much into such rubbish, but hated by the real cinema goer!

A unique film but an uncomfortable watch.

[christopher-underwood · 8/10 · 9 September 2019]

I recall watching this in the cinema and enjoying it but a re-watch seemed to catch me unawares. Maybe it was the mood I was in but this time instead of being an interesting backroom take on my beloved gallo films it seemed a much more sinister affair. How could I not have noticed the first time how unpleasant it is, how nasty everyone seems to be and how alienating it all is? A powerful film, set almost exclusively in a sound studio, purportedly in Italy, though actually the nearby Three Mills Island set up. Almost everything I remember finding intriguing, this time took on a much more malevolent tone. The screaming ladies who can't get the right scream, the smashing of the vegetables, the switching between languages, the unfriendly 'friendly' intimacies, and the undertones of there being something rotten (apart from the decaying vegetables) within Italian society, at the time. A unique film but an uncomfortable watch.

Bizarre, sometimes disconnected movie

[lespaul-50504 · 7/10 · 5 August 2018]

So I am incredibly on the fence about this film. Part of me is glad I took the time to watch it, the other part wishes Id just watched more South Park reruns.

Berberian Sound Studio is about a sound technician hired to work on the set of a bizarre giallo film. Its absolutely riddled with wtf moments and some excellent scenes of Foley work. The directing is absolutely phenomenal and most of the shots are just downright gorgeous. though there are some heavily overused elements seen throughout the movie. The plot is almost barely there, and the movie almost just exists to evoke a sick feeling in the viewer, which it pulls off quite flawlessly.

The filmmaking is also solid, with certain aspects of the film being incredibly unique and commendable.

It is definitley a super artsy film, and is more of a surrealistic head trip than a story. It should have been shorter, with certain scenes (while fantastic on their own) feeling out of place or unnecessary to the film. A number of times I found myself checking my watch, but in between I was absolutely riveted to the beautiful cinematography and incredible sound work.

Is it an outright horror film? Not really, you hardly feel any real anxiety or paranoia, but I promise you will feel incredibly uneasy from start to finish.

Will I ever watch it again? Definite no. Was it great movie? Not quite. Am I glad I took the time to watch it? For sure.

Review Synopsis: Berberian Sound Studio should have been cut down to an hour and instead of presenting itself as a movie, gone for being a showcase of some FANTASTIC talent in terms of cinematography, filmmaking, and sound production.

Boring and does not go any where

[med77_99 · 3/10 · 18 January 2013]

Just as so many reviewers have already mentioned on here, this film lacks big time in plot and is very very slow. the film really looks good, they managed to create a very creepy atmosphere, the acting was also above average, so it had all the recipe for being a good film, but it ultimately failed mainly because the plot had no target, and the whole movie did not go any where, it was a repetitive mess of boring scenes over and over. You can feel that there is a good film in there somewhere, but the director and the writers failed to bring it out and Berberian Sound studio ended up a boring slow film that is better avoided.

the plot as many have mentioned revolves around a British sound engineer hired by an Italian director to work on editing a Horror Italian film, once arrived and started working on the studio, he starts to feel homesick and lost with the people around him. more than half the movie is in Italian without subtitles, something done deliberately im assuming to have the viewers feel as lost and confused as the main character, the only problem that it was over done and not executed properly, to the extent that we as viewers really felt lost and bored listening to the never ending Italian talk throughout the movie without understanding anything!!

the biggest problem with the film is that it repeats itself with the same sort of scenes over and over, usually of actors working in the studio and the British engineer working on the editing looking confused and depressed with an aggressive Italian sound director along side him, with no clear goal or target for the film and ending up so confusing, slow and boring. Avoid

A movie for your ears and eyes

[paultreloar75 · 9/10 · 3 September 2012]

What an intense and intelligent movie this is. As others have noted, the nods to Italian cinema of the 70's era are bold and brash, yet it's also a quintessential Englishman abroad drama. The atmosphere created by the soundtrack was electric and it felt like hearing the world with new ears when I left the picture house at the end.

Don't expect a neat narrative, this film plays with your senses and your understanding of whose doing what to who and why. It's exceptionally claustrophobic throughout, and the disconcerting edits constantly leave you asking more questions about what's going to take place next.

Sights & sounds.

[punishmentpark · 7/10 · 7 February 2015]

Delightfully dark and creative scenes in a sound studio and a hotel room in which all the complications are getting more and more mixed up with the movie the crew is working on. The (voice) actresses are witches, the directors are their torturers. Among them, our stranger in a strange land, audio man Gilderoy who just came away from under the maternal wings (well...?), must find a way to assert himself...

It's true that the film becomes more and more repetitive, but personally, I just love this sort of premise and atmosphere. Toby Jones does a perfect job, but no complaints about the rest of the cast either. At some point the story seems to take a final turn into total insanity (or is Gilderoy finally becoming a man?), which is just fine by me... but fine, when expecting a lot more after the explosive debut 'Katalin Varga', is then just a little disappointing.

Still, a big 7 out of 10, and deserving of another viewing sometime soon.

Style over substance, and then some

[Leofwine_draca · 5/10 · 17 January 2014]

Man alive, BERBERIAN SOUND STUDIO is a strange little film. It stars the hapless Toby Jones as a mild-mannered sound engineer who travels to Rome to work on the soundtrack of a sinister giallo film and soon finds himself getting sucked into the movie's mystique and repellent atmosphere.

Technically, this film is a gem, with excellent sound design and good visuals; for a film set almost entirely in a sound studio, it's atmospheric and engaging, and it helps that the underrated Jones gives an excellent turn in a rare leading role. The problem with BERBERIAN SOUND STUDIO, then, is that it's one of those 'style over substance' movies where there's very little meat behind what's up on screen.

This feels almost like one of those films that's made up as it goes along. It starts off strongly, with a decent first half hour setting up the story, and what follows is oddly disturbing despite a lack of explicitness. However, around the halfway mark it starts to get heavy going, and the ending is particularly disappointing, failing to tie up or rationalise what's happened. I hate it when a film reaches this level of ambiguity; a bit of ambiguity works fine, but to this degree it's just a cop out, unfortunately.