The Driver's Seat (film)

The Driver's Seat (also known as Identikit) is a 1974 Italian drama film directed by Giuseppe Patroni Griffi.[1] Based on the 1970 novella The Driver's Seat by Muriel Spark, it is a psychological drama starring Elizabeth Taylor and Ian Bannen, and featuring Andy Warhol.[2]

Identikit
The Driver's Seat
Original Italian Film Poster
Directed byGiuseppe Patroni Griffi
Written byRaffaele La Capria
Giuseppe Patroni Griffi
Based onThe Driver's Seat
by Muriel Spark
Produced byNello Meniconi
Franco Rossellini
StarringElizabeth Taylor
Ian Bannen
Guido Mannari
Mona Washbourne
Luigi Squarzina
Maxence Mailfort
Andy Warhol
CinematographyVittorio Storaro
Edited byFranco Arcalli
Music byFranco Mannino
Distributed byAVCO Embassy Pictures
Release date
  • 20 May 1974 (1974-05-20)
Running time
105 mins
CountryItaly
LanguagesItalian
English

Plot

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Lise, a mentally unbalanced middle-aged woman, travels from her home in Copenhagen to Rome, where she embarks on a fatal search of her own destiny that she had helped to arrange for herself – a premeditated search for someone, anyone, with whom she could form a dangerous liaison.

Lise meets a variety of people during her journey who include Bill, a lecherous British macrobiotics devotee that she meets on the plane to Rome who tries to seduce her; Carlo, a young man whom tries to rape her on the street; an English aristocrat (Andy Warhol) who seems dismayed to make her acquaintance, a kind and elderly woman named Mrs. Helen Fiedke (Mona Washbourne) whom Lise bonds with while shopping at Standa, a large department store; and Pierre, a young man who tries to elude her by any means possible.

The film is told in a non-linear narrative as throughout the film are scenes of the local Rome police interviewing all the people that Lise interacted with as well as investigating the reasons for her strange behavior that led up to her own murder.

Cast

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References

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  1. ^ Ehrenstein, David (25 March 2013). "Sinful Cinema: The Driver's Seat". Slant Magazine. Retrieved 1 June 2023.
  2. ^ Metzger, Richard (24 March 2011). "Elizabeth Taylor's craziest role: 'The Driver's Seat' AKA 'Identikit'". DangerousMinds. Retrieved 1 June 2023.
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