I started watching this thinking that this was a Michael Powell film for some reason, possibly the thematic and aesthetic connection with Peeping Tom, and then realised I’d got him confused with Donald Cammell.
It’s a very unique film that starts out as a crime thriller and then takes a genre-busting turn towards psychedelic psychological horror. The more I think about it, the more impressed I am by the directorial vision and skill at work in this film.
The characters are really interesting and surprising, the sense of place and time is wonderfully captured and the scenes and editing are bursting with ideas but without neglecting the story.
I’ve also learned a few things from reading other reviews. This is regarded as a “giallo”, a mystery thriller in the Italian style, a genre I’d never heard of before. Also Donald Cammell is Scottish and was born in the Camera Obscura. If that doesn’t establish your destiny as a voyeuristic observer of the image, I don’t know what would.