Lisa (Barbara Cupisti) is routinely shoplifting in a large department store and doesn't notice the store is closing for the night. On her way out, she stumbles onto a murder scene in progress. The killer, the store manager, is in full view of the audience, but Lisa is blind. She can identify him by smell, vibrations, only by a feeling. He can identify her more readily, and so begins this routine cat-and-mouse thriller that contains a few surprises.
As we know right away who the killer is, the chief drama in TESTIMONE OCCULARE is the up and down relationship between Lisa and the police inspector (Stefano Davanzati) investigating the case. Lisa is comfortably integrated into her world, and can even operate smoothly outside of the handicapped community in which she lives. Her companion, Carlo, who was with her in the department store but did not witness the murder, is the inspector's chief suspect. The inspector character is, then, the most problematic of the movie, as the filmmakers also decided to give him an infatuation with Lisa.
This two character tension never resolves properly, so Bava opts to for a lady-in-peril third act that breathes needed excitement into the movie. The surprise ending is nicely done, too, and indicates how Bava is more comfortable with genre thrills than with the unconventional love story. When Lisa finally gets her killer where she wants him, for awhile it looks like she badly miscalculated and may become his next victim, after all. It is in these moments that Bava shines -- a master of "what the hell went wrong" plot twists.
Cupisti, an underrated actress who appears in most of Michele Soavi's movies (she was the lead in STAGE FRIGHT), is enthusiastic and goes quite far with the contradictory Lisa character. "Bare Facts" completists should note, she appears legitimately nude in this film. Alessio Orano (from Mario Bava's LISA AND THE DEVIL) is an impressive, impassive killer whose kinky obsessions are mostly hinted at, with his collection of whips and dolls that he pulls out of a wooden chest from time to time.
