Mona (Jacqueline Fuchs, Mad Heidi) is a late career bodybuilder who is obsessively training for an upcoming world champ competition.
To that end she spends her existence training in a cavernous gym (with the occasional break to watch a fucked up water-logged danced recital featuring fish-human hybrids… and I mean come on, that’s a theatrical experience worth taking a pause for) under the tutelage of her coach, Kurt (portrayed by the late Julian Sands, Warlock, Naked Lunch, Arachnophobia)… a man who’s entire life revolves around providing Mona with Patrick Bateman levels of scrutiny… hell the dude even soaps her up in the shower!
The problem there is that Kurt wants our heroine to add steroids to her grueling routine, but she has been warned of the toll said drugs will take on her body… so she’s none too keen on that one.
Soon Mona becomes obsessed with something other than physical fitness, as a spa-based tryst with a young man named Nic (Adam Misík), among a surreal event or two, leads her to experience ch-ch-ch-changes (but don’t get too excited)…
Directed by Grazia Tricarico (who co-wrote the film along with Marco Morana and Giulio Rizzo), Body Odyssey is a body horror adjacent character study, that while devoid of mutations and the like, still maintains the same vibe.
As mentioned, Mona doesn’t go through a physical change as much as a psychological one, but her unique appearance and surprising awkwardness makes her a pseudo-alien, especially when she has to interact with those outside of her community of gym rats, publicists, and hangers-on.
Fuchs is certainly perfect for the role, as her career as an actual bodybuilder has left her with a physique that makes her stand out in a crowd, and her expressions and off-kilter line delivery makes her character both sympathetic and completely other-worldly.
Her interactions with Sands certainly don’t reduce the pervasive strangeness of the piece, and his characters beyond devotion to her… or more accurately his idea of what she should be right down to controlling her sex life is beyond creepy, and as usual, Sands plays the role to perfection.
Matching the surreal vibe of the picture are it’s environments; buildings simultaneously modern and ancient filled with psychotronic sci-fi/outre trappings such as strange pools, digital clairvoyants and that aforementioned bizarre dance performance… many lit with vibrant hues that Mario Bava would give a big ol’ thumbs up to (probably… I didn’t know him… )… which when combined with the Frankenstein themes of the story (Kurt is easily Victor Frankenstein and Mona his imperfect creation that can never live up to his expectations) make Body Odyssey a spectacularly peculiar, often provocative watch!
