Down the Ancient Staircase

Down the Ancient Staircase (Italian: Per le antiche scale; French: Vertiges) is a 1975 Italian-French drama film directed by Mauro Bolognini. The film is adapted from the novel of the same name by Mario Tobino, an Italian writer who also worked as a psychiatrist. Shot in 1974 and released the following year, it stars Marcello Mastroianni and Marthe Keller, with a supporting cast that includes Françoise Fabian, Barbara Bouchet, Lucia Bosè and Adriana Asti. The screenplay was written by Raffaele Andreassi, Tullio Pinelli and Bernardino Zapponi, and the production was handled by Italian International Film. Drawing on Tobino's background in psychiatry, the story unfolds within the world of a mental institution, reflecting the author's long engagement with the lives of psychiatric patients.