The Psychic

Sette note in nero is a 1977 Italian giallo film directed by Lucio Fulci and co-written by him with Roberto Gianviti and Dardano Sacchetti. Sette note in nero stars Jennifer O'Neill, Gianni Garko, Marc Porel, and Ida Galli. The film involves a woman who begins experiencing psychic visions that lead her to discover a murder; her husband is charged with the killing. The psychic must embark on an investigation with a paranormal researcher to clear her husband's name of the crime. The film was released in the United States as The Psychic, and also as Seven Notes in Black. Other alternate titles include Murder to the Tune of the Seven Black Notes and Death Tolls Seven Times. Plot In 1959 Dover, England, a woman commits suicide by leaping from a cliff. At the same time, her daughter, Virginia, living in Florence, Italy, sees her mother's death in a vision. By 1977, an adult Virginia (Jennifer O'Neill) is still living in Italy and has recently married a rich Italian businessman Francesco Ducci (Gianni Garko). Ducci leaves on a business trip, and as Virginia drives herself away from the airport after seeing him off, experiences more visions—she sees an old woman murdered, a broken mirror, a religious painting, a print of another painting with an address written on it, a wall being torn down, a man with a moustache, a magazine with a girl on the cover, a yellow cigarette on a blue stone ashtray, a yellow taxi, a blinking red light, a crack in a wall with a red glow, a man with a limp, the wall being rebuilt with bricks, a letter hidden beneath a statue and finally a short melody composed of seven notes. Virginia plans to renovate an abandoned mansion owned by her husband, and realises that the building resembles the one she has seen in her visions. After noticing a crack in the plaster, she hacks a hole into the wall of a room, finding a skeleton inside it. Assuming the skeleton is that of the woman in her vision, Virginia contacts the police. However, they do not believe her story and charge Ducci with the killing. Examination of the body reveals it not to be an old woman, but one in her twenties; killed about five years earlier. The skeleton is finally identified as Ducci's ex-girlfriend, Agneta Bignardi, who vanished several years ago. Virginia is determined to exculpate her husband, and contacts her friend Luca Fattori (Marc Porel).