It is a period film taking place in the 60s or 70s, when there was a popular Italian film genre called "giallo," where horror is mixed with sex and demonic themes. (Although giallo movies are B-movies many of them are cult classics now here in the U.S.) The film that the people in the movie are working on, seemingly about a girl's school which sits on an ancient witch's coven, has already been made, and the actors are redubbing their voices and sound effects and music are being put in. Gilderoy (Jones) a famed English sound mixer, has been hired to mix the sound elements of this movie.
The film is at first about Gilderoy not "getting" the Italian way of doing things, and then his sanity being tested. It juxtaposes his uptight English manner with the loose and more immoral ways of the Italians. The actresses are treated as sex objects by the male director and producers. The director brings his dog to the studio, ruining recording sessions. Most of the other staff would rather party. The sound director wants things done his way--loud and crude--rather than making an effort for a more artistic product like Gilderoy and one of the actresses want. Very few of them seem to take this seriously and are just intent on cranking it out.
A lot in the film is suggested and brought up but not explained for the audience and the film ends with a lot of unanswered questions. For instance, the film Gilderoy is working on, Equestrian Vortex, is never seen by us the audience except for a garish title sequence. We are told what is happening in Vortex as one of the characters of Berberian describes the upcoming scene for the sound artists so they can get in the mood to do their work, so we can tell if a demon is in the scene or if one of the schoolgirls are being ravished. Gilderoy also makes his own sound effects, like using a blender to mimic a chainsaw, which plants the seed in our heads that things are not always what they appear to be. Dialogue in Berberian allude to the fact that Gilderoy seems to be pretty well-regarded in the industry, yet he is working on this B-movie--why? The film also plants some ideas about some dark secret in Gilderoy's past which forced him to escape to Italy. Was he involved in a crime? His mother writes him cheery letters about finding a bird's nest and later about these birds being killed. I started to wonder if these were old letters and Gilderoy had been living in Italy for a long time and perhaps the mother was dead, even killed (the letters are not dated).
Gilderoy also begins having lucid nightmares or hallucinations, then about two thirds into the film, Gilderoy seems to be in the movie itself. He is dubbed in Italian, watching himself on screen reacting to the same events he is living. Is he a real person, or is he a character in the movie? Is he mad?
While the action is pretty confined to the sound studio and Gilderoy's apartment, production values are good in terms of the look as well as—obviously—how sound is treated in the movie (both movies). Toby Jones is pretty good, especially his personality and way of doing things as juxtaposed to the frustratingly opaque Italians. While a suspenseful film, I would have preferred some more tying up of all the unanswered questions, but if you have a good imagination, you can think up some fascinating storylines of what has been suggested.
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