The Museum of Wonders opens with a long operatic song and a warning not to stare into the eyes of the performers. Believe me, this is the least confusing part of the movie. Marcel (Fabiano Lioi) is the owner of "The Museum of Wonders," a freak show. His employees love him as he treats them fairly and he is one of the "freaks" himself, as he is a midget. Marcel is engaged to the fortune teller Olimpia (Adele Tirante), but when Salome (Valentina Mio) joins the show as a dancer, Marcel is enthralled. Normally someone as beautiful as Salome would never look twice at someone like Marcel, but when she learns that he has a fortune, Salome decides to steal him from Olimpia. This doesn't mean that she's going to stop sleeping with Sansone (Francesco Venditti), whom she stole from Venere (Nancy de Lucia). Venere is a very interesting character. She is missing an arm and a leg and has a robotic-like part underneath them. I'm really not sure what Sansone's role is in the freak show as he is considered attractive and not a freak. Venere is a kind and truly likable character. There are several other odd characters like the bearded lady, Marion (Lucia Batassa), Victor/Victoria (Domiziano Cristopharo), the sword swallower, the clowns, the tattooed and implanted man, and many more, all of whom care about Marcel and would do anything for him. So far things aren't too confusing though, not broken down like this at least. Salome gets her way and steals Marcel from the now pregnant Olimpia. As soon as Marcel marries her, Salome puts her plan to kill him and inherit the money so that she can run off with Sansone into action. Marcel isn't a stupid man though and he is strong. He survives to make sure that he sees things put right, in the most gruesome way possible!
The Museum of Wonders is a very abstract film that highlights the fact that beauty is only skin deep. The "freaks" who are considered monsters by society are the truly nice people and the only ones who are accepted by normal society, Sansone and Salome, are the true monsters inside. At least that is what I got out of the movie. There is quite a bit of nudity, most of it full frontal nudity of the men. There are also a few bonus features that might help you understand the film more and yet confuse you more as well. The deleted scenes served a bit of both. The sword-swallower show was quite interesting and the bloopers reel was funny. If you're looking for a very odd and abstract film, you might want to check out The Museum of Wonders but don't blame me if you're as confused as I was! This definitely is not a film for everyone.
