Hey gang!
Asking for a friend, so could get touch and go if you need additional info. They told a story this weekend about a movie their parents exposed them to when they were but a wee lass that has ruined their brain for most of their life. They said it was new-ish at the time of viewing, so we're looking early – mid 80's. Set in early 1900's. Quite possibly subtitled and quite possibly French (though this could be incorrect, so hopefully it doesn't misdirect too much). Story is something along the lines of a woman ends up marrying some horrible husk of a man who gaslights her like crazy as she slowly loses her mind. Standout scenes included going to see a doctor (or maybe/more likely a dentist), asking where he keeps the arsenic, plunging her hand into the paste and smearing it all over her mouth and grinning at him in an attempted suicide. Another scene involved her in a prison where prisoners are kept below the floor under a metal grate. The woman apparently walks over top of the grate and squats down saying something like, "you are all my lovers now!" and slurping sounds can apparently be heard.
I can maybe try and extract more, but that's all that she was able to recall about it this weekend. My searches have yielded nothing. Hopefully there's not too much misdirecting info in there to bog down the investigation.
Cheers and more cheers! Thanks for all the trauma always!
-Art L.
Sounds like this is two movies getting swirled together. The woman squatting over the prison grate scene is definitely Ken Russell's THE MUSIC LOVERS!