Bruce Loeb on Piano. (Story of a Woman). In her time, Menichelli conjured up such observations as this one from a smitten French student: "Everything comes from her crown of hair, a pure masterpiece, a Gorgon's head, serpents of hysteria, locks of pathos, desire, and madness intermingled....Monstrous from a madwoman's garden....Our Lady of Spasms." (Quoted by Vittorio Martinelli.) In this film a beautiful woman lies dying of a gunshot wound. One of the doctors finds a diary that narrates the story of the woman's life. An impoverished lady-in-waiting to a countess, seduced by the old woman's son and then cast aside, she is the center of not one but two intricate intrigues of revenge. "An appreciation of the irony of a situation which was simultaneously desperate and incredible was required to watch a melodrama," Sorlin reminds us. "Enjoying tear-jerkers was a cultural attitude."