What Have You Done to Solange?

(1972) ***1/2

What Have You Done to Solange? directed by Massimo Dallamano is the first of a handful of Italian horror films that I will be reviewing from the work of twelve directors. Sadly, Horrorthon is more than halfway over, and I’m just beginning, but I’m hopeful that I will be able to review at least one film per director.

The film opens with two lovers kissing in a row boat while serenely floating down the Thames in London. As things begin to heat up the woman abruptly stops when she believes she has caught a glimpse of a frightened woman, a figure dressed in black, and a flash of a knife along the riverbank. The man, however, thinks she is being avoidant and quickly averts her attention back on him. Once again the clandestine lovers are tranquilly floating down the river, passionately kissing and caressing each other when suddenly the woman sees the image of a knife being thrust between a woman’s legs.

The two lovers are the adulterous Professor Enrico Rosseino, and Elizabeth Seccles, one of his students at an elite catholic girls school. Enrico is married to Herta, a German woman that could possibly kill you with a stare, but, obviously, some of her hostility can be attributed to her husband’s secret rendezvous with his students.

The next morning, Enrico catches a news broadcast reporting the discovery of a body on the banks of the Thames. Curious that Elizabeth may have been right he makes a detour on his way to school to visit the spot of their liaison the previous day. The place is of course swarming with cops, and Enrico is unknowingly photographed in one of the crime scene images that will appear on the front page of the newspaper. He then arrives at school and joins the other faculty and police officers that are congregated in the headmaster’s office. Each professor is shown a photo of the dead girl, but it is Enrico that finally identifies the victim as his student Hilda Ericson. The photos are of a young girl with a knife handle protruding from between her legs. The police mention that her death was horrific and slow, taking several hours for her to bleed to death.

Elizabeth wants to go to the police and reveal what she has seen, but Enrico, afraid their affair will be revealed, convinces her otherwise. He persuades her that this information will not be of any use, especially since her memory of the images is so fragmented. However, as more students turn up dead, and Elizabeth remembers that the murderer was wearing a priest’s habit, she goes to the police, but without implicating Enrico. However, shortly after she is drowned in a bathtub at her and Enrico’s secret apartment. Enrico and Herta begin conducting their own investigation and the plot continues to slowly unfold, leading to a secret society, and the search for a girl named Solange.

This is definitely a movie for the patient viewer. The story moves at an extremely leisurely pace, but it keeps you guessing. I had no idea where this movie was going, and was satisfied once all was disclosed. The killer’s motives tied in nicely with the rest of the film. The killings are not at all gory. The stabbings are not graphically shown, but the idea of it is horrifying enough. There is a lot of nudity, including shower scenes with a peeping priest.

Overall, I enjoyed the film. I was slightly annoyed at its slow pace at times, but I would watch it again, to pick up on some of the nuances of the film. I loved the opening scene with Enrico and Elizabeth on the Thames. The way it was shot, the music, and their dialogue reminded me of a poem. There was a great cinematographic moment in this scene, prior to Elizabeth’s second glimpse of the murder. She’s lying in the boat, the camera moves close-in towards her face, the shadows of the leaves glide across her, followed by the actual leaves, then a close-up of her eye opening wide in horror. It is aesthetically nicer than I am describing it.

This film also incorporates some themes that could be examined or studied further. For instance, the inclusion of different nationalities and how they are stereotyped, for example, Enrico, is the Italian womanizer, whose innocence is constantly being brought into question because of his ethnicity, which is repeatedly mentioned. Italian men via Enrico are characterized as adulterous, sleazy, and deceptive. Then, there is Herta, the domineering German woman, and sweet, chaste Elizabeth that comes from a prominent English family. Although, Elizabeth is shown rolling around in a boat and a bed with Enrico, she dies a virgin, maintaining her English purity. However, the ideal of the proper and virtuous English girl is certainly challenged as well throughout this film. Additionally, there is the theme of sexual violence against woman and how and why it is enacted, and of course the questionable behavior of the catholic priests, which is not at all surprising.