What Have You Done to Solange? (1972)

An archetypal giallo, (also the first part of Daliamanno's 'Girls in Peril' trilogy), What Have You Done to Solange (1972), tells a sordid tale of past sins catching up with the present, but presented in a glossy, artistically filmed format.An Italian-German co-production filmed on location in the UK, it was marketed in Germany as an Edgar Wallace derived 'Krimi', with co-producer Rialto attempting to cash in on the popularity of its sixties Wallace adaptations, despite the film, in reality, having nothing to do with anything written by the author, particularly not his story 'The Clue of the New Pin', which was cited as a source.  It does have some elements one might expect from a Wallace based thriller: most notably that the killer disguises themself as a priest (complete with false beard), villainous fake monks having been commonplace in the 'Krimi' adaptations.  The private girls' school background of the story, (that school really should vet its staff better, counting a peeping tom a murderer and a gym teacher, played by Fabio Testi, who is having an affair with a sixteen year old student), the terrorising and murder of young girls, (not to mention the frequent nudity of said girls) and a plot hinging on a backstreet abortion, ensure that the sleaze and exploitation factors are ramped up to the maximum.  Yet, despite this, the film still comes over as, well, tasteful in the way in which it presents this subject matter, making the viewer feel as if it is all OK because they are watching a sophisticated looking thriller rather than an exploitation film.

Technically speaking, as mentioned, the film actually looks beautiful, making excellent use of its London locations with Daliamanno employing all manner of interesting angles to frame his shots.  While it moves at a langourous pace, adding to the dream like feel the director is striving to create, it always holds the attention - there is always something happening, always an unexpected twist to the tale as it unfolds.  Chief among these is the sudden murder of what we had assumed to be the heroine, played by Christina Galbo, part way through the film. The multi-national cast are generally good, with Fabio Testi in the lead managing not to be completely dislikeable and sleazy as the hero, despite having a relationship with a student in his care.  The dubbing on the English language version is, for once, excellent, the result, apparently, of the cast, regardless of nationality, performing their lines in English, so that the lip movements synched up with the dubbing artists.  It is so good that I began to believe that Joachim Fukesberger, playing the police inspector, really does sound like Edmond Purdom, despite having heard his real voice in German language films.  

Problematic areas of the story include the very late introduction of the titular Solange, so that, despite her having a crucial role to play in the drama, we never really know her as a character, limiting our sympathy with her with regard to her treatment.  Moreover, by 1972, in the mainland UK at least, terminating a pregnancy, (a key fulcrum of the plot), wouldn't necessarily have been such an issue, even for a sixteen year old girl, as it was, by then, legal, (although I'm sure that there were all sorts of administrative hoops that women were forced to go through and for a girl of that age parents would undoubtedly have had been involved).  Certainly, it seems less likely that a girl with an unwanted pregnancy would subject themselves to the risk of an illicit termination in non-clinical conditions.  Then again, the film wasn't primarily aimed at UK audiences, but rather those in countries where the Catholic church still held sway and terminations still weren't legal, even in 1972, so featuring them in a film might still be seen as taboo breaking.  These criticisms aside, What Have You Done to Solange? remains a stylish and effective thriller, helped along no end by a typical Ennio Morricone score, (which, in places, is reminiscent of parts of his recent score for Fisful of Dynamite (1971)).