What Have You Done to Solange? (1972)

This is another interesting little Giallo that I had the chance to check out recently.  The movie starts off with an instructor at an all girls’ school taking a romantic board ride with his student/girlfriend.  While making the moves on her she sees what she thinks is a brutal killing on the shore.  Henry, the instructor, eventually takes her home when he realizes she isn’t going to give him what he wants.  But heads right back to the scene when he finds out that there was a killing.  Eventually suspicion falls on Henry and he is forced to figure out who the killer is, before he is convicted!  All he knows is that as more of the girls turn up dead the killings are related to another young woman named Solange.  But what is the connection and why is the killer murdering the women in such an awful way? 

I’ve had good luck with the Giallos I’ve been watching lately and What Have You Done to Solange is no different.  The story is a very solid mystery that takes it’s time to unwind the mystery while not being slow at all.  You get a killing early on in the movie, with more evenly spaced thru the runtime.  There are plenty of possible suspects, and when the killer is finally identified it makes sense.  The motivation for the murders is also very unique and not something that I’ve seen done before.  This makes for a cool twist at the end and a memorable movie.  As is the case with many European movies What Have you Done to Solange is a sleazy little movie.  Not only is Henry stepping out with one of his students, but the whole Solange storyline and motivation for the killer is also kind of on the sleazy side.  And the killings, which are inspired again by the killer’s motivation are really over the top and add to the over vibe of the movie. 

Speaking of the killings I was surprised by how much you do get to see.  The reason that I say this is because the murderer kills his victims by stabbing them in a most sensitive of places.  While we never get to explicitly see the stabbings themselves on screen we do see much of the aftermath, including one scene of the knife sticking out from between on victims legs!  Of course this isn’t just done for shock value, as it all makes sense later on when other things are revealed.  What Have You Done to Solange is also a nice looking movie with some great camera work.  There are a couple of scenes shot from the POV of the killer that caught my attention.  I also love the style behind how some of the shots were framed and how the camera follows the characters thru the sets.  Visually this is a very interesting movie to watch. 

Bottom line here is that this is another top notch Giallo that every fan of the genre really needs to check out.  I highly recommend What Have You Done to Solange.

3 ½ out of 4

reviewed by John Shatzer

© Copyright 2010 John Shatzer