Let's be realistic.

Highly Overrated But Still Good

Ok... Let's be honest. It cannot be the best movie but is quite enjoyable. The movie has the potential to develop a great plot for future movies

It really made me laugh, but for some moments I was tearing up because I could relate so much.

In London, the Italian gym teacher Enrico 'Henry' Rosseni (Fabio Testi) is having a love affair with his eighteen year-old student Elizabeth Seccles (Christine Galbo), who is the daughter of the owner of the Catholic School where he works and she studies. His estranged wife Herta Rosseni (Karin Baal) is the mathematics teacher in the same school. On Sunday afternoon, Rosseni and Elizabeth are in a boat in a grove and the girl glances at a knife and a man hunting down a woman. Rosseni believes she is giving a pretext to avoid him and does not pay attention to her. On the next morning, Rosseni learns that a teenager was murdered in the river bank in the grove and he drives to the location. Inspector Barth (Joachim Fuchsberger) goes to the school since the victim Hilda studied there and soon Rosseni becomes the prime suspect since he protects Elizabeth, who could give an alibi to him. When a second student is murdered, Elizabeth recalls that the killer where a black soutane worn by priests. While the police investigate the suspects, Elizabeth is killed and Rosseni decides also to investigate. He teams up with Herta and the find the name of the mysterious Solange Beauregard. They seek her out but what might have happened to Solange?"Cosa avete fatto a Solange?", a;k;a "What Have They Done to Solange?" , is an intriguing giallo with a totally unpredictable story full of mystery and tension. The erotic plot is well-written with many twist and suspects. The conclusion surprises the viewer and it is worthwhile watching this film that is not dated. My vote is seven.Title (Brazil): "O quê Vocês Fizeram com Solange?" ("What Have You Done to Solange?)

WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TO SOLANGE? is one of the masterworks of the giallo genre, a truly beautiful film that comes across as something of a masterpiece thanks to a strong and literate script, excellent cinematography and music, and a good cast being put through their paces. The only thing I'm surprised about is that I haven't got around to seeing it before now, because this viewing was long overdue.The film is set in London and features Italian crime film regular Fabio Testi as an Italian teacher at a girl's school. He's married but having an affair with one of his students, but one day the pair are interrupted by a brutal murder taking place just feet away. Testi finds himself suspected by the police while at the same time trying to investigate the crime himself so that he can bring the killer to justice.Sometimes a film seems so perfect that it's impossible to criticise it and that's the case here. This is a classy affair that deals with some explicit subject matter, but it's never sleazy or trashy, despite interludes in the showers and the like. Joe D'Amato's cinematography and the evocative piano music really keep it looking and acting like an art-house film rather than your usual gory giallo outing. The emphasis is on the suspense and the murder mystery aspects more than gruesome deaths and stalk and slash sequences.The script is tightly written and keeps you guessing throughout with many red herrings and the like. The twists and turns that arise are genuinely involving and there are some real shocks here; it's also a movie that gets better and better as it goes on and the ending is really stellar. Testi is fine as the lead and THE LIVING DEAD AT THE MANCHESTER MORGUE's Cristina Galbo effective as his love interest. I particularly liked Joachim Fuchsberger as the dogged detective determined to get to the bottom of it. There's even a minor but important role for Camille Keaton (I SPIT ON YOUR GRAVE). WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TO SOLANGE? is truly a masterpiece of film-making and a film that even beats Dario Argento at his own game.

Whilst enjoying an afternoon on the river, married teacher Enrico (Fabio Testi) is stoically attempting to coerce one of his young students Elizabeth (Christina Galbo) into having sex with him, when she notices on the bank, the glint of a knife in the sunshine. Dismissing this as an excuse not to give into his demands, Enrico is therefore stunned to later hear on the radio of a murder of a young girl in the area that very afternoon.Selfishly, Enrico initially forbids Elizabeth to report her suspicions to the police, for fear his liaison will be exposed. However, sympathies with Enrico begin to materialise when it seems his affair with Elizabeth isn't a whim. His wife Herta (Karin Baal) is cold hearted and unloving, and what Enrico and Elizabeth share might well be true love. As the murders continue, the film enters into proper horror territory, with nightmares and growing graphic atrocities conspiring to tighten the proverbial noose around Enrico's neck, as he appears to be the main suspect.In a further shock, Elizabeth herself is murdered, and this appears to bring Enrico and Herta closer – it is interesting that in softening her character, Herta takes to wearing make-up, as opposed to the harsh 'freshly scrubbed' appearance she had adopted earlier.(Spoiler) Solange, when at last she appears, is the character around whom the murders all centre. Her father posed as a Priest in order to obtain confessions from Solange's school-friends who arranged an illegal abortion for her against her will. The brutality destroyed her mind. The final frame of the film has her sobbing gently as her father shoots himself having at last been discovered.This has been billed as 'giallo' film, that is what Wikipedia describes as a '20th-century Italian slasher genre of literature and film, usually with mystery elements and often with either supernatural horror or crime fiction elements.' As such, it fits the description well. The flawed nature of Enrico fuels the story – he is far from perfect and a ready-made scapegoat for the murders. He is not given to passionately protesting his innocence, and it may well be that un-emotive nature that robbed his wife of her love for him; darkly poetic then, that such a harrowing tragedy should bring them back together.

Maybe it was inevitable that the German Edgar Wallace movie series found its end in the sleazy folds of the Italian giallo. Both of these whodunit/thriller subgenres share similar trademarks, such as rampant triviality, exploitative and sexist world views, voyeuristic touches, senseless plots and barely adequate acting. The German variant wasn't nearly as explicit and rather amusingly childish, but also lacked the gialli's stylistic flourishes.Here we've got good old reliable Blacky Fuchsberger and the Italian stud Fabio Testi to find out who the brutal girls' killer is and the comparatively tame proceedings are quite entertaining in their stupid fashion. The plot's not as ridiculous as other examples of the genre, but no great shakes either.The direction is rather boring.3 out of 10 peeping school teachers