Film

What Have You Done to Solange?

Name: What Have You Done to Solange?
Genre: Mystery, Thriller, Horror
Released: 1972
Cast: Fabio Testi, Karin Baal, Cristina Galbó, Joachim Fuchsberger, Günther Stoll

A 1972 Italian giallo that traps its protagonist in a nightmare of guilt and suspicion. When schoolgirls are murdered in baroque, ritualistic ways, a teacher embroiled in a forbidden affair becomes implicated—but the film's real interest is psychological torment, not whodunit mechanics. Visually sumptuous and morally queasy, it's for viewers who want style and dread over clarity.

TMDb rating

3.4

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The Bird with the Crystal Plumage1970

Argento's debut, which essentially codified the modern giallo. An American witness to a brutal attack becomes hunted by both the killer and the investigation. Taut, ingenious, visually restless.

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Suspiria1977

A ballet student arrives at a German academy that harbours something ancient and malevolent. Pure atmosphere and dread; Goblin's score is hypnotic. A masterclass in controlled, mounting unease.

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The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

The Conformist1971

Both films use the forbidden affair as a moral sinkhole that swallows the protagonist; both are obsessed with surfaces, light, and the gap between how things look and what they mean. Both trust visual language over exposition.

Bertolucci's masterwork: a fascist bureaucrat is sent to commit murder and falls into an affair. Like *Solange*, it's about guilt, seduction, and moral vertigo—but it's a political thriller wrapped in Renaissance symmetry and colour. Transcendent filmmaking.

But It's a three-hour film that moves with operatic slowness and requires active attention. The politics are embedded, not explicit.

Don't Torture a Duckling1972

Another Italian thriller of the same era: a man accused of murder holes up in a hotel while the real killer hunts him. Tense, claustrophobic, with excellent use of confined spaces and shadow.

But It's less visually distinctive than the best gialli, and can feel like a solid B-picture when you want something transcendent.

Blade Runner1982

A detective hunts artificial beings indistinguishable from human. Like *Solange*, it's concerned with guilt, identity, and whether the hunter might be the thing being hunted. Hypnotic sci-fi noir.

But The philosophical weight can overshadow momentum; it's meditative in a way that tests patience if you want forward motion.

Blood and Black Lace1964

An earlier giallo that influenced everything that came after. A masked killer stalks models; the film is more interested in visual spectacle and suspense than logic. Technicolor gore in a high-fashion setting.

But Narratively it's almost a skeleton—characters exist mainly to be killed—and misogyny is woven into the fabric rather than questioned.

The Phantom of the Opera1989

A rock opera adaptation that pairs operatic grandeur with slasher mechanics. It's visually baroque and genuinely unsettling, with a score that doesn't quit. Bill Nighy is unforgettable.

But The genre-blending works beautifully or feels self-conscious depending on your tolerance for maximalism. Some find it ridiculous.

The Wailing2016

A South Korean mystery-horror where a detective's investigation into a series of deaths spirals into moral and metaphysical uncertainty. Operates on multiple levels and stays with you long after.

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Mulholland Drive2001

A dreamlike Los Angeles thriller where identity fractures and guilt (real or imagined) warps reality. Stunning cinematography and a narrative that rewards rewatching.

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Strangers in the Night2015

Both are about ordinary men drawn into nightmare scenarios they can't fully understand. Both use class anxiety and the uncanny disruption of domestic spaces. Both trust atmosphere over plot.

A two-part British TV thriller about a doctor and his family moving into a sinister house. It has the giallo's visual precision and European sensibility but the intimate scale of television—creeping unease instead of operatic violence.

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Possession1981

Like *Solange*, it spirals inward from a simple transgression (infidelity) into psychological annihilation. Both films are interested in guilt as a corrosive force that reshapes reality. Both leave you disturbed rather than satisfied.

Andrzej Żuławski's hallucinatory Berlin-set horror about a marriage collapsing into madness and occult terror. It plays like a giallo written by someone on a fever dream: surreal, visceral, anguished. Absolutely committed to feeling over logic.

But It's relentlessly ugly and exhausting, with extended scenes of shrieking and degradation. The sexual and bodily horror is extreme and not cathartic. This is not entertainment; it's endurance.