The Bloodstained Butterfly

Trailer—The Bloodstained Butterfly

source: The Bloodstained Butterfly

Very fine, if slightly unusual giallo. Unusual in the sense that this is far more serious than one might expect and the 'in your face' violence is less evident. This might have made the film less fun, especially as there is a fair amount of time spent following police procedures, plus courtroom scenes! But, it all works and one is totally involved from the killing at the start. There is not a lot of death but we see this first one several times through different people's eyes and the film holds together remarkably well, helped along by a great soundtrack, some of it Morricone. The film moves at a very good pace and even the police comings and goings and the trial are handled very well and if the ending seems a bit abrupt I think that is because it really is a bit of a surprise. Excellent stuff and a very good intro to the wonderful world of giallo.

I love that in the seventies, you could pull up to a petrol station get out next to the pumps, try and light up a cigarette, find out the packet is empty, throw the empty packet on the ground, then go and pick up a hooker. This seems to be a blend of the old school gialli (rich, soulless socialites double crossing each other) and the new gialli (gloved killer, stabbing) that has a middle part that centres around a murder prosecution. You might need a little patience. After we're introduced to our characters with their names appearing onscreen beside them, we see a girl's corpse tumbling down a hill in a park and being found by two kids. Several witnesses spot a person in a mac stumbling through the park, with one lady claiming that the killer is a well known television personality whose daughter coincidentally it the murdered girl's best friend. However, a dazed Helmet Berger is seen staggering around the place too, so we know that things are going to get convoluted pretty quickly. Cop Silvio Tranquilli is brought in to...well, not break these case as they get a suspect pretty quickly, but he does complain about coffee a lot. Plus, this whole sequence gives director Duccio Tessari a chance to give us all sorts of freaky camera angles while the police use scientific methods that seems to quickly lead to a healthy case to send down the TV presenter. However, the suspect also has a pretty good lawyer who may very well get him off the hook. Well, nearly. After the presenter's wife (Ida Galli) accidentally gets the guy sent down, things get very giallo like as true motives are revealed, the double crosses begin, and the murders seemingly continue, even though the killer is in jail. To give you an idea of the pace of this film, the police are still standing over the first victim's body eighteen minutes into the film. Then you get the courtroom drama and the mystery of what Helmet Berger has to do with it all. Duccio Tessari is no fool, however. His eye for good visuals shines through and we get a change of scenery as the film is set in Bologna, not a place that turns up frequently in these films. It does drag, but the ending is worth waiting for. I'd been after this one for ages and although it's good, I don't think I'd ever watch it again.

A girl is murdered in a park. A suspect is tried and convicted but the killings continue. The Bloodstained Butterfly is a giallo that occupies the more restrained side of the genre. Despite having a plot revolving around a series of knife murders, it doesn't really focus on these killings. One is shown briefly in flash-back, while the others are essentially committed off-screen. Instead, the narrative concentrates more on the mystery. For this reason it is on the more sober and intelligent side of the giallo genre. Quite a bit of the story is taken up with the police procedural angle and court-room scenes. And similar to many others in the sub-genre, an intense melodrama underpins the murder mystery; and, as is often the case, it's populated by a group of quite unsympathetic people. These are made up with the usual concoction of the psychologically troubled and the sleazily untrustworthy. While the emphasis on melodrama and detective/courtroom dynamics might not be to everyone's taste, it works here. The mystery is compelling and you are kept guessing all the way. I can't say I predicted the outcome either, which is always a bonus. But in amongst all of this are some great typical giallo moments such as the opening scenes in the park with the killer making a get away shot from a number of nice angles. In general, as you might expect from this type of film it is photographed well throughout and has a good soundtrack too. It also has a somewhat unusual opening credit sequence where we are introduced to all of the main characters where they are shown with their moniker displayed on screen. This is quite good, as these films almost always have convoluted plot-lines and this helps ease us into proceedings with a quick look at whose who in the film about to start. The Bloodstained Butterfly is overall a pretty involving mystery. It isn't a horror-orientated thriller at all though, so if that's what you're after you'd be best looking elsewhere. But it has the specific mood and essence that early 70's gialli have. If you're a fan of the sub-genre you should check this one out.

Farfalla con le ali insanguinate, Una (1971) aka The Bloodstained Butterfly, Duccio Tessari During a rain storm, in broad daylight, a young French girl, Françoise Pigaut, is stabbed and killed in a park by a man in a beige rain mack and tweed hat, there are many eye witnesses in the park that see this shady figure but despite the best efforts of the police to cordon off the park, after a thorough search they find he has escaped. Police suspect a sex maniac is the killer despite the fact she was not sexually assaulted, they do however have the killer's footprints, fingerprints, a sample of his skin from under the dead girls nails and also the murder weapon, a deadly bloodstained flick knife. After watching TV, one of the women witnesses has her memory triggered and claims that the killer is in fact TV anchor man Alessandro Marchi, he is soon pulled in and questioned, the police are sure he is the killer, so when its found he knew the girl and his prints are on the murder weapon, it seem like an open and shut case. So when two more murders are committed in the same park, police despite there protestations to Marchi's guilt, are forced nonetheless to release him. Its hard to write a synopsis for this film as its first half is a very technical police procedural film interspersed with a court case involving No1 suspect Marchi, the film also explores the mental demise of the victim's boyfriend Giorgio, who is struggling to deal with her loss. Just like Tessari's Uomo senza memoria, L' aka Puzzle (1974), The Bloodstained Butterfly is not your usual glossy entry in the genre, it is filmed in a rather grainy film stock, but this doesn't detract in any way from the viewer's enjoyment, the film itself is slow to get going, but if you stick with it, its very rewarding indeed, as all the main characters are soon under the viewers suspicion, the inter relations between these characters are also slowly revealed to the viewer and grow ever more complex adding to the tension and the viewers suspicions, to say any more though, would spoil the fun. The score by Gianni Ferrio is superb, its seamless opening strains are given birth out of Tzaichovsky's piano concerto in B Minor, a classical piece that is reprised throughout the film as a musical motif for the lovers Giorgio and Francoise, Francoise was in fact murdered with a copy of the classical opus in her possession, Ferrio's evocative score reaches its height at the films finale as we see a fight to the death interspersed with some beautiful flashbacks, In Bloodstained Butterfly, Tessari again bucks the Giallo trend and never resorts to cliché, the film might bore some people to tears but for me it was a complete success and pleasure to view, its surprise twist caught me out completely, I love it when that happens Highly recommended for lovers of slowly paced intelligent Gialli.

I recently watched this movie first time and it hasn't everything that I was hoped for. Plot was too average, with some giallo twists, but too scattered. In one point, I thought movie turns out to be courtroom drama (it reminded me 'Sacco e Vanzetti'). Another thing I'm used to see in giallos is even couple of violent scenes. Lack of those (well there is some violence in the movie, but it isn't very graphical, when compared to eg. Dario Argento's or Lucio Fulci's giallos) made me very actually very unsatisfied with whole movie. Even so, movie wasn't all that bad. Soundtrack was more than nice and ending was very unpredictable. So, overall: 6/10

The Bloodstained Butterfly is more artful than most Giallo's, and doesn't adhere to the often followed tradition of over the top stylish murders and a bucket load of naked women; but instead we are treated to a finely tuned plot, which involves a court case, few murders and some well defined characters. Some Giallo fans may find this film a little dull, but I couldn't disagree more; as Duccio Tessari's film continually draws the audience in and presents its plot in a clever and different way. The murders in the movie aren't very bloody, and appear in the film merely as a plot point rather than an event - which actually helps the film as it ensures that the focus is always on the plot. But that's not to say that the film is continually caught up in the murderer's trial, as the director makes sure that it's the characters that get the most screen time. The plot follows the murder of a young girl in the park. Several witnesses come forward, and the finger of suspicion points to Alessandro Marchi. Unlucky for him is the fact that his lawyer is having an affair with his wife, and it's not long before he finds himself rotting in a jail cell. The court room sequence makes up a large proportion of the running time, but director Duccio Tessari keeps it from becoming merely a courtroom thriller by implementing several flashback sequences, which explain key plot points. Flashback sequences aren't a strongpoint of Giallo if you ask me; largely owing to Aldo Lado's disappointing Short Night of the Glass Dolls; but here it really works and the director allows the audience to work with the jury in deciding whether the accused party is guilty or not. This film doesn't benefit from the lavish cinematography that features in many films of this type, and it has to be said that the look and feel of The Bloodstained Butterfly is rather drab; but given the gritty, urban feel of the story; this actually isn't a bad thing. Another common feature of Giallo that the film doesn't feature is an incoherent plot, as the film is continually well paced; and Tessari does an excellent job with the final twist, which comes as an unexpected surprise and also rounds the story off nicely so that everything makes sense. Overall, I won't hesitate to give The Bloodstained Butterfly the highest of recommendations to anyone that appreciates plot heavy Giallo.

I just picked this little gem up recently and had the pleasure of finding out what a great film this is. I was unfamiliar with the director, and wasn't sure what to expect. The film is filled with clever camera work and symbolism. The soundtrack too is wonderful. I did not miss the mighty Morricone while watching this giallo. Morricone has scored many films like this and has created a style all his own for these sort of films. Even though I noticed some Morricone-like melodies, the score overall was original, with well placed moments of Tchaikovsky's piano concerto. If you have already seen all the Argento, Fulci and Bava giallos, then by all means do not miss this one!

Duccio Tessari is probably best known as the director of several Spaghetti Westerns, most prominently the "Ringo" films with Giuliano Gemma, as well as the well-known Italian Crime flick "Tony Arzenta". The man also served as an (uncredited) co-writer of Sergio Leone's Italian Western milestone "Fistful of Dollars", and as a writer of several sword and sandal films in the early 60s. As a director, Tessari's doubtlessly best films are his two intelligent and plot-driven Gialli, "L'Uomo Senza Memoria" (aka. "The Man Without Memory", 1974) and this gem. "Una Farfalla Con Le Ali Insanguiante" aka. "Bloodstained Butterfly" of 1971 is a terrific, beauty- and suspenseful example for a purely plot-based Giallo that profits from an excellent cast, a great score, wonderful settings and a sublime cinematography. As it is the case with Tessari's other Giallo, "The Man Without Memory", "Bloodstained Butterfly" is a Giallo that focuses on the Mystery more than the Horror-elements of the genre. And the film is indeed a perfectly constructed puzzle of a mystery that is (though convoluted) always easy to follow. When a French exchange student (Carole André) is murdered by multiple stabbing in a park in Bergamo, the police arrest TV anchor Marchi (Giancarlo Sbragia). Marchi's daughter Sarah (Wendy D'Olive), who was friends with the murdered girl, does not believe in her father's guilt... As said above, this is a purely story-driven Giallo. For genre-standards, there are only very few murders and very little gore. The film is very suspenseful, however, and delivers mystery and innovative twists from the beginning to the end, as a good Giallo should. The beautiful Bergamo locations are a wonderful setting for the film, which is furthermore (in good Giallo-tradition) brilliantly photographed. The beautiful score intensifies the atmosphere, and the film profits from a very good ensemble cast. The characters are all complex and elaborate. The always-sinister Helmut Berger and Italian Grenre-cinema regulars such as Ida Galli ("The Case Of The Scorpion's Tail"), Günter Stoll ("What Have They Done To Solange"), Silvano Tranquilli ("The Black Belly of The Tarantula"), and Giancarlo Sbragia ("Tony Arzenta") all deliver very good performances. As said, for a Giallo this features little violence and gore and also little sleaze, but the magnificently elaborate plot should be more than pleasant to Genre-fans. "Bloodstained Butterfly" is beautifully filmed with a lot of style, and highly recommended to my fellow Giallo-fans.