Una farfalla con le ali insanguinate (1971)

When a girl is murdered in a park, a man is tried and convicted for the crime but afterwards the killings continue.

Director:

Duccio Tessari

Writers:

Gianfranco Clerici, Duccio Tessari (screenplay)

Stars:

Helmut Berger, Giancarlo Sbragia, Ida Galli

Cast

Cast overview:
Helmut Berger	...	Giorgio
Giancarlo Sbragia	...	Alessandro Marchi
Ida Galli	...	Maria Marchi (as Evelyn Stewart)
Silvano Tranquilli	...	Inspector Berardi
Wendy D'Olive	...	Sarah Marchi (as Wendi D'Olive)
Günther Stoll	...	Attorney Giulio Cordaro
Wolfgang Preiss	...	The Prosecutor
Lorella De Luca	...	Marta Clerici
Peter Shepherd	...	The Inspector's Assistant
Gabriella D'Olive	...	Gabriella Giusti (as Gabriella Venditti)
Stefano Oppedisano
Anna Zinnemann	...	Anna Bellini
Dana Ghia	...	Giorgio's mother
Federica Tessari
Carole André	...	Françoise Pigaut

Storyline

When a girl is murdered in a park, a man is tried and convicted for the crime but afterwards the killings continue.

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Plot Keywords:

j&b scotch | murder of a girl | watching tv | falling downhill | psychopathic killer | 

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Genres:

Mystery | Thriller

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Certificate:

Not Rated

Details

Country:

Italy

Language:

Italian

Release Date:

31 August 1972 (West Germany)

Also Known As:

Blutspur im Park

Filming Locations:

Piazza San Babila, Milan, Lombardia, Italy

Company Credits

Technical Specs

Runtime:

95 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Connections

Featured in Mad Dog Helmut (2016)

User Reviews

Slowly paced Intelligent Giallo

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.