La morte ha fatto l'uovo

(1968) Death Laid An Egg/ La morte ha fatto l'uovo (In Italian with English subtitles) PSYCHOLOGICAL THRILLER/ CRIME

Co-written and directed by Giulio Questi that opens with a man murdering a prostitute with an eyewitness peering in through the window, he also likes to record his victims screams as well as he is killing them. And at this point I kept wondering if that same person who saw him was going to either blackmail or perhaps do some other. We then find out this demented killer is actually an executive, Marco (Jean Louis Trintignant) and that is his wife, Anna (Gina Lollobrigida)who owns the chicken factory/ farm and whatever machinery that came along with it. Marco is perhaps an underling who is more infatuated with Anna's young cousin, Gabrielle (Ewa Aulin) who is also her secretary/ intern/ confidant. We then meet ad exec, Mondaini (Jean Sobieski) who appear to be smitten with Gabrielle making Marco to become jealous. And while this was happening, there's also a scientist conducting experiments on the chickens as well as the eggs built inside the chicken farm, like a Frankenstein chicken.

This is another one of those movies where not what viewers saw at the opening, is not exactly what it's actually happening, for the murdering of prostitutes is a part of Marco's weird fetish for the movie does not explain why he is like that- he is just is. We also do not even get the answer about the sympathy for the family dog for it leaves with more questions than the movie is willing to answer.

An avant-garde kind of giallo (more like a meta-reflection on the genre, really) that it's all over the place. Like a strange mix of Buñuel and Antonioni cinema with a documentary on acid of the poor conditions of a poultry factory, the plot was a little too convoluted to really keep my attention and I think the film tries too hard to be something different, without really achieving much. It's still an important title in this subgenre, but not for everyone.

Sort of an absurdist giallo, DEATH LAID AN EGG is about wealthy chicken farm owners, Anna (Gina Lollobrigida), her husband Marco (Jean Louis Trintignant), and their secretary, Gabrielle (Ewa Aulin). Life on the farm is blissful, in spite of Marco and Gabrielle's affair. Of course, neither of the women know that Marco is a serial killer.

Indeed, this is a strange, trippy film, bordering on the psychedelic. The "experimental" music soundtrack -which sounds a lot like someone slamming their face into a piano, while torturing a hyena with a violin- is reminiscent of that heard in A QUIET PLACE IN THE COUNTRY.

A perfect example of EGG's lunatic charm comes during a party, where the participants pile all of the furniture into the middle of the living room, and take turns entering another room in order to be "totally honest". This, having something to do with human / chicken behavior (!).

Anyone expecting a straightforward, logical story line might find this to be an excruciating experience. Aside from all of the 60's flash, it suffers from extreme tedium.

However, poultry lovers will rejoice aloud, as our feathered friends are featured quite prominently throughout! Beware of the hideous, pulsating, wingless, headless, mutant, monster chickens! Their gushy deaths will haunt you forever!...

Like many other European thrillers this early Italian giallo was obviously very influenced by the French film "Diabolique" with it's basic plot of a wealthy husband, wife, and mistress all scheming against each other. And like the later film "So Sweet, So Perverse" the movie throws another man (Jean Sorel)into the mix as a kind of a fourth side to the main triangle. This movie is no conventional thriller, however. For one thing it has kind of psychedelic, surrealist pop-art late 60's sensibility to it that always threatens to overwhelm (and occasionally does) the rational story-line. For another thing, it has a VERY bizarre setting, a fully-automated chicken plant. (There's a scene where the scientists at the plant create "monster" chickens without wings or beaks that really makes one want to swear off poultry for life). This unusual setting adds a whole industrial conspiracy angle and, moreover, a weird sort of social commentary to the proceedings.

The acting is all very good. Jean-Louis Tritigant plays a similar role to the one he'd later play in "So Sweet, So Perverse", but here he also might be a serial killer who is offing prostitutes in a roadside motel. Latin sex symbol Gina Lollabridga makes a rare appearance in this kind of film (which is actually much more entertaining than some of the bigger-budgeted movies she starred in)as the domineering wife. The young mistress is believably played by Ewa "Candy" Aulin, although she is not quite as enjoyable when she's not naked and not speaking in her natural (undubbed) heavy Swedish accent. (Aulin also appeared in another excellent, if even more obscure, giallo called "The Double"). The best thing about the movie though is the ending where EVERYBODY manages to get their just desserts--and then some. Definitely check this one out.

Let's be honest, the very title and premise are so wildly curious as to almost demand viewership; it's billed as a thriller, but expectations just go right out the window. The opening minutes don't do much to help form a concrete notion: between Bruno Maderna's excellent, vibrant score, unnerving in its emphatic discordance, and the wealth of imagery to greet us in short order, it's hard to know just what it is we've committed to watching - yet also hard not to be invested in the bizarrerie. As the narrative starts to take shape a more clear notion forms of what 'Death laid an egg' is about. Though in the broad strokes it may fit squarely into a classic Italian genre, and there are distinct difficulties with the feature as it presents, it's still suitably intriguing and engaging to be worth exploring on its own merits.

About those problems, though. As much as the movie works to catch our attention at the very start, it feels a little bit as though it's compensating for plot development that's meager and unbothered as the story first picks up. And that continues to hold true - a persistent swing of the pendulum between arresting imagery and audio, and mundane and gradual advancement of the story. Ultimately I think the back and forth between one end of the spectrum and another means we get roughly equal amounts of both - but that doesn't mean the picture is perfectly balanced. Because by the same token, Franco Arcalli's sharp, brisk editing helps to reinforce the near phantasmagoric audiovisual overload, maintain the overall pace, and build tension and suspense. Yet much of the sequencing comes across as disordered, furthering the sense of imbalance, and even incoherence, as a variety of story ideas are introduced that seem peculiarly disparate. For that matter, I believe the narrative is complete, but it struggles to even feel cohesive: some small included scenes only heighten the confusion, and maybe I just blinked at the exact wrong time, but there's also a lack of clarity in some regards.

What it comes down to is that 'Death laid an egg' tries very hard to give us a veritable cacophony of light and sound, and it succeeds in that aim. The trouble is that this choice serves to chop the plot into a deeply fragmented construction - yet without that fundamental flair, at its roots the plot is actually quite ordinary and unremarkable. Some aspects of it frankly feel altogether contrived. What we have is an issue of overwhelming style taking precedence over merely serviceable substance, and there's no great victory possible in the midst of that dichotomy. It's not that this is outright bad - not at all! I do admire the endeavor, and the gumption to fashion a story in this way. There are a few noteworthy names in the cast, and I think everyone turns in fine, nuanced displays of acting. The production design, art direction, and all manner of contributions from behind the scenes all look great generally, even when some elements fail to wholly comport. Giulio Questi demonstrates capable skills as director, and there are some splendid bits and pieces of ideas in the screenplay he wrote with Franco Arcalli.

Somehow, though, when all is said and done, much of the value gets subsumed by the kaleidoscopic film-making and storytelling. Unorthodox craft works well for many titles, yet the method must not overshadow the content as it does here. I do like 'Death laid an egg' more than I don't, but I wish I liked it more - and just as it was curiosity that drew me in at the start, having watched, curiosity may remain the best reason to check it out. It's duly recommendable for a number of reasons - fans of giallo, or the cast; appreciation of atypical movie-making or narratives, or of brilliant, memorable music. By whatever means one discovers 'Death laid an egg,' however, potential viewers should just keep in mind that one way or another it's not quite the viewing experience it inherently submits itself to be.