A fragmentary technique and sundry excursions into bizarre eroticism suggest that Giulio Questi has had one eye on Antonioni and the other on Fellini in his attempt to turn what is basically a conventional thriller into an abstruse comment on the difference between private and public depravity. His wilfully elliptical approach is not uninteresting, but unfortunately has the effects of giving some of the digressions rather more weight than the central narrative. This is particularly noticeable in the kinky sex of the opening and a scene in which an accident causes a researcher’s experiments to produce monster hatchlings of chickens without heads or wings (which may, or may not, be a comment on the future of consumer society) – to the delight, incidentally, of the scientist involved. Though the edgy direction does set up a kind of tension throughout the film, the elaborate and painstakingly slow scene-setting is a little tiresome and doesn’t really balance with the comparative rush of action towards the end. All the same, a genuine curiosity.
Rating 1 (Good of its type)
Review from Monthly Film Bulletin, May 1969
Comment: It’s interesting to see that Questi’s quite extraordinary film got a good review in the MFB, as I’d have thought it would be a bit too way out to have appealed (although the MFB reviews are, on the whole, quite fair… they display an element of appreciation for popular films that was uncommon among the critical establishment of the time). I’m quite happy to throw in my entirely biased opinion that it’s a wonderful work, and along with Django Kill established Questi as one of the most interesting Italian directors of his time. Did he fulfil this promise? Well, it’s difficult to say because all his other films are so danged obscure, but it is a shame that he was never able to produce anything else of quite such idiosyncratic quality.
