Recensioni degli utenti

This six-hour Italian TV mini-series directed by Golden Age Giallo auteur Sergio Martino stars genre favorites Edwige Fenech, Ray Lovelock, and Alida Valli and has been described as a cross between a giallo and TWIN PEAKS -but that's only wishful thinking based on the past reputations of the talent involved. The basic plot line -a teenager's murder rips the lid off a small town's secrets and lies- is not unlike the death of Laura Palmer but the handling, although competent, is nowhere near as deep, quirky, or atmospheric as David Lynch's masterpiece. The meandering murder mystery is too long by half, isn't very compelling, and the body count is low which makes it a missed opportunity at best but the production values are high and the cast is very attractive, especially Fenech who only got better with age. Lovelock looks a bit like Brad Pitt.

Delitti privati presents an intriguing if ultimately uneven attempt to transport the giallo sensibility to the intimate confines of provincial Italian television. The veteran director, known for his stylish thrillers of the 1970s, crafts a murder mystery that flickers between atmospheric promise and pedestrian execution, resulting in a work that satisfies neither as prestige television nor as a worthy successor to his earlier cinematic achievements.

The visual palette adopts a deliberately muted approach, with cinematographer Dante Spinotti painting the Tuscan landscape in somber earth tones that reflect the moral ambiguity lurking beneath the surface of small-town respectability. The camera work oscillates between moments of genuine artistry (particularly in the nocturnal sequences along the Serchio River) and pedestrian television framing that betrays the production's budgetary constraints. Martino demonstrates flashes of his old flair for creating unease through careful composition, yet the overall visual language feels constrained by the medium's limitations.

Edwige Fenech anchors the production with a performance that reveals both her strengths and the challenges of transitioning from exploitation cinema to more serious dramatic territory. As journalist Nicole Venturi, she brings a weathered gravitas that serves the character well, though her delivery occasionally betrays the melodramatic tendencies that marked her earlier work. Ray Lovelock provides solid support, his presence lending credibility to the investigative elements, while the veteran Alida Valli delivers the series' most compelling performance despite limited screen time. Her portrayal of a woman harboring decades-old secrets crackles with genuine menace and psychological complexity.

The supporting cast varies wildly in quality, with some performers struggling to elevate dialogue that veers between stilted exposition and overwrought emotional declarations. The younger cast members, particularly those playing the victim's contemporaries, lack the gravitas necessary to sell the weight of their circumstances. This uneven ensemble work undermines several pivotal scenes, creating a sense of artificiality that distances viewers from the central mystery.

The pacing suffers from the episodic format, with revelations doled out in a manner that feels more mechanical than organic. Martino's direction shows sparks of his former inventiveness, particularly in sequences involving anonymous letters and their psychological impact on the community, but these moments are diluted by extended passages of routine police procedural work. The series benefits from its authentic location shooting, with the historic streets of Lucca providing atmospheric backdrop that occasionally compensates for the more mundane elements of the narrative.

It sounds like an interesting concept: giallo veteran Sergio Martino directing a mix of mostly French-Italian genre veterans, along with newcomers, in a mid-1990s attempt to revive the giallo, in mini-series (four 85-minute episodes) form. Unfortunately, it does not work at all. The series is competently made in a workmanlike fashion, but uninspired, flat, styleless, dreary. There is very little plot progression from episode to episode, and very little suspense. In fact, it plays more like a soap opera than a giallo. A maturely attractive Edwige Fenech puts in a strong performance in the lead, but my bet is that few of the people starting this mini-series will have the endurance to finish it. *1/2 out of 4.