Great and very well made Murder Mystery made for Italian TV, RAI. I had never
heard about it, but here it is on a fine Blu-ray thanks to US Severin Films.
A series of 4 episodes on 2 discs and with a total of almost 6 hours playtime
and Sergio Martino considers it to be one of his best achievements.
A late entry to the Gialli genre or is it more of a regular Whodunit ? Anyway,
Gialli legend Edwige Fenech not just produced this project she also played
the main role excellently, of a grieving mother turned sleuth.

The film takes place in the beautiful Tuscan provincial town Lucca and there is
a huge gallery of characters, including besides i.a. Fenech and Lovelock,
screen legends as Alida Valli and Annie Girardot. The TV series was a huge
Hit in Italy among the people and met with positive reviews from critics.

Is it a giallo or a more regular Whodunit? I don't know, but I liked it. It's
slow moving though and there are not much violence and no nudity as this
is a TV production. But this was good anyway and with solid performances.
At the beginning there's surely an Argento homage with an opera singer and
a POV camera glide through the corridors of an old Opera-house (Opera).

Today, when writing this in April 2024, we are drowned in crappy TV series
and with Seasons 2, 3, 4, 5 .... It just never ends.
Delitti Privati's 6 hours is blissfully short in comparison.

The Story - Who Killed Sandra ?

We're in the little town of Lucca and it's Music Conservatory is giving a
concert of classical music with it's students.
19 year old Sandra Durani (Vittoria Belvedere) performs to much applause.
She's accompanied by another student, her boyfriend pianist Paolo
(Lorenzo Flaherty). In the audience her mother Nicole Venturi (Edwige
Fenech) and that evening many bad things will happen.

At home in her/Nicole's apartment an old man peeps at her from the
other side of the street. A man forces himself into her car when she's
about to leave to meet her much older lover, Marco Pierboni.
Marco is a rich industrialist and a notorious playboy and seducer.
Sandra and Marco meets and are both shot dead. Who dun it?

It's a huge gallery of Lucca townspeople to choose from.
Is it: Her boyfriend Paolo in a rage of jealousy ? Is it the peeping Tom,
the director of the Music Conservatory Professor Mauri (French actor
Laurent Terzieff (1935-2010 and what a face he had)?
Is it Filippo (Marco's son), Massimo (Marco's brother), Daniela (Marco's
wife), Milena (another girlfriend of Marco), Dr. Braschi (family doctor)?

Alida Valli plays Matilde Pierboni, the matriarch of the family, Jaques
Perrin plays Roberto Durani (Sandra's father and Nicole's ex-husband.
Annie Girardot is Paolo's mother, a medium, Victoria Vera is Nicole's
best friend, Silvia Mocci is Chiara, buddy of Sandra, violin student
and Ray Lovelock plays Police Commissioner Stefano.

The film is presented in original 4:3 fullscreen with Italian mono and
English subtitles - region all bluray
EXTRAS: Audio commentary by Kat Ellinger to Part One on Disc One

Edwige Queen of Giallo: Interview with actress and producer Edwige
Fenech (23 minutes, 2023 by Federico Caddeo).

Disc Two - Giallo in Lucca: Interview with Sergio Martino (28 minutes
2023 by Federico Caddeo)