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I have watched many confusing Giallos in my life, but this one seems to have a top spot.
It is another in a long line of Italian murder mysteries and more like a Noir than Giallo. We are never given an actual killer or series of murders but more of a detective investigation mostly following a retired inspector volunteering his time. Our case involves a young woman found on the beach in yellow pajamas in an old car. She was stashed inside a sack used for carrying rice after being raped, burned, and her head bashed in.
To be honest from here it gets pretty confusing. We follow a series of main characters that up until the third act we aren’t really sure how they are connected to the plot in the first place. Our old detective, played by Ray Milland, is retired and helping the local police in his spare time. He travels from packing plants to restaurants to find a certain grain of rice that was found in the sack of the dead girl. The police embalm the girl and put her in a viewing tank for the public so they can try to identify her. All of it is pretty wild.
Let’s not forget to mention that every single house or apartment in the film has posters of naked people on the walls. Some of it is straight porn and when we are introduced to the main that left the car on the beach in the first place, he is jerking off to the lady who lives next door. While she is doing her laundry of course. Not to mention our elderly detective goes to do some investigating and he runs into an older gay man taking a bath who wants him to join him. Everything is hypersexualized.
The stories eventually cross. But it is well over an hour before they do. So it is rather perplexing. The second story is about a woman named Linda. She is young and married but never stops seeing other lovers on the side. Furthermore, she doesn’t hide it very well that she is unfaithful. It takes so long for the stories to intersect that you sometimes wonder what is actually going on here. To be fair neither story is uninteresting, but the build-up for the way it is done is rather perplexing. Another point that throws you off is that they are constantly talking about European locals, but there are so many spots that seem to be Australian.
This brings us to a point that maybe that was intentional. This film is based on a real murder case in Australia from 1934. A woman named Linda Agostini had disappeared—her husband confessed to it a decade later. He spent very little time in prison and it is even believed that he didn’t kill her at all nor were the two even connected. Pretty interesting case when you read about it. It actually helps anyone watching understand the film a little better. Especially when you read that her husband was in Australia and deported back to Italy.
Once you get to the end and all the connections unfold it all makes sense. But it takes an hour and 20 minutes to get to that point. Then you are left with 19 minutes to go, ” Well that was super twisted and depressing.”
Before we go here let’s talk about how awful the soundtrack is. A French singer named Amanda Lear does all the original songs for the film. They are awful and disjointed. It’s not even avant-garde or anything it’s just weird and tone-deaf. I guess it does fit with the film then. It is really difficult to describe what you are hearing until you hear it.
The wild thing is here that I actually did like the film, it’s just not normal in any way shape, or form. In fact, it is a film that requires a second viewing. It’s not going to be a fun second viewing, but I definitely feel it needs it. Don’t worry, if you get to the end and aren’t sure why a bus full of marching band girls just showed up, you are not alone.
This film is in Arrows Giallo Red box set along with Franco Nero’s Fifth Cord and The Repossessed. Both of which are much better than conventional films. The Pyjama Girl Case is just a film that tests your patience a bit because you have zero inkling what the connection is until the end. To me, none of the films really feel like Giallos. They all seem to be closer to Noir. Mysteries with the detective angle and not so much a serial killer.
A good box set and all three films are very much different. Even if you aren’t sure what you are watching.
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