Death Laid an Egg (1968)
Weird and off beat giallo that really isn't a giallo at all. I always though a gialli tended to be a murder mystery.
Death Laid an Egg stars Gina Lollobrigida, Ewa Aulin and Jean-Louis Trintignant in a tale of industrial espionage and menage a trois at the chicken factory.
Once you get to the bottom of this there really isn't an awful lot going on except red herrings galore. Also it's not a film to thrill the viewer but it is quietly compelling viewing. I tend to associate Trintignant with French director Alain Robbe-Grillet and for whatever reason
Death Laid an Egg often comes across like a Grillet movie. Be it the abstract filming techniques and slightly surreal dream like atmosphere the film is bathed in. Even the mechanical chicken farm seems hypnotizing on occasions.
The performances by the three leads complement each other and it's their love triangle that holds the film in place for much of the time. Director Guillio Questi keeps things rather restrained and the film eschews many of the typical giallo traits of murder and sex. More in line with
Footprints on the Moon than
The Case of the Bloody Iris for example,
Death Laid an Egg is...interesting.