Aldo Lado’s Who Saw Her Die? (1972) follows two parents, Franco and Elizabeth, mourning the loss of their daughter Roberta, whose body is found in the waters of Venice. As Franco tries to piece together what happened, he uncovers a world of corruption and depravity, a dizzying labyrinth obscuring the truth.

Its Venetian setting is the perfect locale for a mystery, hosting dizzying pursuits and overlapping pathways representative of the core question of finding the killer. As Franco identifies leads and persons of interest, he follows down darkened tunnels and narrow bridges, as the individual in pursuit ducks into doorways and even skinnier passages. The urban landscape of the city, both interlinked and inscrutable, mirrors the power structure blocking the truth from coming out. As a working-class artist, he begs for help from art dealers, attorneys, and institutional figures, who are ultimately all entangled together, as an impenetrable network with something to hide.

The on-location production among the canals and piazzas of Venice also ground the film’s authenticity. The gloomy exterior weather, with clouds and rough winds, carries into the sets’ interiors, with a weathered, often decrepit quality, as the city, and the two grieving parents, are beaten down by the elements and world enveloping them.

The plight of two parents, and loss of an innocent child, at the film’s core feels less in common with the typical giallo, which often boast indiscriminate kill counts and are stylized to extreme effect, becoming worlds so distant from reality that the weight of the onscreen violence goes unfelt. Here it is very felt, with a more serious tone and genuinely chilling moments as the next victims are being preyed upon. The threat of violence – from any time Roberta strolls out of frame, or in the next room waiting for her father to finish a conversation – is truly everywhere. The dramatic irony of seeing the presence of the killer (made obvious through shadowy appearance and spooky music) in plain sight, not lurking in hallways in darkness but walking the streets of Venice, in public, with agency to go anywhere and strike at any time.

The narrative of Who Saw Her Die? is so labyrinthine that it is very difficult to follow, with names and introductions rather indiscriminately, making it unclear who is who and what role everyone plays in the greater mystery. Still, the central feeling – of grieving parents and the loss of their daughter – makes this a less stylishly thrilling, more genuinely chilling, giallo film.