MovieChat Forums > Non ho sonno (2001) Discussion > question about the scene with the prosti...

question about the scene with the prostitute at the start (spoilers!)

posted 13 years ago by iheartjh
4 replies | jump to latest

Was the prostitute having/ going to have sex with the dwarf puppet in the beginning (the prostitute thought the dwarf was coming after her and told the train conductor about a killer dwarf)? So how did the killer manage to do this with the puppet propositioning the prostitute? Under the blanket? And I thought the prostitute was the "pig" in the sequence? Because after the pig, then the rooster, the chick, the cat, the rabbit, then the swan. How come after the 1st 2 murders (the prostitute, then her friend) the "cat" was the next victim? And why were all the "animals" women? Yes, the killer killed men, as well, but they were not part of the pattern (only incidental killings)?
Also, how come the DNA under the 2nd victim's nails was not brought up again in the film?

[–] ThreeSadTigers 13 years ago

My memory of the film is a little hazy, so feel free to correct me if I'm wrong.

Was the prostitute having/ going to have sex with the dwarf puppet in the beginning (the prostitute thought the dwarf was coming after her and told the train conductor about a killer dwarf)

As is my understanding, the prostitute is going to have sex with Lorenzo, the real killer. He isn't up to it (refuses to get out of bed) and tells the prostitute to leave. When she discovers the killer's newspaper clippings, she assumes the client (who she never gets a proper look at) was "the dwarf", Vincenzo (the original suspect for the murders, not the puppet).

Later we learn Vincenzo - a writer of violent crime novels - was actually innocent, and was framed by the young Lorenzo for the murder of Giacomo's mother in 1983 (the first victim?).

Also, how come the DNA under the 2nd victim's nails was not brought up again in the film?

I think it is. Chief Inspector Manni and his team (the real cops; not Giacomo and Moretti) use the DNA to identify and eventually track down Lorenzo, which is how they manage to arrive at the house at the end of the film. That is one of the main points of the film; how the different crime solving techniques of Moretti (old school) and Manni (new school) are contrasted. This is an idea Argento takes further in his next film The Card Player, where he attempts to update the conventions of the giallo with modern (21st century) technology and CSI style forensics.

I guess it's kind of confusing since most of Manni's dialogue about modern police procedures beating out Moretti out-dated detective work is spoken during the closing credits.

how come after the 1st 2 murders (the prostitute, then her friend) the "cat" was the next victim?

I can't help you with the order of the killings without first re-watching the film, but I'm sure someone with more insight will get around to it eventually.

[–] PoppyTransfusion 12 years ago

How come after the 1st 2 murders (the prostitute, then her friend) the "cat" was the next victim?

The prostitute and her friend are not the first two murders. Technically they're the 4th and 5th but they are not part of the nurssery rhyme murders. Lorenzo kills them to retrieve his wallet that had souvenirs from the nursery rhyme murders, which the prostitute picked up by mistake and then her friend later found on the train.

And why were all the "animals" women? Yes, the killer killed men, as well, but they were not part of the pattern (only incidental killings)?

Who knows why - the killer's psychology is not explained within the film but he's a sadist who killed animals before humans, so why not? As above the prostitute, her friend and Mrs Fabrisi were women killed, like the men, because they got in the way, i.e. he killed women incidentally as he did the men.

my vessel is magnificent and large and huge-ish

[–] 12 years ago

[deleted]

[–] alex_nox2 8 years ago

There were 3 murders in 1983 ? Giacomo's mother, Maria Gallo, was the second to be killed. Later on (apparently), the killer follows the nursery rhyme from where he left of. However, at the end, Lorenzo explains he didn't stop killing abroad and that "the whole world knows this nursery rhyme", suggesting that he already followed the pattern over and over again.