Movie Review - Suspiria: The First Mother

Suspiria - The First Mother

(1977)

Seda Spettacoli : EMI / International Classics / Image Entertainment / Nouveaux Pictures

7.5 / 10

Suspiria has a special place in my heart as it was totally breathtaking to watch as Dario Argento's visual and audio style is something to behold.

Right from the start, as Suzy Bannion, elegantly portrayed by Jessica Harper, walks through the airport Argento gives the viewer a bright and colourful shot of her walking to the doors.  He doesn't like to use filters but would rather use lighting and colour to create atmosphere.  Each time we get a shot of the entranceway Argento brings in the electronic music then cuts it when we see Suzy again.  This gives the feeling that something strange is awaiting her once she departs from the airport.

Then when she's in the cab on the way to the academy he uses the driving rain, tense music and colours of red and blue to create an uneasy mood.  This is throughout the film and was tremendous as it showed me another way to shoot movies, especially horror films as they relied too much on darkness.  Even when in the dark Argento still gave the audience enough light to make out everything, opting for a blue haze.  It also makes him work to find new ways to create suspense and tension.

The other outstanding element is the lavishness of the sets.  These are very stylistic and beautiful and add a magical facet to the story and the film.  Later in the film, we realise why the academy is featured in such a prominent way.

As I said in my review of Argento's Tenebre, he is a master of murder and death.  Here it's the first murder that affirms the point.  Argento makes it feel as though your watching a ballet, gruesome though it is.

On this rewatching, I had to admit that I must have annoyed the neighbours in my youth when I originally watched it.  I couldn't remember the music being so loud it overpowered the actor's lines.  This could be something to do with the remastering, so when I watched this at night I had to ride the volume control up and down so I didn't get any neighbourly warning knocks on the wall.  So be warned on that.

Another drawback is the muddled story as you're never really sure where it's going or what's happening; though this might have been what writers Dario Argento and Daria Nicolodi were going for, to add to the unease of the story.  That said it does distract from the film a little.

If you like horror films and not seen an Argento movie yet then this and the other two in the Three Mothers Trilogy are a good place to start.  You will see there are other ways to envisage horror films.