Movie Breakdown: Suspiria (Noah)
Pre-Screening Stance:
I’ve only seen the original Argento Suspiria once and though I remember enjoying it, that’s about it. Regardless, Luca Guadagnino made Call Me By Your Name so anything, absolutely anything he’s got his hands on is at the top of the list.
Post-Screening Ramble:
There is an unsettling aspect of Suspiria from the moment the credits roll across the screen. This is high, high, high-brow horror, but it is in all ways horrific. Set in 1977 Berlin, the film centers on a modern dance company with more than a few secrets lurking in its stylish appareled closets. Dakota Johnson plays Susie Bannion, an American in Germany with a few dark spots in her past as well. To say anymore would be to ruin the joy of seeing just how bat-shit crazy Guadagnino is willing to take this dark allegory, but know this, the director’s crafted a bizarre, at times retch-inducing horror film shot through with all the ’70s genre accoutrements you can ask for – zooms, pans, surreal blasts of light and sound. Tilda Swinton plays Madame Blanc (and in a double role, Dr. Josef Klemperer, a psychiatrist unwillingly thrust into the madness) with the cold, eeriness we’ve come to expect of her. Her chilly, electric performance gives the film a central point to madly spin out of control around. Johnson still confuses me, an actress with an easily discernible gravitas, but a lurking blandness that throws everything off kilter. In Suspiria though, it works, her American bluntness a relatable foil to everything else that’s going on. I’m curious how well the film plays with Guadagnino dipping his feet into graphic gore (the dancing scene – you’ll know what I’m talking about – had me covering my face with my hands) and art house weirdness, and after the simple, atmospheric magic of Call Me By Your Name, this is going to be jarring. But for fans of the genre – and the original film – this is horror produced at a high, high level, a weighty bit of surreality that stands head and heel above much of what’s being offered these days.
One Last Thought:
John had to tell me that the old man in the film was actually Tilda Swinton. And even now, knowing the truth, it’s hard for me to see her under the makeup and the performance.
One Other Last Thought:
I still don’t really understand the meaning of having Swinton play two characters in the film. But hey, that’s just the tip of the iceberg in terms of what I hope to understand on many, many repeat viewings.
