(1987) ***Betty, the understudy for an opera of Macbeth, gets to take the leading role when the diva playing the part storms off and is hit by a car resulting in a broken leg. Betty is apprehensive about taking on this great role because of her young age, and the supposed Macbeth curse which brings bad luck to its performers. Her gorgeous voice and stage presence are a hit, but tragedy looms in when she becomes the obsession of a maniac who repeatedly ties her up while murdering her friends. The killer forces her to watch these brutalities by adhering a strip of pins just below her eyes so that if she tries to blink or close them they will be gouged.
It’s a good movie, but it’s weak in parts, primarily in the killer’s motives which are vaguely explained. Not fully understanding the killer’s purpose left me disconnected and uninterested towards the end. I didn’t like the half assed explanation provided. It was way to brief, especially for a killer that kills in this style. I also didn’t really understand Betty towards the end either. It ended up becoming a lot of build up for a whole lot of nothing.
However, this film also has a lot of great things going for it too. The murders in this movie are fabulous. They are entertaining, vile, and artistic. It may be worth watching just for that. Though it is the often brilliantly constructed scenes that really sold me on this film. Sometimes the colors are vibrant and other times washed out, and it all works. There are moments where the music, colors, and atmosphere all mesh together like a beautiful painting. I found myself sometimes rewinding a scene just to catch another glimpse of its radiance. Although as great as several of them are, sometimes it tries to be too stylized and seems forced creating a visually unappealing scene. This contrasts Suspiria where every scene is a masterpiece that is obviously meticulously crafted but at the same time flows so brilliantly it appears effortless. Opera shows signs of this magic, but doesn’t hold up in the films entirety.
4 comments:
"It’s a good movie, but it’s weak in parts, primarily in the killer’s motives which are vaguely explained." Yeah, that pretty much sums up all of Argento's films, style over sense. Very nice review!
Great review! Having just watched Suspiria I now get what you are talking about. Not sure if Argento is my cup of tea - especially if I've seen the best already.
Fucking fantastic review all around! I agree with every word but wasn't able to describe it like that. Argento is my cup of tea but I definitely admit that a lot of his movies are pretty rough around the edges and to be brutally frank - not very enjoyable to watch. (This can be a liability for a motion picture.)
However, almost every one of them includes glimpses of brilliance. The meticulous crudeness of the razor blades on the eyes for example predates the Saw movies by a couple of decades.
This line of Johnny's in his '05 review of this movie still cracks me up:
"But I must say - tie her up and prop her eyelids open using a barbaric, makeshift Clockwork Orangy device while he brutally murders a friend of hers once, shame on him. When it happens a second time, shame on Betty."
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