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Dario Argento’s Three Mothers Trilogy: Suspiria
A look at the first movie in the Argento “Three Mothers” trilogy.
Most people would not know who Dario Argento is, unless you are a horror movie fan. The famed Italian writer director is known for his Three Mothers series, beginning with the 1977 classic Suspiria.
The first in the trilogy, Suspiria is a clever film exploring the innate desire for immortality. As Argento has been quoted, he stated he wanted to make a Disney movie, with its wholesome goodness and turn it on its head. So Argento took Snow White and shook it up, adding the horrific notion of the occult to the fairy tale.
Set in a Germany, Suzy finds herself on a damp doorstep of a famous dance academy, heading into the unknown world of a wicked coven that preyed upon the young girls at the school. It is up to Suzy to ruin the plans of the Mother.
Argento wrote the film with his significant other Daria Nicoldi, who originally was to star in the movie, however, the writers bother believed that they should go in a different direction. So, Argento decided that since he was turning a fairytale into a horror movie, why not utilize children. He fought hard for the movie to continue on with children in the lead roles, yet the studio nixed the idea, considering the subject matter of Suspiria too dark and challenging for children.
Argento, being the clever filmmaker he is, intended for the audience to feel the youth of the film. Correcting the problem of not being able to use child actors, Argento had all the doorknobs on the set placed at head level so that the actors would reach up to open the doors. This gave the impression that they are childlike, since children generally reach up to open doors.
Suzy is incredibly naïve and childlike in her words and actions, adding to the youthfulness that Argento added to the film. She is unaware of the evilness that lives around her, Suzy continues forward with her dance training.
Argento films the entire movie in the standard Eastman color stock Kodak film, though most cinaphiles will argue that due to the film’s remarkable color it was actually filmed in Technicolor. Argento purposely filmed it in Kodak color stock then printed the movie in the Technicolor machines available. This process enhanced the color of the film, making it eerily hypercolored and shockingly bright, particularly against the subject matter being discussed.
The movie, though over thirty years old, is still disturbing to date. In true Argento fashion, the first victim is murdered and pushed through a plate glass window, high above Suzy in the foyer. The color of the girl’s blood against the color of the plate glass is an interesting scene, as it is fiercely vivid, almost to the point of being unbelievably hued. Yet these indescribable colors enhance the point that Argento was trying to portray. It plays into the youthfulness that Argento was going for, by painting the world of Suzy and the Mothers with vibrant colors that only children would use. He mismatches colors with objects, another nod to the fairytale gone awry.
Suspiria is a joyful and crazy trip through Argento’s image of Snow White. While it may not be as gory and violent as today’s horror films, Suspiria no doubt stands up over the years as a suspenseful, interesting and horrific tale of the young, naïve princess wandering through the scary woods of the wicked witch, wanting her beauty.
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