by maliajaffrani
Suspiria (2018) is a lurid excuse to show female rage.
Splotching themselves in skimpy red ropes, Suspiria (2018) is an unforgettably haunting ballet movie that will make you go, “What the actual hell did I just watch.” This makes sense because the same motherfucker who directed the sensual Call Me By Your Name also directed this movie, a solid homage to the 1977 original. The modern art of ballet portrayal is absolutely breathtaking. During the midst of the war in the seventies, the main character, Susie (Dakota Johnson), is a naive dancer who joins a German ballet company only to have things get really fucking weird for her. The movie becomes a bloated horror film that shows a lot of bitties and encircles the hellish agitatedness of female violence.
Besides the disembowelment, the movie includes choreography that is not just erratically erotic but also entrancingly murderous and bloodletting. The film slowly gets your mindset from questioning to an anxiety-induced psychosis. The eerie music sings at the back of your head as you rock back and forth with sweaty palms, unable to take your eyes away from the screen. The lighting is ingenious as it seems like a monochromatic overcast day transitioning to a red blood ending–and I mean a bloody end. The movie is a resplendent touch on your psyche. I would recommend not being high or drunk while watching the movie. Otherwise, it will fuck you up.
The movie starts on a cloudy note with one of the characters, Patricia running away to her therapist Dr. Klemperer–she is clearly having a mental breakdown and seems unhinged, leaving the therapist like, what the fuck? And scribbling down notes of her mutters and whispers; she leaves a notebook, which allows his in to the story. The talented and ambitious Susie then starts the next storyline as she is invited to the ballet company and attempts to woo the famous choreographer, Madame Blanc (Swinton), to rise up in her ranks as the leading dancer of one of the most challenging dances. Soon, she is tee-heeing through the halls of the school and erotically thrashing and mangling her body and arms, seeking the approval of Madame Blanc. Shortly, Susie dances and seems to be invisibly kicking the shit out of one of the stand-in employees who called Blanc a witch, leaving her bruised, bloated, mutilated, and bones broken. The sight was horrific as the other matrons gathered around her, scrying her skin as if she couldn’t feel any more pain–karma’s a bitch.
As the movie progresses, so does the outlandishness of the film. Susie realizes that Madame Blanc is responsible for many of the almost witch-like paranormal phenomena that keep occurring, whether in her dreams or how dancers go missing after becoming enraged and questioning their existence. Susie is then encapsulated in a nightmare that becomes a reality. Mia Goth (our favorite star) is also in the film, and it ends on a gruesome high note with her character finding out the absolute truth behind Blanc and her sisters as they serve under “the Mother.”
The movie will then give you the chills and unpleasantness of the horror. I have to say it was one of the most aesthetically notable films I have ever seen. It’s the type of movie where you have to watch a comedy after so you don’t get nightmares. The movie is so beautifully set and haunting–it’s the type where you want to look away but can’t because you are so connected to the screen. The movie ends with a lingering effect of sinister feelings. I highly recommend the film, especially if you’ve seen X/Pearl and liked them. (5/5) stars.
Categories: kay sheeger, malia jaffrani, october 25, review, views