Suspiria - Review Thread

Remakes of classic films are always going to strike a nerve with people, no matter what the original films holds in merit, historical standing, or even quality.  I'm not always going to scoff at the notion of a remake simply on the grounds of it being made; what's more important in debating its existence is what better, new, and/or different it's going to bring to the table in regards to the original.  While most remakes simply attempt to update the original to contemporary times without expanding on its themes, there have been notable exceptions, such as John Carpenter's The Thing (which markedly improves on the fun but largely B sci-fi The Thing from Another World).  One of the toughest types of films to remake though are ones that are beloved and held in high regard because of their stylistic innovations more than their narratives.  You can imagine my shock when I learned that someone had remade Breathless, Jean-Luc Godard's French New Wave masterpiece that's famous not for its plot but its breaking of cinematic rules and bold style unlike anyone had seen before.  The remake of Breathless didn't try for these things and just remade the standard plot, which begs the question of why.  The idea of remaking Breathless, a movie praised for the new ideas it brought forward and the rules it gleefully broke, is just baffling to me because unless the remake is also introducing innovative glimpses at cinema, it's entirely missed the point of why Godard's films exists in the first place.  

So to some extent I can understand the notion of remaking Dario Argento's 1977 horror film Suspiria could be met with the same skepticism.  Suspiria is famous for its showy colors, soundtrack, and overall obtuse narrative structure, not the actual plot itself.  Argento, for all the praise he's garnered, has always played his strengths in his style and willingness to try things, but no one would likely applaud his gift for storytelling.  Even his most celebrated films, like Deep Red which came right before Suspiria, are completely preposterous narratively and bare bones thematically, but generally a lot of fun so we're willing to largely gloss over their faults.  I've always felt that Suspiria's concept however was a terrific one, and if someone had taken another pass at Argento's screenplay the film would be elevated from a stylish good time to a true masterpiece.  While many would argue with me that Suspiria is a monumentally influential film beyond just the horror genre, which I don't disagree with, there's no denying that the narrative largely never lives up to the intriguing premise.  So not only was I not frustrated at learning that the film was being remade by director Luca Guadagnino, fresh off the success of last year's Call Me By Your Name (what a shift), but I was eagerly anticipating it knowing that he would likely expand on Argento's brilliant premise but largely flimsy plot.  And expand is putting it lightly, as the new Suspiria comes in at a whopping 152 minutes compared to the original's 92!  And while I can't say that all of those minutes are the most focused or necessary, I came away from this film highly impressed by what Guadagnino has accomplished.  His Suspiria is an exhausting and wholly demanding one, and likely to piss off fans of the original and newcomers alike, but it's also just as daring, just as stylish, and even more realized than Argento's.  He's made a remake that does service to its source while also existing on its own, and that's what every remake should strive to succeed in doing.

While the remake's general plot line is similar to Argento's in that a young girl arrives at a dance school in Berlin only to slowly discover it's actually a front for a coven of witches, the similarities mostly stop there as Guadagnino's version places heavier emphasis on supporting characters, their relationships with one another, and even the historical backdrop and political strife of 1970s Berlin.  Susie (Dakota Johnson) arrives at the famous Markos Dance Company in Berlin in 1977 and quickly makes a name for herself, impressing her peers and instructors with her exquisite dancing and uncompromising kinetic energy.  Most importantly, she begins to forge a bond with the head instructor, Madame Blanc (Tilda Swinton), who is drawn to Susie's fearless dancing and natural leadership.  Meanwhile though, some of the girls have been strangely disappearing from the school, most notably Patricia (Chloe Grace-Moretz), who the instructors have relayed to the other girls has likely joined the Red Army Faction group, infamous for a series of bombings, hijackings, and assassinations at the time.  Patricia's psychiatrist, Dr. Josef Klemperer (also played by Tilda Swinton in an astounding makeup job), doesn't buy it though and after reading her diary detailing her belief that the Markos school is infested with witches begins to investigate the school.  He comes into contact with Patricia and Suzie's friend Sara (Mia Goth), who becomes our sort of vessel (sorry, couldn't help myself) as she slowly shakes off her initial skepticism and begins to delve deeper into the school.  Despite Sara trying to warn Suzie that something's wrong, Suzie naively yet confidently dismisses her suspicions.  This is another point where the films largely deviate from one another, where our protagonist doesn't do any of the searching through the school but is content with everything going on around her, embraces it even.  I won't spoil anything further, but the movie ultimately crescendos into an ending that's going to drain what little energy you have left completely out of you.  It's spectacular, over-the-top, insane, and one I think Argento himself would be proud of.

In addition to extensively furthering elements of the story, characters, and backdrop, Guadagnino has also done a great job in making this Suspiria his own stylistically.  Fret not, there are homage-pleasing flashes of blues and reds, synth scores, whip zooms and pans, and even split diopter shots to please fans of the original waiting to pounce on the film for being un-Argento.  But Guadagnino has implemented far more complexities to his film than Argento whipped up, most notably some strikingly disturbing montage/dream sequences that serve as a nightmarish blend of sensory images that are the most terrifying parts of the film.  Whereas in the original the power the witches exalted was more in trance-like silliness resulting in a girl falling out a window or other means of death, the remake emphasizes the psychological dominance they bare over the students, literally infesting their dreams and filling the halls with haunting whispers to show they're always being watched.  Another element that's extremely impressive are the dance sequences themselves.  Admittedly it's been awhile since I watched Argento's film, but I don't remember the actual dancing at the school taking much precedence.  In Guadagnino's film, it's certainly a huge part of adding to the atmosphere and energy.  He shoots with terrific coverage and is able to superbly edit the movie to make the dancing a truly kinetic experience, a detail not lost on portraying the ritualistic nature of everything going on beneath the surface.  There's a power to the movements, especially when all of the girls are dancing as one.  They sink to the floor, slap their chests, jump high into the air, and wave their arms with such precision that you find yourself in a trance watching them.  It's impressive stuff, and while most will focus on a lot of the other elements that Guadagnino presents (and to be fair there's a lot here to unpack) the dancing sequences, in conjunction with the dream/montage ones, for me were the highlight of his accomplishments here.  

As with almost any film clocking in at the running time Suspiria does though, there are certainly elements that didn't work for me.  The film does a great job of recreating 1970s Berlin, a city in chaos as political ideologies literally clash and unrest permeates the streets.  The graffiti on the walls, the sounds of screams and bombs in the distance, the checkpoints that Dr. Klemperer goes through, it's all wonderful world building that places the viewer right into the historical landscape.  But there's almost too much focus on this that doesn't pay off, mostly pertaining to the hijacking of the Lufthansa Flight in 1977.  It's in the film a lot more than you would think, as are discussions of Nazi Germany and the current Stasi occupation.  I believe that Guadagnino is contextualizing an allegory about secret institutions and the power they wield over others, or even the immense struggle Germany, and in particular its women, have endured in order to overthrow complete control.  Or maybe that the past and its secrets should be preserved in order to learn from them, even if they'll ultimately haunt us and even lead us to repeat them.  I need to reflect on it more, but honestly I found all of it to be unnecessary to the going-ons at the dance school.  I always appreciate a film that places us into a place and time we can understand, but it often just felt like Guadagnino is overcompensating to demonstrate his Suspiria is more than just genre fare.  In a movie as long as this one is, these are the elements that could've easily been trimmed back without losing anything in the process.  Especially since, while I won't give the ending away, Suzie's character arc doesn't seem to reflect this allegory anyways.  Or does she?  Maybe I just haven't sorted it out correctly.

So there you have it.  Guadagnino's Suspiria is an exhausting one that packs over an hour more of story, lore, subplots, characters, and even historical context on Argento's original.  I assume most will prefer Argento's leaner, to-the-point version, and I suppose I still do too.  But there is so much to that Guadagnino has brought to the table with this remake that Argento could never have realized that makes me hope people don't outright dismiss his film as overstuffed or self-indulgent.  This is a remake that succeeds in paying tribute to the original while also being something all its own.  It's bolder than Argento's, though also takes itself very seriously, something likely to turn off those who enjoy the 1970s Italian giallo style in all its fun, schlocky, showy glory.  There's a lot to digest here, and the film is likely to leave most exhausted by the end of it all, not surprisingly after an early title card explains that the film is broken up into six chapters and an epilogue.  Perhaps a film as lean as Argento's Suspiria didn't need the level of expansion that Guadagnino has brought to it, but I again rebuke that Argento's version's biggest weakness was its narrative, and so if anything needed a facelift it was that.  This new Suspiria is not giallo, it's not Argento, but it's certainly one of the boldest accomplishments of the year.

8/10