Suspiria

A dark fairy tale of giallo cinema par excellence – does it really need an introduction? “Suspiria is a masterpiece; it’s just a pity that from time to time someone speaks in it,” one critic famously remarked. In Italy of the late 1960s and early 1970s, words were a weapon. People argued, protested, persuaded, and mobilised through language. The postwar generation that filled the streets relied above all on words to challenge the “old” and imagine the “new”. Eloquence – an unstoppable torrent of speech – seemed to sweep everything along with it. The fashion for long, elaborate film titles was a telling symptom of the time, particularly in giallo: The Case of the Bloody Iris, Your Vice Is a Locked Room and Only I Have the Key, Short Night of Glass Dolls, Torso (It.I corpi presentano tracce di violenza carnale) – and many others. Then came the reversal: Suspiria, Inferno, Tenebre, Phenomena, Trauma. From the mid-1970s onward the world began to shift – towards drugs, isolation, an increasingly ruthless culture of competition, and entertainment as a form of escape. Argento’s 1976 film can also be read in this light. Suspiria is above all a masterpiece of style, opening a new phase of giallo dominated by the paranormal. Argento seems to suggest that we all risk becoming victims – not of people, but of things: objects, forms, matter. Call them what they are – commodities. The entire dance academy resembles a dollhouse in which a cruel game unfolds, both beautiful and seductive. As if someone were whispering in our ear: „let’s play together”. Everyone has their own room, their own toys, their own visions. Everyone alone.

Stanisław Bardadin

Dario Argento (b. 1940) – Italian master of cinematic macabre and maestro of giallo, producer of emerging talents and author of numerous screenplays (including spaghetti westerns). Before becoming a director, he collaborated with, among others, Sergio Leone and Mario Bava. Argento’s films explore the metaphysics of evil, often delving into themes of magic, alchemy, and the coexistence of the material and immaterial worlds. His distinctive poetics, mastery of suspense, and ability to create an atmosphere of dread have had a profound influence on contemporary horror cinema. He comes from a family of filmmakers; today, the tradition is continued by his daughter, Asia Argento.

14th New Horizons IFF Catalogue

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