Movie review of Opera

Horrorphile

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Opera

March 2nd 2007 04:04

This is the third selection in my theatre of blood review quartet; horror movies which stem from theatrical pretensions, superstitions, allusions and deceptions … and lots of blood. Dario Argento’s flawed diamond, sharp enough to cut through flesh and bone, but still too rough and milky to warrant being called a clear cut masterpiece.

I first saw Opera (1987) many years ago on VHS under its Americanised title of Terror at the Opera (you can hear the Stateside distributors panicking; “We don’t want libel cases thrown at us by scores of the elderly who were expecting the latest interpretation of Verdi or Puccini!”). Although it wasn’t letterboxed, most of the extreme violence was left intact. It was also one of my earliest Argento experiences, as at the time precious few of his flicks were available on VHS down under.

Opera is one of Argento’s most polarized movies as far as critical reception is concerned. It was released at a crucial period in his career, after the disastrous critical and box office reaction for Phenomena (1985, released in a heavily cut form in America as Creepers), he needed something to win back confused fans. He opted for big, bold and brassy – Argento-style. But the results are wildly uneven.

Urbano Barerini as Inspector Santini chats to opera director Marco (Ian Charleson)

Opera is Argento’s mutant, perverted take on Phantom of the Opera (he directed an official remake in 1998, but that’s another kettle of gutted fish). Full of Argento’s signature flourishes, but also riddled with Argento’s throat-slitting indulgences and bizarre sense of logic, Opera works best as a series of tense and chaotic, melodramatic and nightmarish moments. In fact, most Argento movies are best appreciated as “nightmare moments” strung together to form a loose dream-like tapestry which provokes and manipulates the audience on a base primal level.

Betty is forced to become a witness to murder

Betty (Christina Marsillach) is a young opera singer given her big break when the diva of a troubled production of MacBeth is injured. Encouraged by her director (Ian Charleson) and an older friend (Argento’s ex-wife Daria Nicolodi), Betty accepts, but is plagued by doubt and the repressed psycho-sexual memories of a traumatic childhood experience. To make matters worse a shadowy psychopath is stalking her, killing those dear and close.

William MacNamara as Stefano gets the point

There are metaphors galore, both visual and literal, throughout Opera, most of them linked to sex and death. But instead of delving deeper into the sub-text Argento is more interested in the elaborate staging of his set-pieces, in true operatic style. There are three drawn-out, yet monstrously effective murders executed by the masked psycho, each one a case study in mise-en-scene; the use of composition and editing are superb. But forget the logistics behind how these incidents are able to happen, or the immediate repercussions.

Surely Betty would be so traumatized by being forced to witness such cruel and horrific killings that she would be unable to look after herself, let alone talk rationally about the incidents. The striking Christina Marsillach holds a delicate charisma, which adds buoyancy to the sheer voluptuous weight of Argento’s Grand Guignol aspirations, as Betty she is in almost every scene.

Pity the dubbing in Opera is some of the worst in an Argento film. Only Ian Charleson and William McNamara (Betty’s boyfriend Stefano) seem to have been given dubbing justice, the rest, especially in the case of Marsillach, have been given appallingly incongruous English language voices. Argento should’ve filmed in Italian and provided subtitles, the end result would’ve made Opera that much more effective and convincing. But he needed to play the US distribution game, so thems the breaks I guess.

Still, there is much to enjoy within Opera; the sumptuous cinematography, the kinetic camerawork featuring a Crow’s-eye POV swooping down over the opera audience which rivals his creeping rooftop camerawork in Tenebrae (1982). As mentioned before there are several exceptionally well staged murder set-pieces, including the now legendary bullet through the peep hole through the head hitting the phone on the opposite side of the room shot. Yes, it has to be seen to be believed!

It’s a see-saw, back and forth between what’s great and what’s not-so-great in Opera. Argento thinks its clever to pitch loud garish heavy metal music against the murder scenes, but it ruins the dark integrity of the scene, a kind of overkill if you like. Argento brilliantly plays with silhouettes and ocular symbolism, he even throws horror convention out of the window for the film’s final ten minutes (much to the chagrin of many fans) and stages an absurd pursuit across a lush European mountainside, ending in an obtuse reference to the central character’s slippery clutch on sanity indicated in earlier scenes.

It’s not the most satisfying denouement in an Argento movie, but the ride has provided many small piercing climaxes along the way which almost makes up for the plot silliness which clings to Opera like the cape of Lady Macbeth. Keep in mind Argento has delivered plots and twists far sillier than this!

Here's the US trailer which surprisingly is much more effective than the Euro version:

At the end of the night, before the heavy velvet curtains hit the stage … I say this: if it wasn’t for Dario Argento and the pleasure of his nightmares horror cinema would be so incredibly bloody boring!

* Opera poster art image is takend from the following wikipedia page:
Opera (film)
other images courtesy of www.gotterdammerung.org

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Comments

7 Comments. [ Add A Comment ]

Comment by JohnDoe

March 2nd 2007 04:17

Film & TV on DVD

Fantastic, interesting observations. There is nothing I can add except the powerful imagery and scathing musical scoring work a treat.

Not Argento's best but still a worthy addition to the horror library.

Comment by Bryn

March 2nd 2007 05:39

Horrorphile

JD,
I agree, the visual style still holds up beautifully though. No one does it like Argento.
Thanks for the props!
Fade to Black on Monday.

Comment by JohnDoe

March 2nd 2007 06:01

Film & TV on DVD

Nice.

Comment by Tracy

March 2nd 2007 06:08

Movies and Life

Ooh, I've never heard of this one either (how do you and John do it?).....another one I want to see...I'm expecting an awful lot from my local video shop...maybe I should warn them? Nah.....

Comment by Bryn

March 4th 2007 01:30

Horrorphile

Tracy, what's your local video store? Is it a boutique one or is it a Blockbuster or thereabouts? Blockbuster tends to have a rather thin selection of horror. They love the straight to video releases which these days are a dime a dozen, and generally appalling ... Did you read my post on 50 horror movies you should see before you die?

Comment by Tracy

March 4th 2007 23:36

Movies and Life

Hi Bryn

I'm not far from that huge Blockbuster at Broadway, but my closest Blockbuster is rubbish and Civic looks slightly hopeful...I read some of your review, I'll hop across in a bit.....