Bathed in unearthly visuals, fitting costume design and mystical character performances, “Suspiria” (2018) captivates the audience with its witchy plot, distinguishing itself as more than just a remake of the 1977 classic.
In the film, Susie Bannion, an American, is admitted to the Markos Dance Academy in West Berlin in the autumn of 1977. At the same time, the Academy and its inhabitants are wounded by the disappearance of a student, who went missing after informing her therapist that the school is run by witches.
As the film progresses, the supernatural aspects grow stronger and stronger, making it clear that the student’s claim was not a dismissive one; thus, it leads into a finale filled with blood and ritualism.
With each scene existing as the physical manifestation of eeriness and humming tension, the visuals largely contribute to this through the complex choreography, the seance-like dream sequences and the variety of camera shots.
As the movie revolves around a dance academy, it is only appropriate that there is actual dancing shown on-screen. However, the dancing goes beyond simple, coordinated moves. Rather it acts as an art form within the movie’s medium. Dakota Johnson’s Susie dances with her body in a way that treats the energy of the earth as her dance partner.
Johnson bends her body with focus and precision; the intensity of the dance mixes with that of the ballet and contemporary genre. In connection with the theme of witches, dancing is used as a form of magic as well, the most prominent being the bodily control of others.
As well as the phenomenon of the dance sequences, the various cuts to different kinds of imagery within the dream segments are important in emphasizing the otherworldly themes. Some of these cuts include glass breaking, a bare stomach inhaling, landscape shots, a human heart on the ground and different instances of women with long hair covering their faces.
While these montages do sound random out of context, they are significant in their placements in the movie. They are strategically placed in these dream and nightmare scenes in order to convey trauma within Susie’s life and trauma induced by the dance academy. They also add to the horror aspect of the film because of the uneasiness embedded within the scenes.
One of my favorite visual details has to be the variety in the types of camera shots. In particular, I am focused on the extreme close-up shots, due to the fact they convey the most emotion within the eyes of the characters, and it almost feels like I am in the scene myself.
A movie’s sustainability also depends on its ability for appropriate costume design. This is proven through “Suspiria”’s costuming, with the clothing color palette of light and dark neutrals, paired with the perfect winter sweaters and long sleeves. However, the stars of costume design in this movie are both the hair length on the different characters and the dance uniforms.
I find the long hair to be one of the more captivating parts of the costume design because it is personal to my expression; long hair is an accessory in itself, and the way it moves along with the dancing gives it even more life. It is my weakness but also my strength, both in real life and on the movie screen.
Furthermore, long hair is not just my personal preference, but it also has significance in many ways across various cultures — even more so in the realm of witches, where it can posit the attitude of rebelling societal standards and possessing untamed freedom.
As for the dance uniforms, they are red, provocative bunches of rope draped onto the dancers’ bodies. It is displayed as rope bonded to the body. These uniforms allow for freedom of movement, giving them unlimited access to how their bodies bend and mend within their choreography.
Red as the sole color of the uniform is able to add a somewhat deeper layer as a depiction of dripping blood. It can be a symbol of connection among the dancers; they dance together, bleed together and die together.
Dakota Johnson as Susie and Mia Goth as Sara are performances worth watching, as the two actresses add depth to their characters that I believe cannot be matched by anyone else. However, my favorite performance (and actress in this film) has to be Tilda Swinton’s. There is one interesting component of her performance: she plays two characters.
Swinton portrays Madame Blanc, one the head matrons of the dance academy, but she also portrays Dr. Klemperer, the psychotherapist of the vanished student, who is trying to uncover the secrecy of the coven controlling the school.
As a motherly figure in the film, she perfectly demonstrates the patience of a mother as well pushing the dancers to be better and better. However, even though she is supposed to be a powerful figure who has to exhaust control over these dancers, she still shows care. She posits her character as a being of duality; a mix of tender, motherly characteristics with powerful, demanding aspects.
She not only expresses duality within a singular character but also with her ability to play the role of two characters. Her role as Dr. Klemperer is ideal with the way she conveys a person’s uneasiness, investigative tendencies and skepticism.
What is even more ironic is how Swinton is essentially investigating herself. She plays the part of both sides; one being an old man looking for answers from the suspicious school where his patient disappeared in relation to, and the other being the head of the school where her beloved dancer disappeared in relation to.
“Suspiria” is filled with the perfect amount of mystical and horror, offering an equal balance. It is one of my favorite horror films, and I think it would be fitting for anybody looking for something scary but also artsy.
