"Opera" *** 1\2 (out of ****)Last year when I reviewed horror films in the month of October in honor of Halloween I regretfully forgot or overlooked to review anything by the Italian horror master, Dario Argento. It wasn't that I didn't know who he was at the time, I had previously written about his "The Stendhal Syndrome" (1996) but simply occupied my time discussing Val Lewton, whom I have already written about this year.
I wrote about Argento not too long ago when I reviewed his film "Trauma" (1993). At the time of that review I said I felt it was one of the director's better films and a good example of the giallo sub-genre of horror films which Argento is seen as one of the supreme masters of. But now I have seen "Opera" (1987) and once again I am blown away. "Opera" is a near masterpiece and easily one of the greatest films Argento has ever directed in a class with "Suspiria" (1977) and "Deep Red" (1975). In fact it just may very well be the last truly effective and substantial film Agrento has made. Sadly his more recent films have ventured off into camp and do not provide any scares or suspense but the 1980s seem to have been a high point for the director. In the 80s he directed some of his best works including "Inferno" (1980) and "Tenebre" (1982), both of which I have already reviewed. With this review Argento is now the most discussed filmmaker on this blog.
As I watched "Opera" I immediately became impressed with something I usually don't focus on in my reviews for Argento's films. His camera movements. The film starts off in an opera house during rehearsal. The leading diva Mara Czekova is complaining about everything concerning this latest production of Lady Macbeth. She complains about the directing, the costume and the use of ravens on stage. But what makes this so memorable is the way the sequence is filmmed. It is all done from Mara's POV. The camera, and subsequently the viewer, are her eyes. We see everything from her vantage point. It is a very clever scene which reminds me of the Humphrey Bogart film "Dark Passage" (1947) where we go through nearly half of the movie never seeing Bogart's face. Also there was the Robert Montgomery film "Lady in the Lake" (also 1947) which used the same device only taking it one step further. There the entire film is done from the lead character's POV.
Every scene after that makes the viewer feel as if eyes are everywhere. Argento's camera becomes a voyeur. And eyes are an important motif throughout the film. But Argento's camera moves so fluid almost dancing around these characters as it zig-zags in and out of rooms with great haste. It is some of the most elaborate camera work I've seen in one of the great master's films. It thrilled me with great excitement throughout.
When I first heard about the plot for "Opera" it reminded me a bit of Gaston Leroux's "The Phantom of the Opera". Here the great opera star Mara Czekova is hit by a car while crossing the street, while her understudy, Betty (Cristina Marsillach) replaces her. It is more than hinted at that the accident was done so Betty could make her stage debut. But she has no idea who this mysterious person is or why he should do such a thing. Naturally, with this kind of film, and with Argento at the helm, events turn more deadly as the death toll rises. This leads to a police investigation, headed by Inspector Alan Santini (Urbano Barberini) and beliefs among the cast and director, Marco (Ian Charleson), a horror filmmaker turned opera director (supposedly based on Argento) that the production is cursed. And that about sums it up.
As I said with "The Phantom of the Opera", which Argento filmmed his own adaptation with his daughter Asia Argento in 1998, the film is drawing inspiration from a variety of things. In some ways the film resembles Macbeth, but very lightly, just the concept of the opera star being replaces by someone younger becoming in a sense the new king or queen in this case. And even with the violence presented here, Roman Polanski's "Macbeth" (1971) still seems to give the film a run for its money. The voyeur elements of course remind us of Hitchcock and films like "Rear Window" (1954) in my opinion his greatest voyeuristic film. And the climax scene at the end dealing with the ravens doesn't make us think of Edgar Allan Poe but once again Hitchcock and "The Birds" (1963).
Some viewers might want to beat up on Cristina Marsillach's performance and claim she plays the character too child-like. But that is the way Argento works. That is a staple of his films. They usually revolve around young, innocent, naive women thrown into situations way over their heads. To this extent I believe Marsillach is effective. She does just as good a job as Jessica Harper in "Suspiria".
The performance I like the most however might belong to Daria Nicolodi, the former lover of Argento and mother of Asia. She seems to be having a blast playing Betty's agent, Mira. It is a smaller role but Nicolodi makes it memorable nearly giving an over-the-top, no holds bar performance. It might not be my choice for her greatest performance, I prefer her in "Deep Red", but her work here is nearly equal.
The film also has one of the most elaborate and well staged death scenes in an Argento film as a bullet flies through a keyhole straight through the eye of one of the characters. The scene is suspenseful and unexpected. In fact the sequence is so effective Argento used it again in "The Stendhal Syndrome" where we follow the bullet as it hits the victim. Some readers may have thought this was first done in "Three Kings" (1999) but I'm here to tell you it wasn't.
But for as brilliant as "Opera" may be at moments unfortunately it has some downsides. The most disappointing aspect of the film is the ending. I became somewhat confused by the killer's motives. It didn't make much sense to me and scenes are added on which honestly provided us with no new information. In this sense Argento is like a poker player who doesn't know when to fold. The film's final scene doesn't belong in this movie at all. If you shut the movie off once the killer is revealed, bam! It's a four star masterpiece.
My only guess as to why Argento kept the film going is because perhaps he felt he could get one more scare out of us. But I ended up feeling the film has one too many twist.
Some on-line investigating informed me that a majority of Argento fans actaully agree with me (imagine that me having a popular opinion) that the ending is a disappointment. Argento was even told by one studio to cut it but he refused. For perhaps the first time in my life I'm on the side of the studio and not the director. The cut would not have been harmful to the logic of the story but rather helpful.
Many of the horror films I have reviewed this year and last I made of a point of saying they were not especially scary. Well made however, I did recently include Val Lewton's "The Body Snatcher" (1945) in my "Masterpiece Film Series", but not the kind of films to give you a really good scare. Argento's "Opera" is different though. Watch it with some friends with the lights off and no disturbances and you'll have a good time.
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