Rating: 4/5
Hooptober 3.0 | 19/31 | Dario Argento
A raven caws in the Parma Opera House — an inauspicious sign. Mara Czekova is an opera singer. She is practicing her role as Lady Macbeth in a modern rendition of Verdi’s Macbeth. Macbeth — also an omen of bad luck. She has trouble concentrating with the raven’s noise. Finally, she throws a shoe at the bird and storms out, complaining to the director. While storming out, a crowd forms around Mara. She doesn’t see that she is stepping onto the road, where a car hits her and knocks her unconscious.
Betty, Mara’s understudy, receives a mysterious call that tells her she will debut as Lady Macbeth. Her agent, Mira, comes to her place to confirm it. Though Betty is apprehensive, the director is confident that she knows the part and can perform it.
That night, she gives a tremendous performance. A figure hides in an empty box seat, watching Betty’s performance through binoculars. We see disjointed scenes of women tied up and pursued. A stagehand discovers the figure and attempts to escort them out. The figure knocks stage lights off the balcony and pushes the stagehand into a coat rack, murdering them.
No one notices the murder, only the lights, so the show must go on. Betty finishes the show with a standing ovation. Mara watches on TV from home, her foot in a cast and a glass of wine dangling from her fingers. After the show, a man comes by with a present from Mara: a note (“Good luck, little snake”) and a vial of some horrendous-smelling liquid.
We enter fantasy — bondage, lingerie, an unusually wide tactical knife. Video footage plays back Betty’s performance. Zoom. A box full of rope and curved implements with rows of needles. Someone is fixating on Betty — someone that Betty knows from her past.
Everyone around Betty is obsessed with her sexuality — she’s frigid if she doesn’t give them what they want, or a whore if they can take it from her. As Betty ascends to fame, people project their insecurities onto her and want to possess a part of her, if only to give their own meager life a glimmer. She has no control over her life and how the world sees her. So, of course, Betty doesn’t know who to suspect, only narrowing it down as the stalker murders more people in front of her.
If you close your eyes, you’ll tear them apart. So you’ll just have to watch everything.The murders she witnesses are total nightmares. Steel Grave’s songs play each time. They’re a little silly but don’t undercut the moment too badly. The film uses a perspective camera, adding to the subjective and uncertain mood. We take the killer’s, Mara’s, and even a raven’s perspective. Color and lighting are classic Argento — vibrant and meticulous. The film takes on a meta quality at the end with scenes shot in the Swiss Alps, visually referencing Argento’s previous movie, Phenomena. It would have worked better if Jennifer Connelly could star in this movie too. Also, the director character functions as an Argento stand-in. I don’t want to say too much, just to avoid spoilers, accidental or otherwise.— I think it’s unwise to use movies as guides for reality. Don’t you, inspector? — Depends on what you mean by reality.I love ravens. They’re so weird and intelligent. Like, imagine dinosaur-size ravens fucking up your life. While this isn’t my favorite Argento, it’s one of his best — it feels like he is at the height of his artistic control.
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