"Opera" known as 'Terror at the Opera' in the United States, was amongst Argento's most commercially successful films in his homeland of Italy. Verdi's opera 'Macbeth' is historically known for bringing bad luck to its casts, a fact that is not lost on Argento. Betty takes the lead only after the great 'Mara Czekova' fights with the film's director and breaks her leg (Czekova, who remains unseen throughout the film, was originally to be played by Vanessa Redgrave, who had been in Antonioni's 'Blow-Up' an influence on Argento). Once Betty takes to the stage as Lady Macbeth, a monster from her mother's past is awakened and the killings begin. The crows in the film only screech in the presence of a familiar evil, however the identity of the film's killer is of little consequence; Argento's focus is on the way the Santini forces Betty's gaze. 'Opera's' memorable gimmick has Santini placing a row of needles below Betty's eyes, forcing her to watch the grueling deaths of her friends, the most absurdly over the top being when Giulia is killed and swallows a bracelet in the struggle, forcing Santini to perform an 'autopsy' on her with a pair of scissors. Reinforcing his obsession of sightlessness, Betty's vision is temporarily blurred after she applies some eye drops. Opera's infamous keyhole set piece reinforces Argento's fascination with seeing as a terror mechanism. The finale whilst becoming too silly by half, does link it to its predecessor, with Betty's adventures in the countryside and her encounter with a lizard recalling Jennifer's psychic relationship to insects in 'Phenomena'. Made in 1987, 'Opera' is the end of Argento's influential period. He has made 12 films since of which 'The Stendahl Syndrome' in 1996 is worth a look.

This film has been on my mind since watching Argento's production of Verdi's Macbeth, so I decided to get it out of my system with another viewing. This is an interesting and important film in Argento's career, representing both the peak of his baroque sensibility and the beginning of his decline (though arguably the same thing could be said about Phenomena). The concept of a murderer getting his kicks by tying up a young woman and forcing her to watch him butcher her associates (taping needle under her eyes to keep her from closing them - a brilliant touch) is an inspired one, and by setting it within the world of opera he's given plenty of opportunities to exercise his macabre imagination.While the imagery is never less than jaw dropping, the clunky script sees Argento at his most stilted. Perhaps it's because of his difficulty with English, but Argento actually wanted Betty (the female protagonist) to say at one point, "I can't have sex with you because I'm frigid." I think it was Ian Charleson who pointed out how ludicrous it sounded. This sort of wacky dialogue worked more effectively in films like Suspiria and Inferno, which are by nature dreamlike and illogical, but one feels here that Argento is trying and failing to create plausible characters. The one exception might be the character of Marc, a director of horror films (directing the production of Macbeth at the story's center) clearly based on Argento himself. Ian Charleson, who plays Marc, is such a brilliant actor that he can make even the most ridiculous exchanges seem plausible. The use of heavy metal music during the murder scenes also strikes me as rather grating. Musically the film is at its best when using Claudio Simonetti's romantic theme, or when opera is used to dramatically counterpoint the horrible events on screen. A great example of the latter approach, and easily my favorite section of the film, is a nail-biting game of cat-and-mouse between Betty and the murderer in her apartment Though several aspects of the film disappoint, overall I find that Opera's successes outweigh its failures. Argento was still such a genius at conjuring bizarre murders and suffocating suspense that the lapses in logic hardly matter - at least until the ending, an extremely weird coda that never loses its ability to baffle me. I've seen the film several times, and I still can't fully articulate how I feel about the last scene. It's easily the most divisive moment in Argento's filmography, with some Argento-philes' explanations (for example, that the protagonist went insane) seeming more like desperate attempts to rationalize something that is clearly the work of a lunatic. That said, I was intrigued by one analysis that suggested a key image (Betty freeing a lizard stuck under a branch) was actually a symbolic apology for the lizard killed on camera in Deep Red. Anyway, if nothing else it certainly provokes discussion.Having become more interesting in Italian opera in the last couple years, I also picked up on some things that eluded me in previous viewings. The most obvious (and I'm probably the last person on earth to notice this) is that the character of Mara Czekova is clearly an extremely vicious caricature of the legendary soprano Maria Callas. They share the same initials, and to make sure there's no ambiguity, Czekova's singing at the beginning of the film is even represented by a recording of Callas! Callas was unfairly and inaccurately depicted by the media as a snotty diva. Argento plays this up in an almost comic-grotesque fashion, anticipating the comically exaggerated prima donna in his disastrous adaptation of Phantom of the Opera. The operatic pieces played or performed throughout the film also tend to reflect the plot in interesting ways, while other choices are a little more tongue-in-cheek; Sempre libera (Always free), a spirited aria from La traviata, plays at one point as Betty escapes from the killer's clutches.From this point on, Argento begins his downward trajectory. I think all of his subsequent films are of interest in one way or another, but they tend to be more frustrating than anything. The Stendhal Syndrome is the most impressive of the bunch, being Argento's only character study, but it suffers from some really primitive CGI - an unfortunate trait that culminates in the embarrassing mantis attack in Dracula 3D. I can only conclude that the tumultuous experience of making Opera drove Argento insane - at least...more insane than he used to be.

Reading Alan Jones excellent book Dario Argento: The Man, the Myths & the Magic,I noticed Jones mention that despite the title being a box office disaster,that co-writer/ (along with Franco Ferrini) directing auteur Dario Argento's Opera is his last true classic,and also a coda for the final wave of the Giallo sub- genre.With having saved the movie (which came out the year I was born!) for a special occasion,I decided that I would use my birthday as the day that I would witness the last rites of the Giallo.The plot:After lead actress Mara Czekova is injured in a car accident,budding actress Betty gets her hands on the role that she has been dreaming of,when Betty's agent Mira phones up to reveal that stage director Marco has offered her the lead role in his avant-garde opera staging of Macbeth. Ignoring whispers of the production being "cursed" Betty sets her sights on following in her mums footsteps,and becoming the leading diva of the opera world.During one of the first performances,a light from the auditorium comes crashing to the ground.Checking the lighting equipment after the show,the crew discover that an usher has been ruthlessly murdered.Shaken by the experience,Betty attempts to relax with her boyfriend,after receiving some rather strange fan mail.Waiting for her boyfriend to return,Betty is grabbed by a masked stranger,who ties her up,and put needles under the eyes,so that Betty can't look away from what is taking place.Brutally killing her boyfriend,the killer reveals that after being mesmerised by her performance in the opera,that he is going to put on a deadly special show,that Betty will be unable to take her eyes off of.View on the film:For the last big budget Giallo,Dario Argento makes the genres curtain call one which concludes all the themes which he had started in his debut.After taking a look at the effect that violence has on its creators in 1982's Tenebre,the writers here turn their attention to the audience,with the writers superbly using Betty's forced viewing of the murders to slyly suggest that no matter how horrific the killings are,that the viewer is unable to turn their gaze away from the dazzling onslaught,and also showing the level of obsession that fandom can reach.Whilst the "controversial" ending does come a bit from the left-field,the writers make the coda one which sums up topic that Argento had been progressing on since his debut,where animals have a strong connection to the lead ammeter detective,due to them offering an escape route/answer to what the character is searching for.Although the title does mark the end of an era for Argento's major themes,the writers smartly make sure that the title never turns into a mere summarisation,thanks to the film offering harsh Horror lyrics with a Film Noir composition.Keeping the movie to Betty's point of view,the writers show her being dragged into a gritty Giallo word,as Betty finds her glamorous stage life being destroyed in her bullet ridden flat.Pushing Betty's nerves right to the edge,the writers create an extremely creepy atmosphere,with Betty being surrounded by a trusted group of people on the stage,whose image begins to blur,as Betty finds the killer getting literally under her skin.Ignoring all of the myths about "the Scottish play",the 15 week production turned out to be a complete nightmare,(with the disasters being….(deep breath!) 1:original studio Titanus dropping the title due to a major corporate takeover taking place.2:Dario's dad Salvatore dying a month before film.3:co-star Ian Charleson (who would tragically die from AIDS a year later) being involved in a near-fatal crash.4:Vanessa Redgrave signing on to play Mara Czekova,only to turn up to Italy asking for extra cash,which led to Redgrave taking the next flight out of Italy! 5:Dario having furious rows with star Cristina Marsillach,to the point where during a scene involving fire,Marsillach got left with burn marks,and to top it all off 6:Dario treating ex-girlfriend Daria Nicolodi with a vile that would lead to them not working together again for 20 years)yet despite all of the issues,Argento directs the title with an explosive energy.Opening with a breath taking first person tracking shot,Argento and cinematographer Ronnie Taylor unleash a paranoid atmosphere,thanks to Betty's fall into terror being matched by scattering crane shots and knife-edge tracking shots.Basking the stage in vivid, minimalist black & white,Argento and Taylor decay Betty's glamorous life with a brittle,Film Noir bleakness,as Betty finds herself trapped in a Giallo flat,with no sign of light.Whilst her shouting matches with Argento have become legendary, Cristina Marsillach gives a tremendous performance as Betty,which contrasts a diva beauty with a tomboyish attitude,as Marsillach shows Betty being desperate to stay on the acting ladder,whilst also setting her eyes on stopping the murderer from bringing the opera down on a killer note.

Betty (portrayed pathetically by Cristina Marsillach) is an up-and-coming opera singer, who gets her big break after the star diva breaks her leg. Promoted from understudy she becomes the breakaway star of Guiseppe Verdi's "MacBeth", an opera with a long history of bad luck. During the opening night a murder is committed. Even later that evening a masked man gags Betty and forces her to watch him gut the stage manager after which he lets her go unharmed. Who is the murderer and what wicked game is he playing? Dario Argento during the years mastered his trademarks, which include long travelling shots, exquisite classic-inspired sumptuous settings as well as the use of colour (with a specific obsession with red ochre) to instill an unrelenting all-engulfing atmosphere. This time however Dario exaggerated and overused the long shots making his typical slow pace virtually stop to a halt. Almost nothing happens during over 100 minutes, albeit when it finally does occur it is engrossing and damn near to perfection.Sadly this movie has probably one of the worse scores in any Argento movie, save for the absolutely classical and unmistakable captivating beauty of Verdi's "MacBeth". The remaining music however consists mostly of loud and severely outdated heavy metal, that cruelly rape the ears and kill visual enjoyment.Additionally this is probably Argento's 'easiest' movie in the sense, that the script is severely underdeveloped and lacks the prerequisite mystery. Shortly after the first murder it becomes quite apparent that there is only one possibly killer. I naturally expected some twist to turn the events upside down (however illogical the twist), but none happened and the only possible culprit does not fail to not surprise. At the same time he must be one of the stupidest Argento murderers ever with plotting and ideas so thinly planned out, that were it not for the even more imbecilic victims he would have been caught within 30 minutes. But when victims fail to finish him off after knocking him unconscious with an iron or policemen require several days to differentiate a corpse from a mannequin this villain gets more screen time than he deserves.The only mystery worth finding out concerns the reason to the murderer's killing spree, which is suitably wicked and Argento-style twist. Also the ending itself is devious, albeit a lot of substance lost due to the terrible Marsillach, who lacks enough vibrant emotion to convey the terrible truth. All in all not a bad movie, but I fail to find anything worth note in this ultimately repetitive and flawed Argento thriller.