A Crying Shame

Dario Argento's Three Mothers trilogy ends with a whimper.

by Shaun Brady

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Published: Jun 4, 2008

PUT THE FEAR OF GOTH INTO HER: Asia Argento (right) shrinks from many a hot, naked witch in Mother of Tears. (CLICK IMAGE FOR LARGER VERSION)

It's taken Dario Argento nearly 30 years to complete his Three Mothers trilogy, begun in 1977 with the masterfully garish Suspiria and continued in 1980 with the inferior but hypnotic Inferno. Unfortunately, the Italian horror maestro has spent two of those three decades churning out forgettable nonsense that barely resembles the ultra-stylized flights of violent fancy that were the hallmark of his earlier films, and Mother of Tears sadly follows their example.

The Three Mothers — Mater Suspiriorum, the Mother of Sighs from Suspiria; Mater Tenebrarum, the Mother of Darkness from Inferno; and Mater Lachrymarum, the Mother of Tears — are three witch sisters, each of whom has concentrated her evil in a specific house in separate cities. The final mother is centered in Rome, where an ancient urn is unearthed and entrusted to the museum where Sarah (Asia Argento) works.

After the urn is opened, Sarah witnesses the brutal murder of her co-worker by a gang of demonic killers and their screeching monkey. This first setpiece reveals how far the mighty has fallen; Argento's films have always been marred by awkward dialogue and indifferent acting, always forgiven once his camera becomes untethered to follow impossible paths, capturing the garish spectacle of his imaginative murders. But here the gore is simply excessive rather than outlandishly baroque.

If Suspiria was a candy-colored fairy tale and Inferno a waking nightmare of illogic and bold visuals, then Mother of Tears is an unremarkable death metal video with hot, naked witches in faux-S&M wardrobe. The worst move a director of Argento's ilk can make is to give his audience the opportunity to wonder why a woman whose innards have already spilled out on the floor is still alive enough to necessitate strangling with her own intestines. In the past, sheer spectacle was enough of a distraction to negate such logical questions; Argento no longer possesses such recourse.

Once the urn is opened, an outbreak of violence sweeps Rome, leading not so much to the expected total anarchy but to a revelation of Argento's limited means. The hurling of a ridiculously obvious baby doll from a bridge and a few CGI-enhanced acts of exaggerated unpleasantness aside, most of the city seems to be going about its business as usual as Sarah frantically flees her murderous pursuers. The few witches who are shown and who torment Sarah look absurdly like the denizens of a Goth-themed fashion show, all dark makeup and leering grins. The stakes in the first two films may have been lower, but suspense and mystery were palpable. Here the fate of the world is being decided, but it doesn't seem to matter much to anybody.

For all the apocalyptic talk Sarah encounters while unraveling the mystery, there's very little sense of real social breakdown. A visit to an expert on mysticism, a psychic and an expert on the occult (Udo Kier) all bring up thrilling possibilities like a sudden influx of witches into the city and a war between white and black magic, but they're all played out as lectures in old men's libraries.

Dario Argento seems to be the only director who hasn't figured out the proper role for his daughter. Asia's dark, knowing eyes and innate fierceness make her ideal for the misspent youths and snarling seductresses she's essayed for other filmmakers. She's always horrible in her father's films, however, and is perversely unsuited for the shrinking innocent she plays in Mother of Tears. She stays demure and frightened even as her own supernatural abilities are revealed by her omnipresent mother's ghost, played by her real-life mother (and Dario's ex-wife), Daria Nicolodi.

"What you see does not exist; what you cannot see is there," is an ultimately meaningless riddle posed in Mother of Tears. It sums up the shockingly positive reaction that the film has received, the delusional wishful thinking of fans on par with Star Wars fanatics hailing execrable new installments. But this grand finale is a grand embarrassment, putting the lie to Suspiria's famous claim that "Magic is everywhere." For Dario Argento, it's become damn near impossible to find.

(s_brady@citypaper.net)

Mother of Tears

Directed by Dario ArgentoA Myriad Pictures releaseOpens Friday at Ritz at the Bourse

 

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