The Tanz dance academy is the front for a coven of witches who seek candidates for the new body of the ancient Mother of Sighs, currently attributed as their leader Helena Markos. American dancer Susie Bannion enters the scene and chaos unfolds.
The film is just as much an inversion as it is a remake. Rather than being a colorful 1970s giallo, it's convincingly filmed like a 1970s arthouse drama. Rather than being a multinational cast including Europeans dubbed over in English, it's a multinational cast including Anglophones performing multilingually, to the point that German dialogue is as prominent as English. The film is very much its own beast but its history is clear.
The story is similar but amplified, and the mystery is upfront this time to explore different themes. In the original, witchcraft was the reveal, but here, it's the hook. This allows for some nice expansions of the coven and makes dance integral to the plot as it becomes a magical conduit to perform rituals. Past the first truly sickening scene where this occurs, the potential of dance for magic never goes further, though dance remains visually arresting in the film.
The film has an overwhelmingly female cast, features an insular female society, and uses sexuality, motherhood, and men discrediting women's concerns as themes in the film. I'm not entirely sure what about women is being said in terms of agency, power structures and morals, and the film also uses themes of generational guilt and bystanders paired with German history, and that can feel hard to unwrap. I think you can take a good reading of "any movement can pervert if nobody acts", though, with the coven played against real atrocities.
The film is disturbing. There are shots that are artful, shocking, nauseating, and brutal, as well as hypnotic and uncanny. The cast is good. Dakota Johnson as Susie was well-performed, but quiet and inscrutable in a way that only really works after you see the ending. I also couldn't stop thinking of Cady Heron with her red long hair. Tilda Swinton lifts the film pretty heavily. She's born for haunting arthouse and her role as the dance company leader is complex. She also plays two other characters, which is easy to not catch.
There's way too much to talk about with this film, but it's a strong conversation piece with its artsy, provocative, and often extremely mind-bending story and horrific visuals. I don't know how much I get it, but I respect the hell out of it.
A high-brow, haunting reimagining that bears pondering.
The Tanz dance academy is the front for a coven of witches who seek candidates for the new body of the ancient Mother of Sighs, currently attributed as their leader Helena Markos. American dancer Susie Bannion enters the scene and chaos unfolds.
The film is just as much an inversion as it is a remake. Rather than being a colorful 1970s giallo, it's convincingly filmed like a 1970s arthouse drama. Rather than being a multinational cast including Europeans dubbed over in English, it's a multinational cast including Anglophones performing multilingually, to the point that German dialogue is as prominent as English. The film is very much its own beast but its history is clear.
The story is similar but amplified, and the mystery is upfront this time to explore different themes. In the original, witchcraft was the reveal, but here, it's the hook. This allows for some nice expansions of the coven and makes dance integral to the plot as it becomes a magical conduit to perform rituals. Past the first truly sickening scene where this occurs, the potential of dance for magic never goes further, though dance remains visually arresting in the film.
The film has an overwhelmingly female cast, features an insular female society, and uses sexuality, motherhood, and men discrediting women's concerns as themes in the film. I'm not entirely sure what about women is being said in terms of agency, power structures and morals, and the film also uses themes of generational guilt and bystanders paired with German history, and that can feel hard to unwrap. I think you can take a good reading of "any movement can pervert if nobody acts", though, with the coven played against real atrocities.
The film is disturbing. There are shots that are artful, shocking, nauseating, and brutal, as well as hypnotic and uncanny. The cast is good. Dakota Johnson as Susie was well-performed, but quiet and inscrutable in a way that only really works after you see the ending. I also couldn't stop thinking of Cady Heron with her red long hair. Tilda Swinton lifts the film pretty heavily. She's born for haunting arthouse and her role as the dance company leader is complex. She also plays two other characters, which is easy to not catch.
There's way too much to talk about with this film, but it's a strong conversation piece with its artsy, provocative, and often extremely mind-bending story and horrific visuals. I don't know how much I get it, but I respect the hell out of it.