by †|† Technicolor Terrorin

68 February 2010 American Cinematographer

The horror film is stylistically rooted in GermanExpressionism of the 1920s, but the 1970s found thegenre in transition. Smash Hollywood hits such as TheExorcist (1973), Jaws (1975), Carrie (1976) and The Omen

(1976) not only offered graphic shocks, but also transformed orcompletely shed the genre’s traditional trappings of ghouls,ghosts and goblins. Instead, the characters and situationsbecame somewhat familiar, the settings were contemporaryand even homey, and the films’ largely naturalistic cinematog-raphy firmly grounded the fantastic in reality.

A world away, in Italy, filmmaker Dario Argento hadcarved out a unique niche in the fright-film business with suchthrillers as The Bird With the Crystal Plumage (1970) and DeepRed (1975). These atmospheric stories, populated withdemented killers and boasting grotesque set pieces, drip withequal parts gore and suspense — pop-culture products of thechanging times. Flush with success, yet seeking a new creativedirection, Argento then decided to envelop himself in themacabre lore of Old Europe. Working with fellow screenwriterDaria Nicolodi, he concocted a heady tale of witchcraft and theoccult set in a ballet academy poised on the edge of Germany’sBlack Forest. There, a young American student, Suzy ( Jessica

Harper), becomes the target of Mater Suspirium, the Motherof Sighs, a demonic headmistress whose murderous minionsdispatch those around Suzy with operatic aplomb. Their elab-orate, Grand Guignol-style deaths unfold in a series of blood-chilling sequences.

The evocatively titled Suspiria (1977), photographed byLuciano Tovoli, ASC, AIC, is a feast of intensely expressiveimages and sound. A creative touchstone among horroraficionados, the picture stands as an example to all filmmakersseeking to create tangible onscreen synergy between story,design, direction and cinematography.

Inspired in part by the Technicolor grandeur of WaltDisney’s Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937), Argentowanted to achieve a palette rich with primary hues and deepblacks. Tovoli notes that when Argento approached him aboutthe project, “I had not seen any of his films, but, of course, Iknew him as a very successful director.” At the time, Tovoliwas perhaps best known for his work in MichelangeloAntonioni’s The Passenger (1975). “Horror films did not inter-est me at that moment of my professional life — I was a veryimpressionable guy, you see,” he continues. “But I do remem-ber one summer afternoon in my apartment, when I heard a

Terror inTechnicolor

Luciano Tovoli,ASC, AIC

recalls the detailsof his approach

to DarioArgento’s

legendary horrorfilm Suspiria.

by David E. Williams

•|•

www.theasc.com February 2010 69

loud noise coming from the street. Ilooked out and saw a huge crowdsprinting from one movie theater toanother. I later discovered that boththeaters were showing Argento’s TheCat O’ Nine Tails [1971], and they werehoping to find a free seat! I said tomyself, ‘A director who provokes suchbrisk movement in a crowd should be avery good one!’ After that I searched tosee all of his movies. Ignorance is acurable sickness!”

Tovoli was intrigued by Argento’sideas for Suspiria. “I think describing itas a Gothic fairytale is correct, butnormally, the director and cinematogra-pher do not sit down the first day wemeet and say, ‘This time we will do aGothic fairytale.’ Instead, we startspeaking about many subjects relatingto — or sometimes not relating to —the film we have to do. A good director,or in this case a great one, does not giveprecise recipes or strict commands, butinstead searches to influence his collab-orators with the originality of hisdream.”

For Tovoli, one fundamental issueon Suspiria was “the choice of colors andthe way I utilized them in accordancewith [production designer] GiuseppeBassan, who was working underArgento’s inspired guidance. We wereoften making our decisions in the flowof the shooting, without too many elab-orate consultations or directions, butjust in a kind of magic comprehension.

“I decided to intensively utilizeprimary colors — blue, green and red —to identify the normal flow of life, andthen apply a complementary color,mainly yellow, to contaminate them,”continues Tovoli. “A [horror] film bringsto the surface some of the ancestral fearsthat we hide deep inside us, and Suspiriawould not have had the same catharticfunction if I had utilized the fullnessand consolatory sweetness of the fullcolor spectrum. To immediately makeSuspiria a total abstraction from whatwe call ‘everyday reality,’ I used theusually reassuring primary colors only intheir purest essence, making themimmediately, surprisingly violent andPhot

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In Suspiria, Suzy (Jessica Harper) arrives at a mysterious ballet academy and is immediately thrust into amulti-hued realm with increasingly surreal settings.


provocative. This brings the audienceinto the world of Suspiria.” But thebrightly hued artifice also has a certaindistancing effect on the viewer. “You sayto yourself, ‘This will never happen tome because I have never seen suchintense colors in my life,’” says Tovoli.“This makes you feel reassured and, atthe same time, strangely attracted toproceed deeper and deeper into thiscolorful journey.”

The film’s opening shots quicklytransport the audience, as Suzy makesher way through the Munich airport onher way to the ballet academy. “Withcolors forbidden in reality, the Munichairport becomes Suspiria airport,” saysTovoli. “Then, the first close-ups of herin a cab, as it’s raining furiously outside,express perfectly the dynamics of the fullcolor palette I sought for the rest of thefilm — the pulsating, mixing and alter-nating primary and complementarycolors.” Like Disney’s Snow White, towhom Harper bears more than a pass-ing resemblance, Suzy is soon lost in astrange world of magic and witchcraft.

“I was deeply inspired by Jessica’sinteresting face, by its volumes andproportions, and her beautifully expres-sive eyes,” Tovoli says of his star. “After Iprepared the light and she arrived on theset, she was immediately shining so bril-liantly that I was astonished every time,as was Argento. Of course, I tried tolight her laterally as much as possible,with almost no light in the axis of the

◗ Terror in Technicolor

Suzy is“welcomed”by the strictMiss Tanner(Alida Valli),

who rules theacademy

through fearand

intimidation.Throughout

the film,Tovoli’s

widescreencompositionshighlight the

dramaticproduction

design.


camera, to add a sense of perspective toher face. On other films, I had regis-tered the fact that the lens loves somefaces, but in Jessica’s case, the relation-ship was really phenomenal.”

The theatrical, expressionisticapproach Argento and Tovoli soughtfor Suspiria was unusual for the time,especially for a contemporary film. “Itwas surprising for a great part of ourcrew, who had never met a cinematog-rapher who wanted to put the strongestpossible lights so close to the actorsthrough colored-velvet screens,” saysTovoli. “But it was very new for me aswell. I had never lit a film like thisbefore. For many years at the beginningof my career, I prayed only for the mostnatural light possible.”

Tovoli recalls a pledge that he and future ASC member NestorAlméndros made while they wereattending the Centro Sperimentale diCinematografia in Rome. “Wepromised over two glasses of goodTuscan red wine to never abandon themarvelous religion of real light,” he says.“I respected that oath for maybe adecade, but then I started to be quitebored. Alméndros, who was much moreserious about this kind of thing than I,continued in the same direction withthe most enviable success. Meanwhile, Istarted to study the work of the black-and-white cinematographers workingat Cinecittà in Rome, in Hollywoodand elsewhere. I searched to reconstruct

their unbelievable lighting and complextechnique; I watched the films over andover to learn how they achieved suchgreat artistic results.” Among hisfavorites were Italian cinematographersAnchise Brizzi, Arturo Gallea, UbaldoArata, Carlo Montuori, MassimoTerzano, Otello Martelli, Aldo Tontiand, later, Aldo Graziati and Gianni DiVenanzo. “Working in black-and-whitewith Antonioni, Di Venanzo brought asubstantial change to the technique,utilizing many small diffused lights for

interiors instead of bigger Fresnel units,”Tovoli notes.

The cinematographer was ini-tially reluctant to sign onto Suspiria“because I was conscious of my lack ofexperience and, more importantly, mylack of real passion for that kind of film,”he explains. “I’ve never accepted a jobjust to take a job. Also, even in the mostinsignificant film, I always searched tofind some significance. That, of course,was not at all the case with Suspiria. Butfortunately, Argento insisted I join him,

Top, far left:Director DarioArgento (left)and Tovoliprepare a shotof actress JoanBennett, whoplays MadameBlanc, thesternheadmistressand leader ofthe secretcoven thatplots againstSuzy.


and I still do not know why.“I chose my camera crew very

carefully,” he continues. “I brought inIdelmo Simonelli, one of the bestcamera operators, a true star. When hesaid, ‘This is by far the best take,’ it wasby far the best take! I also brought the

best first camera assistant, PeppinoTinelli; the best grip, MarioMoreschini; and the best gaffer, AlbertoAltibrandi, whose nickname was‘Gnaccheretta’ [Castanet].”

With only a few weeks of prep,Tovoli began camera and lighting testsin earnest. “After my first conversationwith Argento, I vaguely imagined howto technically achieve this radical depar-ture from my previous lighting style, butalso, I needed to know if I had trulyabandoned naturalism,” he says. “OnThe Passenger, I searched to force thestrength of the real light, often overex-posing, bringing the negative near theshoulder of the sensitometric curve toburn up some of the detail. In a way, thisis what I did on Suspiria as well, but at amuch higher level, ‘overexposing’through the intensity of a specific colorin a specific shot, with the negative[Eastman 5254] carefully exposed at the

center of the curve. I utilized this tech-nique on every shot in the film. I wasalways telling the production designerand scenic painter, ‘More red! Moreblue!’ I made the same recommendationto my very patient gaffer, Alberto, and,like a good friend, he asked me, ‘Are yousure? There is already a lot of green. It’sbecoming quite disturbing!’ And to myinalterably happy face he asked, ‘Are yousearching to be fired?’”

Part of Tovoli’s approach was tomake extensive use of frames of brightlycolored velour and tissue paper set infront of Arcs positioned very close tothe performers. “I wanted to create lightthat would simulate the color comingfrom pots of paint thrown very respect-fully on the actors’ faces, recallingJackson Pollock’s fundamental gestureof splashing pure color on the canvas. Inmy imagination, our canvas was ouractors’ faces. Soon, someone calmlyexplained to me that this was not possi-ble for multiple reasons, and I wasforced to find an alternative method oflighting the actors’ faces and, to anextent, the backgrounds, with thestrongest possible light as close to thesubject as possible. While shooting, ouractors were very often reasonablyworried they might be burned!”

Tovoli also employed mirrors tochange the quality of the light. “Thestratagem of the mirrors could doublethe distance between our light sourcesand the scene,” he explains, noting thathe was inspired by Leonardo da Vinci’suse of mirrors in his work. “If I have tochoose one impressive reference, whynot go directly to the best? It’s alwaysbetter to tap in at the highest level! Iutilized mirrors not to destroy enemyships, as Archimedes did in the warbetween Siracusa and Rome, but todestroy with a violent shaft of hyper-colored light a universally ‘elegant’ or‘refined’ image. This was driven by mydesire to always go beyond what wouldbe conventionally accepted. Theaesthetic concept on Suspiria — andArgento will forgive me if I pretend tospeak for him — was never to subtract,but to add.”


After amysterious

infestation isdiscovered in

the girls’dorm, the

students aremoved tomakeshift

quarters in adance studio,

which takeson a sinisterlook as Suzy

and Sara(Stefania

Casini) sharetheir fears. Toheighten such

dramaticcontrasts incolor, Tovoli

(bottomphoto, lighting

the scene)employed

Technicolor IBprinting tocontrol his

hues.

Bassan’s extensive use of wildlytextured backgrounds, geometric shapesand colored surfaces add greatly to thepicture’s crazy-quilt visual quality, andTovoli sought to keep such elements incrisp focus. “Sharpness has always beenanother of my profound beliefs, in partas a form of respect for the opticsspecialists who work hard every day toimprove the rendering of the lenses,” hesays. “I do not use, or very scarcely use inlighter values, diffusers or colored filters.And I absolutely never used them onSuspiria. In general, I am not interestedin ‘pictorial’ images. Watching a film, Iget bored and lose interest when I seediffused smoke where there is not anyjustification for it apart from the desireto create a nice atmosphere. I’mtempted to call the fire brigade!

“When I first started to dophotography, Ansel Adams, EdwardWeston and Henri Cartier-Bresson,among many others, opened my eyes tothe vast territory of sharpness andcontrast as primordial values in photog-raphy — and cinematography, ofcourse. On Suspiria, I lived with the illu-sion that I could make sharp the simple,flat volume of a monochromatic wall byusing the pure intensity and pulsatingvibrations of the color itself.”

Using Mitchell BNC and Arri 2-C cameras, Tovoli shot Suspiria in2.35:1 Technovision anamorphic, aformat he loves deeply. “The gloriousTechnovision anamorphic lens!” heexclaims. “The incredibly passionateEnrico Chroscicki believed so stronglyin great panoramic images that he wentto Paris in the early 1950s to search forthe survivors of Henri Chrétien, theFrench astronomer who designed theHypergonar lens, from which the firstanamorphic lens was later derived.Chroscicki told me he also met with avery old collaborator of Chrétien’s inNice, and found in a dusty drawer notonly the original drawings of two lensesbut also a single optical anamorphicelement to be put in front of a normalprimary lens. Thanks to this almostarchaeological discovery — I baptizedhim the Winkelmann of lenses —

Suzyencounters amysteriouswitch whocasts a spellupon her. Thesimple effectwas createdwith a piece ofmirrorreflecting backinto the lens;dust wasadded to theair to helpcarry the light.



Chroscicki, in his little workshop inRome, made just one lens! It was a50mm, and he rented this single lens foryears before he had the money to builda full series of anamorphic lenses. Howcould I not shoot Suspiria with Enrico’sanamorphic Technovision lenses?Vittorio Storaro [ASC, AIC] has shotall his films with Technovision lenses!”

Eastman 5254, a 100-ASA nega-tive, “had beautiful contrast values andcolors, which I admired, and that was soimportant for the Technicolor processseparations we were to make from ournegative, because we planned to force,violate and deteriorate the image’snormal color range,” he adds. From theoutset, the filmmakers intended to useTechnicolor’s legendary dye-transferprinting process as the final step increating the haunted realm of Suspiria.Technicolor Rome shut down its IBprinting in 1978, making Argento’s filmone of its last dye-transfer projects.Tovoli recalls, “Technicolor Romeapplied the negative-developing andpositive-printing system with extremeaccuracy, and they agreed, maybe for thefirst time in their history, to make aminor but important modification forus. They agreed to lose a diffuser thatwas typically used to slightly flash theyellow-cyan-magenta imbibed matrix,thus preventing any possible bleeding ofthe colors outside the physical contoursof each image. The possible bleeding ofcolors was exactly what I was searchingfor with Argento — we wanted morecontrast, more vibrating colors — so Iproposed to Carlo Labella, the nicestman and a very talented color timer, thatwe lose this little attenuation of thecolor contrast. I am not ready to forgethis friendly smile as he listened to myapparently absurd proposal!” Also, forthe matrix printing of the cyan layer, labtechnicians used a special filter that wasmore selective for the color red, whichwas particularly complicated to renderin the dye-transfer process but also a keycomponent of Suspiria’s palette. Thefilter enabled the post team to faithfullyreproduce all the information present onthe original negative.


This page andopposite: Sara

is stalkedthrough the

academygrounds inone of thefilm’s most

expressive andfrighteningsequences.

Seekingrefuge, she istrapped in a

room filledwith barbed

wire.

Tovoli recently revisited Suspiriaat Technicolor Rome to supervise a newHD transfer, which will result in a Blu-ray release this spring. “I worked with avery talented colorist, Fabrizio Conti,and we tried to stay as close as possibleto the look of the original,” he says. “Ithink we did an extremely good job, butit is impossible to compare even the bestdigital master to a film printed withTechnicolor’s dye-transfer process,especially for a film as extreme asSuspiria!”

The cinematographer’s bold useof color is showcased in one of Suspiria’smost bravura sequences, in whichSuzy’s friend Sara (Stefania Casini) isrelentlessly pursued by an unseenassailant. Terrified, she runs through alabyrinth of colorfully hued corridors inthe boarding school, finally slammingshut a heavy door behind her. Leaningagainst it, she sees a straight razorslowly slide between the door and thejam as her attacker tries to flip open thesimple lock. In a panic, Sara spots a tinywindow that offers possible escape.Climbing through it, she cannot clearlysee the room she is entering. She jumpsto the floor, only to find the chamberfilled with coils of barbed wire. Trappedand helpless, she struggles in this blue-tinged nightmare until the killer reachesher. “That is one of my favorite scenesbecause Argento left me free to create acolor symphony following only myemotion and taste,” says Tovoli. “That isvery rare in the relationship between thedirector and the cinematographer.Looking at that sequence today, I real-ize I made it in a state of total pleasure,going on shot after shot with my collab-orators, almost blindly utilizing the newalphabet of colors that had become ourinstinctive color language. The red, ofcourse, is the aggression and danger, theblood that the unknown pursuer willsoon force out of your body with hisknife. The blue is the terrifying deathsentence already pronounced and acolor that accompanies you into thesinister world of death. The delicateorange coloration of the little windowhigh in the wall of the room is the


momentary illusion of safety, a paintingdone with colored lights. Then there isthe shining metallic blue of the barbedwire, like a carnivorous plant that willcapture and almost digest you forever.Such a very rich bouquet of gifts for acinematographer! Thanks, MaestroArgento! The sequence of colors in thefrantic pursuit was not planned at all. Imade it absolutely on the inspiration ofthe moment.”

Conversely, another key set piecefinds Argento and Tovoli bleeding offtheir elaborate color scheme to render analmost monochromatic milieu ofnocturnal mayhem. In the sequence,blind pianist Daniel (Flavio Bucci) andhis guide dog enter the vast KonigsplatzSquare at night, the pale gray stone ofthe surrounding buildings starkly setagainst the darkness. Atop one roof, animposing statue of a huge bird of preypeers down on the frightened man.Daniel cannot see that the creaturedisappears, but hears the flapping ofgreat wings as something swoops downover the square at him as his dog barksincessantly. Then, in one of the greattwists in horror cinema, Daniel ismurdered, with his shockingly red bloodpunctuating the moment.

For Tovoli, the Konigsplatz

Square offered a tremendous lightingchallenge. “What kept me up at nightwas the dimension of the location,” thecinematographer says. “Since then, Ihave lit bigger spaces, including thehuge Pula Arena in Croatia for JulieTaymor’s Titus [1999; AC Feb. ’00].Knowing that Hitler utilized the

Konigsplatz Square for his parades andspeeches did not reassure me at all! Wedecided to not use color in the scene toenhance the loneliness of the emptyspace and make the sudden explosion ofbloody red [more dramatic].

“The bird’s [point-of-view shot]was a very clear idea of Argento’s that

we realized quite easily by running athin steel cable from the top of onetemple to the ground by a hand-releasedhook. When the ground hook wasreleased, the elastic part of the cablebrought our Arriflex camera off thesolid ground and into the air to soar overthe square. Of course, we got quiteexcited about the shot and pushed thespecial mechanical effect responsible todelay the release of the hook at the verylast possible second.” The resultingPOV effect adds an ingenious sense ofmenace to the already flamboyant scene.

“Discussing the film this waybrings back the feeling of total happi-ness, a fabulous shooting time in whicha young cinematographer not at allintimidated by the task before him tookthe opportunity to collaborate with agreat director and sweet man namedDario Argento,” muses Tovoli, whowould later shoot such Hollywoodsuspense films as Reversal of Fortune(1990) and Single White Female(1992). “I believe it is this human secret,not a technical one, that is behind thelasting long life of Suspiria.”

The author thanks D’ArienzoAntonio, Robert Hoffman, Bruce Hellerand Rob Hummel for their assistance withthis article. ●



Left: Tovoli extends his meter down to water level for a suspenseful swimming sequence as his camera is set up. Above: The cinematographer enjoys a rare calm moment during the shoot.

“The aestheticconcept on

Suspiria was never to subtract,

but to add.”

by †|† Technicolor Terrorin

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by †|† Technicolor Terrorin