Broken Mirrors...

I’ve just spent a pleasant hour and a half listening to Kim Newman and Alan Jones’ commentary track for Suspiria available on Nouveaux Pictures’ 2010 Blu-Ray. This is a very good, lively, engaging track, full of interesting analysis, factoids and trivia. I think I was most intrigued by Alan Jones’ revelation that one of Luciano Tovoli’s methods for achieving Suspiria’s singular look was by using mirrors to reflect the light. Jones describes a scene from the production: “All over the set, out of camera range are masses of mirrors all refracting the light on top of each other to make it as sharp and as vivid as possible” I like this idea of those big Suspiria sets full of mirrors - mirrors and reflective surfaces have a thematic resonance within the film, but perhaps more interesting is their powerful association with the Occult. Had Daria Nicolodi been on set I imagine she would have approved. Incidentally, be sure to check out Tim Lucas' post on the film and some of its more subliminal details - including a fabulous find involving the film's reflective director...