La terza madre (2007)

Director:

Dario Argento

Writers:

Jace Anderson (writer)
Dario Argento (writer)

Release Date:

31 October 2007 (Italy)

Genre:

Fantasy | Horror | Thriller

Tagline:

What you see does not exist. What you cannot see is truth.

Plot:

Part three of the "Three Mothers" trilogy which takes place in Rome and has to do with Mater Lachrymarum (The Third Mother).

Plot Keywords:

Witch | Power | Fear | Demon | Supernatural

Cast

Asia Argento	...	Sarah Mandy
Cristian Solimeno	...	Detective Enzo Marchi
Adam James	...	Michael Pierce
Moran Atias	...	Mater Lachrymarum
Valeria Cavalli	...	Marta Colussi
Philippe Leroy	...	Guglielmo De Witt
Daria Nicolodi	...	Elisa Mandy
Coralina Cataldi-Tassoni	...	Giselle Mares
Udo Kier	...	Father Johannes
Robert Madison	...	Detective Lissoni
Jun Ichikawa	...	Katerina
Tommaso Banfi	...	Father Milesi
Paolo Stella	...	Julian
Clive Riche	...	Man in Overcoat
Massimo Sarchielli	...	The Hobo

Also Known As:

Exhumed (USA) (working title)
Mother of Tears (USA)
Mother of Tears: The Third Mother (International: English title)
The Third Mother (Italy) (literal English title)

MPAA:

Rated R for strong graphic violence and gore, language and some sexuality/nudity.

Runtime:

USA:102 min (unrated version) | Canada:98 min (Toronto International Film Festival) | Argentina:90 min (DVD version)

Country:

Italy | USA

Language:

English

Colour:

Colour

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

Italy:VM14 | UK:18 | USA:R | Germany:18 (cut) | Australia:R | Argentina:18 | Italy:VM18 (cinema rating) | Netherlands:16 | Philippines:R-13 (MTRCB)

Filming Locations:

Cinecittà Studios, Cinecittà, Rome, Lazio, Italy

Company:

Film Commission Torino-Piemonte

Trivia:

The first screening of the film's trailer took place at the 2007 Cannes Film Festival. On the same occasion, a restored print of Suspiria (1977) was shown in the Cannes Classics section.

Goofs:

Continuity: When Giselle and Sarah open the urn. The overhead shots shows Giselle handing each item to Sarah. In the side shots Giselle is taking them from Sarah and setting them aside.

Quotes:

Sarah Mandy: I need to find the Mother of Tears!

Movie Connections:

References La sindrome di Stendhal (1996)

Mother of Tears

Mother of Tears (2007)

*** 1/2 (out of 4)

Third film in the "Three Mothers" trilogy following Suspiria and Inferno. The film opens with an ancient urn being found in a cemetery in Rome. The urn is taken to a museum where Sarah (Asia Argento), an art student, opens in and unknowingly unleashes the witch known as the Mother of Tears. Soon witches begin coming to Rome to pay their respects to the Mother and this here unleashes rape, violence and suicide throughout the city and it's up to Sarah to bring it to an end. It's no secret that I found the first two films in this series to be highly overrated. Yes, they're technically brilliant but the stories never worked for me and I also thought they lacked suspense but that's not the case with this final film in the trilogy because Argento proves his skill with a masterful little film that's not great but it's still pretty damn close. Argento does a great job at creating a truly wicked atmosphere and one that makes you feel as if all of these events are happening and that the world is being overtaken by these witches. There's a certain dread and creepiness running throughout the entire film and there's also a couple scenes that are certain to make you jump. There's also an extremely large amount of graphic violence and gore, which is certainly a throw back to the Italian pictures of the 1970s. I won't ruin any of the sequences but these are certainly the most graphic and brutal scenes from a horror film in many decades. Asia turns in the best performances I've seen from her as the woman who gets into something she was never expecting. There are a couple emotional scenes with Asia's character and her mother's spirit (played by her real mother, Daria Nicolodi), which the actress pulls off very well. Udo Kier also has a nice cameo. The story this time out is a lot easier to follow than the previous two films and again I think this is a major plus. Five writers are credited with the screenplay and I think they got the elements just right. I was letdown by the ending, which I felt happened way too fast and simple but outside of this I really enjoyed this movie. The music score by Claudio Simonetti is also very good and delivers some nice tension to the film. There are a couple poorly used CGI effects but thankfully all of the gore scenes are the real thing. How long has it been since we've seen brutal killings without the use of CGI? One of the scenes look fake but the rest are very gruesome and realistic. The opening murder sequence is brutally done but it gives the opening in Suspiria a run for its money.