The characters in Luca Guadagnino's 2018 film Suspiria.
LET MOTHER SPOLIARIUM TAKE CARE OF YOU.
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Markos Tanzgruppe
Dancers
In general
- Chromosome Casting: Sorry, danseurs. They don't have openings. Potentially lampshaded or at least taken liberally due to the presence of Caroline.
- Multinational Team: Though they're mostly white with a Token Minority or two, Markos seems to be open to accepting dancers from different parts of the globe.
- Nude Nature Dance: They do dance in the nude in a witches' sabbath though in the basement instead of the great outdoors.
- What Did I Do Last Night?: Everyone in the epilogue. Must've drunken a bit too much wine.
Susie
Susanna Bannion
Played by: Dakota Johnson
- Abled in the Adaptation: Suzy fell ill under a spell in the original, shortly after she was admitted into the school. Susie, despite being paler, stays healthy in the remake and can (and will) dance until she's tired. Bonus points for her interpretive genre being more vigorous than ballet.
- Adaptation Dye-Job: Suzy was brunette. Susie is ginger.
- Adaptation Name Change: A slight tweak from the spunky “Suzy” to the more conservative “Susie” which is itself short for “Susanna”, fitting for an expansion of her background in the same direction.
- Amish: Her background. She goes back to the Mennonite Church's German roots but had already abandoned religion when she got there.
- Ascended Fangirl: Admitted to having seen the Tanzgruppe in the flesh thrice and gotten punished for it. She even learned Volk from just watching a documentary!
- Black Sheep: Flashbacks show she clearly didn't fit in with her family's Mennonite lifestyle, preferring to move away from the country and express herself artistically and sexually.
- Caught with Your Pants Down: Her mother caught her masturbating in the closet as a kid and ironed her hand as punishment.
- Composite Character: With Suzy herself and Mother Suspirium. It's unclear where one begins and the other ends.
- Country Mouse: Soft-spoken? Check. Rural background? Check. Adjusting in a big city? Kind of, given that she's escaped the countryside a few times already.
- Decomposite Character: At the same time that she is merged with Mother Suspirium making her a Composite Character, Sara also gets a lot of Suzy's more noble qualities, and her detective-like role in the original.
- Disappeared Dad: Susie's father neither appears or gets mentioned.
- Evil Redhead: She also wasn't one of these, but she becomes one - possibly - by the end; even if she is actually less evil, she's still scary.
- Protagonist Journey to Villain: Again, whether or not she is an actual villain is left very open for debate, but she does ultimately become head of the coven and avenges everyone who tries to hurt her.
- The Force Is Strong with This One: Madame Blanc senses this in Susie as she dances.
- Fiery Redhead: It takes her a while to learn to grow into one, but she definitely becomes it by the end of the film.
- From Nobody to Nightmare: Her entire arc in the movie.
- Important Haircut: Her hair is cut to shoulder-length just before Volk.
- Significant Green-Eyed Redhead: Miss Tanner describes Susie's eyes as “bright blue”. Susie is also the only ginger in the company.
- Strict Parents Make Sneaky Kids: Especially considering Susie was her mother's least favorite.
- Took a Level in Jerkass: About halfway through the film, Susie becomes much more cunning and seemingly indifferent to Sara, which might be the cult taking hold of her...or letting her become what she already was. This is also around the time that Susie is becoming much closer with Mme Blanc and has realized that she herself is Mother Suspiriorum. In fact, this process really begins the moment Sara climbs into bed with Susie after Susie wakes up from her nightmare realization.
Sara
Sara Simms
Played by: Mia Goth
- Alliterative Name: Sara Simms.
- Ascended Extra: While Sara in the original was a close friend of Suzy's and retained a lot of her traits, Sara in this version also takes on all of Susie's investigations of the coven.
- Body Horror: Occurs twice; the first is when Sara is exploring the catacombs of the dance academy and the witches manifest holes in the floor upon which Sara accidentally puts her leg into one and falls, causing a gruesome compound shin fracture. This is magically healed by the matrons shortly after but not well enough as Sara breaks it again while dancing in a trance. The second time occurs during the sabbath when Sara along with Patricia and Olga have their stomachs cut open and intestines removed. The worst part is they're still alive after this though thankfully Susie mercy kills them soon after.
- Creepy Blue Eyes: Ever since Volk. The dance sequence even shows her side-by-side with a brown-eyed Susie.
- Decomposite Character: She keeps all of the original Sara, but also takes on a large chunk of the original Suzy's arc, with investigating the coven and befriending the psychiatrist.
- Good Smoking, Evil Smoking: Smokes at one point while conversing with Susie.
- Gutted Like a Fish: Act Six. Along with two others. None of them react accordingly.
- Involuntary Dance: After getting caught by the other matrons and breaking her leg (which is then undone), Sara is subjected to dancing her part of Volk under Blanc's spell.
- Mercy Kill: Mother Suspiriorum even cradles her head as she's given this.
- Nice Girl: A sweet and compassionate young woman who's genuinely concerned about Patricia's disappearance and Susie's well-being. Even Mother Suspiriorum calls her "Sweet girl."
- Pink Means Feminine: Goes to bed in a pink kimono-like robe.
Patricia
Patricia Hingle
Played by: Chloë Grace Moretz
- Apocalyptic Log: Leaves behind a diary with her findings regarding the witches of the Markos Tanzgruppe. Klemperer hands this diary to Sara, in turn prompting her to investigate.
- Body Horror: We never see how she gets caught or what is done to her but Sara finds the horrifying result in the catacombs, resembling a living corpse with gray, decaying skin and clouded eyes.
- Dead Star Walking: Chloë Grace Moretz is a highly established actress, but Patricia only appears for a couple of scenes, specifically the long one in the beginning.
- Go Mad from the Revelation: When she found out what the matrons actually planned for her.
- Gutted Like a Fish: Act Six. Along with two others. None of them react accordingly.
- La Résistance: Has connections with the RAF. Madame Blanc exploits this to blame Patricia's disappearance on her sympathies with the rebels.
- Mercy Kill: She's so tired of going insane and essentially existing as a zombie that she asks this of Mother Suspiriorum, who puts her down as obliged.
- The Ophelia: Softly sings and dances on a rainy day on her way her session with Dr. Klemperer. She's more paranoid than insane, though.
- Plot-Triggering Death: Although she disappears rather than dies although the original her is already dead in a lot of ways, her role is the same.
- She Knows Too Much: Why the witches are after her.
Olga
Olga Ivanova
Played by: Elena Fokina
- Abnormal Limb Rotation Range: Elena Fokina is a contortionist in Real Life. Whatever she didn’t manage on her own, however, CGI took care of.
- And I Must Scream: Olga is brutally pulverized into a human pretzel through Sympathetic Magic by an unknowing Susie. You'd be forgiven for believing she was dead after that but when the matrons come in and impale her with hooks to carry her out of the room, you can hear her softly whimpering when they drive the hooks in. Made even worse in the finale when she's been untwisted and is disemboweled for the sabbath. Luckily, Susie mercy kills her allowing her to finally escape the pain.
- Body Horror: Her body warp is arguably the most iconic scene in this movie. Big surprise: she makes it to the climax.
- Bring My Brown Pants: Pisses herself in the middle of her Mutilation Conga. Also taken literally as she wears a brown shirt and dark brown pants in the scene.
- Gutted Like a Fish: Act Six. Along with two others. None of them react accordingly.
- Mauve Shirt: She's established as a close friend of Patricia's and is introduced as a bit of a bitch like the original but afterwards doesn't get more development as a character.
- Mercy Kill: A mangled but finally untangled Olga is granted her wish of this thanks to Mother Suspiriorum.
- Russian Guy Suffers Most: We never see what happened to Patricia once she got caught but we see the living corpse she'd become. Sara breaks a leg before ''Volk' but at least gets back to dancing, albeit painfully. Caroline convulses once but otherwise makes it to the end of the movie without a scratch. But Olga? We get to witness her body twist and break as she cries (when she was already in distress due to the way the matrons just brush off the fact that Patricia is missing) and pisses herself in the process. Without dying.
Matrons
In general
- Adaptational Heroism: The coven in the original are Always Chaotic Evil witches who commit sadistic and murderous acts seemingly for the hell of it. In the remake, the witches are an antifascist and antipatriarchal organization willing to commit horrendous acts for their cause. Subverted in that Madame Blanc believes the coven has grown corrupt and needs new leadership.
- Godiva Hair: Played with. In the sixth act, all the matrons save for Madame Blanc and Helena Markos wear clothes made of human hair.
- Last-Name Basis: So far only Helena Markos and Viva Blanc have their first names revealed. The rest are just referred to as Miss [last name].
- Spared by the Adaptation: Only those who pledged their allegiance to Blanc. Those who pledged allegiance to Markos literally lost their heads. Madame Blanc herself, well...
- Token Minority: Miss Millius.
Madame Blanc
Viva Blanc
Played by: Tilda Swinton
- Affably Evil: The second in command of a coven of witches and seems to have no issue brutally torturing some of her students but it's difficult to deny that she has a charm to her. She also appears to genuinely care for Susie, even attempting to call off the sabbath so she wouldn't be subjected to a horrific Soul Rape scenario.
- And I Must Scream: At the end of the movie Blanc is given an incomplete decapitation by Markos for defying her, leaving her slumped on the floor and her head nearly cut completely off. After the sabbath, the surviving matrons are cleaning up the blood bath when one of them pulls back Blanc's head to reveal that she's still alive, moving her eyes around though apparently unable to move any other part of her body. The idea that she was alive for hours with her head nearly chopped off is horrifying to say the least.
- Dragon Ascendant: Subverted in both alignment and plot, the latter stemming from an informal election between her and Markos as matriarch. Markos won.
- The Force Is Strong with This One: As she tries to keep Sara dancing Volk, she senses another aura controlling Sara, and fights back.
- Good Smoking, Evil Smoking: Smokes everywhere, even when teaching.
- A Lighter Shade of Black: Directly and indirectly commits horrendous acts throughout the movie, but cares for most of the girls—especially Susie—and wishes to oust the corrupt Markos from coven leadership.
- Off with Her Head!: Helena Markos air-guillotines Mme Blanc when she hesitates to proceed with the sabbath. However, the cut isn't deep enough to sever her head clean off, and despite the High-Pressure Blood splattering behind her, she manages to survive the night.
- Stringy-Haired Ghost Girl: She appears as this in [1]
◊ - Team Mom: Doesn't just direct her dancers but cares for them, too. Or so it seems.
Miss Tanner
Miss Tanner
Played by: Angela Winkler
- Adaptational Nice Guy: Argento's Tanner was strict and imposing. Guadagnino's Tanner looks that same part but is a tad more gentle.
- Dirty Old Woman: Heck, she tickles a half-undressed cop's penis with the tip of a hook!
- Number Two: She gets the most amount of screen time among the matrons apart from Madame Blanc, whom she assists in rehearsals.
- Sole Survivor: She is the only Markos supporter left alive after Mater Suspiriorum's climactic purge.
Miss Huller
Miss Huller
Played by: Renée Soutendijk
- The Brute: You could tell by how, of all the things she chose to check out from a spell-frozen cop, she chose a gun.
- Careful with That Axe: In the sixth act, she lets out a terrifying scream as she attacks a confused Klemperer and, with help from another matron, drags him back into the studio.
- Dirty Old Woman: She, Tanner, and Vendegast try to (ahem) inspect the two cops who came to their door.
- Hypocrite: She chastises Klemperer for "not believing women" and labeling them as "delusional when they tell the truth". However, Huller seems to have no problem taking part in the brutal torture and murder of many of the women in the dance academy.
- Laughing Mad: Loves to do this in the company of subdued men, apparently.
- Your Head Asplode: Is on the receiving end of this along with nearly every other Markos supporter in the coven.
Miss Griffith
Played by: Sylvie Testud
- Driven to Suicide: Stabs her own neck at the dining table some time after she was pressured to vote for Markos.
- The Empath: Sort of. When Olga breaks into tears, so does she.
- Knew It All Along: It's implied she kills herself because she knows, before any of the other witches, Susie's true identity. She had voted for Markos in the election and would have faced certain death during the sabbath ritual.
- Nerd Glasses: Just look at her page image!
- The Quiet One: Never says a word in the movie.
Miss Vendegast
Played by: Ingrid Caven
- Dirty Old Woman: After letting Those Two Guys in, she froze them for a little while just for Huller and Tanner to undress and play with.
- The Face: She's the first to greet the two police officers who visit the dance studio, as well as the one to escort Dr. Klemperer off the premises after the sixth act.
- Token Good Teammate: The dance troupe's den mother who looks after the students and their lodgings, and who also sides with Mme Blanc.
Helena Markos
Helena Markos
Played by: Tilda Swinton
- Adaptational Wimp: In the original she was a goddess in human form with formidable psychic abilities and the power to raise the dead. In this she's a high priestess to a goddess and basically just a green, slimy thing in a wheel chair.
- Body Horror: She could pass off as a regular (if horribly aged) old lady with clothes on, but naked as most of her appearance in the climax she is hideous.
- Cool Shades: Is seen in one even in her pictures.
- Dark Lord on Life Support: While she's still capable of powerful magic, it's clear her current body is withering away and she's desperate to get a new one.
- Decomposite Character: In the Argento original, she was Mother Suspiriorum. In this remake, she claims to be. She isn't.
- Kiss of Death: Literally how she dies.
- Oh, Crap!: Her reaction after seeing Death's avatar kowtow before Susie.
- One Bad Mother: Patricia's diary mentions her as Mother Markos, a name apart from the three Mothers above it on the same page.
- Orcus on His Throne: Spends most of her days in the catacombs, waiting for a young lady to accept her.
- Stringy-Haired Ghost Girl: Appears as this in one of Susie's dreams.
- Villainous Breakdown: A subdued one when Death itself arrives and Susie exposes Markos as a fraud.
(SPOILER CHARACTER)
Mater Suspiriorum
Played by: Dakota Johnson
- Adaptational Badass: Unlike the previous Susie who was a normal human, this Suspiriorum is a Physical God who kills Markos.
- Anti-Villain: After revealing herself before Markos, she kills the old hag and everyone who voted for her, after which she gently puts down Sara, Olga, and Patricia at their request. There's a sense of differing morality with her, in comparison to her original incarnation where she was obviously evil.
- Badass Longrobe: A purple one, signifying her power.
- Blue-and-Orange Morality: It's difficult to discern whether Mater Suspiriorum is a benevolent or malevolent goddess. On the one hand, she summons Death and brutally blows up the heads of Markos's followers. On the other, she provides quiet and peaceful deaths for Olga, Patricia, and Sara upon their request. She also wipes Klemperer's memory to spare him from the trauma and pain of remembering the sabbath as well as his wife's death. She also doesn't kill those who sided with Madame Blanc and spares them, implying she wiped out the most corrupted members of the coven.
- Mercy Kill: Provides peaceful ones to Olga, Patricia, and Sara, mutilated corpses at this point who are tired of suffering and wish only for the end.
- The Modest Orgasm: The faces she makes as she opens herself up are orgasmic; she plays this trope straight by sighing.
- Physical God: Comes with the territory of being Mater Suspiriorum.
- Purple Is Powerful: Wears a translucent purple robe in the sabbath.
- The Fourth Wall Will Not Protect You: The Stinger.
- Vagina Dentata: Opens one on her chest while Death takes on all the Markos supporters. It has teeth and a pulsing tongue and it screams.
- Wham Line: “I AM SHE.”
Others
Dr. Klemperer
Dr. Josef Klemperer
Played by: Lutz Ebersdorf
- Agent Scully: Part and parcel of his psychologist shtick. He passes off Patricia's findings as coping mechanisms she developed under stress in the company.
- Forced to Watch: The sixth act.
- Geek Physique: Had this in his youth.
- Herr Doktor: Is addressed as such, too.
- Larynx Dissonance: Tilda Swinton playing an old man (complete with genitalia) is the most Tilda Swinton thing ever, but when you hear Klemperer's voice, he still sounds like an old lady.
- Laser-Guided Amnesia: Mother Suspiriorum gives him one in the epilogue as Laser-Guided Karma for all the women he put at risk.
- My Greatest Failure: Didn't take his wife Anke's concerns about the looming Nazi threat seriously, leading to her capture and eventual death.
- Nice Guy: Deconstructed. Klemperer is polite, well-intentioned, and is genuinely concerned for his patient Patricia (and later Sara), but clearly doesn't take female patients or women in general at their word, looking for psychological explanations for what he views as their illusions. Tragically, his skepticism leads to the deaths of Patricia and Sara, as well as his wife's death at the hands of the Nazis decades earlier.
Anke
Anke Meier
Played by: Jessica Harper
- Cassandra Truth: Tried to convince Josef that the Nazi Party was dangerous decades earlier, but he sadly would not listen until they fully came to power. Tragically, this led to her death in a concentration camp.
- Death by Origin Story: In the epilogue, Mother Suspiriorum reveals that Anke froze to death in Theresienstadt in 1943 when she and many other inmates were commanded to stand for hours in the cold.
- The Lost Lenore: Years after WWII, her husband still thinks of her fondly.
- Remake Cameo: Jessica was happy to learn German for it!
- Satellite Love Interest: Anke was Klemperer's wife, but since she never made it to 1977 that's about what we know of her.
Mrs. Bannion
Mrs. Bannion
Played by: Małgosia Bela
- Amish: You can tell from just the wardrobe.
- Apron Matron: The Knight Templar Parent type.
- Dies Wide Open: Just as Susie is made to disown her.
- Dying Declaration of Hate: While she's being given her last rites.“My daughter...my last one...she's my sin. She's what I smeared on the world.”
-
Fake American: Małgosia is Polish. - First-Name Ultimatum: “Susanna...”
- Strict Parents Make Sneaky Kids: Best shown in a flashback when she ironed Susie's hand after catching her feeling herself in the closet.
- Tranquil Fury: Displayed when Susie refuses to stop flipping the page to Europe when she and her sisters are supposed to be doing homework on America and also when the same actress and therefore assumedly in some form Mrs. Bannion does her whole bloody routine in the climactic scene. Death seems very calm, almost humble.
Glockner and Albrecht
Played by: Mikael Olsson (Glockner) and Fred Kelemen (Albrecht)
Albrecht (left), Glockner (right)
Two cops assigned to investigate Patricia Hingle's disappearance.- Police Are Useless: Sadly, any of Berlin's police force (or all?) for that matter got nothing on a coven of witches who could manipulate minds and bodies against their will.
- Those Two Guys: They were also in the same room when Klemperer came to ask about Patricia and Anke.
