Dario Argento returns to the giallo form with a story of a young soprano forced to confront a masked killer during a cursed production of Verdi’s Macbeth.

Released in 1987, Opera stands as one of Dario Argento’s most technically ambitious and thematically dense works. The film merges the conventions of the Italian giallo thriller with the heightened atmosphere of grand opera, resulting in a narrative that examines voyeurism, performance and the inescapable pull of violence. Set almost entirely within the confines of an ageing Milanese opera house, the story follows Betty, a young American soprano thrust into the lead role after the original singer suffers an accident. As the production proceeds, a series of gruesome murders unfolds, each witnessed by Betty through an elaborate device that forces her to observe the killings in unflinching detail.

The Opera House as Prison and Stage

The physical setting of the Teatro Regio becomes more than mere backdrop. Argento transforms the ornate auditorium, cramped dressing rooms and labyrinthine corridors into a claustrophobic arena where art and atrocity intersect. Every murder sequence is choreographed with the precision of a theatrical set piece, the camera gliding along catwalks and through ventilation shafts to mimic the killer’s perspective. This spatial confinement intensifies the sense that Betty cannot escape either the performance or the violence that shadows it.

Visual Style and Technical Innovation

Argento employs several striking visual techniques that distinguish Opera from earlier gialli. The most notorious involves pinning needles beneath Betty’s eyes to keep her lids open during the killings, a device that literalises the theme of forced spectatorship. Cinematographer Ronnie Taylor captures these moments with clinical clarity, contrasting the rich reds and golds of the opera house with the stark horror of the crimes. The sound design further heightens tension, layering the soaring voices of the performers over the mechanical clicks of the killer’s elaborate traps and the wet sounds of blades meeting flesh.

Director in the Spotlight

Dario Argento was born in Rome in 1940 to a family with deep ties to the film industry. His father produced several notable Italian pictures, giving the young Argento early access to sets and crews. After beginning his career as a film critic, Argento moved into screenwriting, contributing to spaghetti westerns and crime films before directing his debut feature The Bird with the Crystal Plumage in 1970. That film established the template for the modern giallo, blending intricate murder mysteries with stylish set pieces and black-gloved killers.

Throughout the 1970s Argento refined his approach with Deep Red and Suspiria, the latter marking a shift toward supernatural horror. By the time he made Opera, he had already explored the boundaries of the genre across more than a dozen features. His influences range from Alfred Hitchcock and Mario Bava to the graphic violence of American horror and the baroque excess of Italian opera itself. Argento’s filmography also includes Tenebrae, Phenomena and later works such as The Stendhal Syndrome and Mother of Tears, though Opera remains one of his most personal statements on the nature of watching and being watched.

Actor in the Spotlight

Cristina Marsillach portrays Betty, the central figure whose rising career collides with lethal obsession. Born in Madrid in 1963, Marsillach trained at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art before appearing in several Spanish and Italian productions. Opera marked one of her most prominent international roles, requiring her to perform demanding vocal passages while conveying mounting terror. Her performance balances vulnerability with resilience, particularly in scenes where Betty must continue singing even as the killer’s presence grows undeniable. Marsillach’s later career included further film and television work in Europe, though her association with Argento’s giallo remains her most recognised contribution to horror cinema.

Themes of Voyeurism and Performance

Opera repeatedly returns to the idea that performance demands a form of submission. Betty’s enforced viewing of the murders echoes the audience’s own position in the cinema, turning spectatorship into an act of complicity. The killer’s identity and motivation tie directly to the opera’s themes of fate and prophecy, blurring the line between the fictional drama on stage and the real violence occurring backstage. Argento uses these parallels to comment on the giallo’s own history of stylish brutality, suggesting that the genre’s pleasures are never entirely innocent.

Legacy and Influence

While not as widely seen upon release as some of Argento’s earlier successes, Opera has grown in reputation among fans of Italian horror. Its inventive murder sequences and self-reflexive approach to genre conventions have influenced later directors working in both giallo revival and meta-horror. Restored prints and home-video releases have allowed new audiences to appreciate the film’s meticulous craftsmanship and its place within Argento’s ongoing exploration of fear and spectacle.

Conclusion

Opera remains a singular entry in the giallo canon, one that uses the grandeur of the opera house to stage a meditation on watching, suffering and the inescapable pull of performance. Argento’s direction, supported by strong technical execution and Marsillach’s committed central performance, delivers a film that continues to reward repeated viewings with fresh layers of meaning and visceral impact.

Bibliography

Argento, D. (1987) Opera. ADC Films.

Gracey, J. (2010) Dario Argento. University of Illinois Press.

McDonagh, M. (1991) Broken Mirrors, Broken Minds: The Dark Dreams of Dario Argento. Sun Tavern Fields.

Needham, G. (2002) ‘From Puccini to Argento: The Italian Giallo and the Operatic’, Screening the Past, 14.

Paul, L. (2005) Italian Horror Film Directors. McFarland.

Thrower, S. (1999) Beyond Terror: The Films of Lucio Fulci. FAB Press.

Argento, D. (2000) Confessions of a Black Cat. Mondo Igneo.

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