The Three Mothers
The Three Mothers is a trilogy of supernatural horror films by Italian film director Dario Argento. It consists of Suspiria, Inferno and The Mother of Tears. Each film deals with one of the titular "Mothers", a triumvirate of ancient witches whose powerful magic allows them to manipulate world events on a global scale.
During the 2007 Toronto International Film Festival, Argento stated he had not ruled out the possibility of shooting a fourth film dealing with the Three Mothers. His daughter Asia has suggested that one day there might be a prequel.
The plotline of the Three Mothers is explored in Luca Guadagnino's 2018 remake of Suspiria.
The Three Mothers
The story of the Three Mothers begins at the dawn of the 11th century, when three sisters created the pernicious art of witchcraft on the coast of the Black Sea. In the years that followed, they wandered the world and amassed great personal wealth and power, leaving only death in their wake. Both Mater Suspiriorum and Tenebrarum have claimed that the Mothers are Death personified.In the late 19th century the women commissioned E. Varelli, an Italian architect based in London, to design and construct three stately buildings. From these enchanted, bastion-like homes the Three Mothers "rule the world". According to Varelli's memoirs, entitled The Three Mothers by an anonymous colleague, the architect learned too late of the women's evil nature. The residences he designed will become so corrupted that eventually, the land they were built on will become pestilential.
Mater Suspiriorum / Helena Markos
Mater Suspiriorum, the Mother of Sighs, is the oldest and wisest of the Three Mothers. Her given name is Helena Markos. She is also known as The Black Queen. Lela Svasta, who portrayed Markos in Suspiria was uncredited. According to Jessica Harper, "the witch was a ninety-year-old ex-hooker Dario had found on the streets of Rome."Markos, a Greek émigré, was exiled from many European countries and had written several books on a variety of arcane subjects. In 1895 she founded the Tanz Akademie, a school for dance and the occult sciences, in the Black Forest outside Freiburg, Germany. The locals feared her, having intuited that she was a witch. As Markos' wealth grew so did suspicion about her true nature. To avert this unwanted scrutiny, she faked her own death in a fire in 1905. Control of the academy, which became solely a ballet school, was said to have gone to Markos' prize pupil. In reality, this was Markos herself.
In Suspiria Markos is the Directress whose presence is concealed by her coven, headed by Madame Blanc. A young American, Suzy Bannion, discovers the hidden chambers beneath the school after several pupils are killed by Markos' proxies. The aged witch attempts to use her magic to kill the girl, but her powers — including those of invisibility, illusion casting, and telekinesis — prove insufficient due to her enfeebled state. Bannion defeats Markos by stabbing her through the neck. The witch's death causes the foundations of her home and coven to fail.
In The Mother of Tears it is revealed that before the events of Suspiria Elisa Mandy, a white witch, sought to challenge Markos' evil might. The two battled in Freiburg, and Markos slew both Elisa and her husband. However, Elisa was able to weaken Suspiriorum into the hag-like state seen in Suspiria. According to Father Johannes in the third film, the battle left Suspiriorum "a shell of her former self". Elisa's daughter Sarah would later defeat Mater Lachrymarum in Rome.
In the 2018 remake of Suspiria, the role of Madame Blanc, is played by Tilda Swinton. Helena Markos is depicted as an ancient, disfigured, centuries-old crone maintaining control over the coven and seeking to acquire a new, younger body. In this version, it is revealed that Markos is a fraud and Susie Bannion is actually Mater Suspiriorum.
Mater Tenebrarum
Mater Tenebrarum, the Mother of Darkness, is the youngest and most cruel of the Three Mothers. Her true name is not given; her home is located in New York City and was christened in 1910. The house's number is 49 and bears a plaque that states that Georges Ivanovich Gurdjieff once resided there.In Inferno the character is portrayed by Veronica Lazar. She masquerades as Professor Arnold's nurse for much of the film. At the climax, Mark Elliot descends into the bowels of her home to confront her. He learns that Arnold is, in fact, the architect Varelli, and essentially Tenebrarum's slave. Tenebrarum's bloodlust would ultimately be her own undoing, as one of her victims, a maid, was inadvertently responsible for the house catching fire in the midst of her death throes. When Elliot comes across her, Tenebrarum laments cryptically that "It's all going to burn down... just like before." Tenebrarum is perhaps referring to Suspiria's finale, during which Mater Suspiriorum is killed and her home eventually burns to the ground. After sealing the room, she laughs psychotically, makes an ambiguous speech, and disappears. However, her reflection remains in a mirror and bursts out moments later as the skeletal incarnation of Death. Elliot flees the room by breaking down the door.
Mater Lachrymarum
Mater Lachrymarum, the Mother of Tears, is the most beautiful and powerful of the Three Mothers. Like Tenebrarum, her true name is unknown. Inferno suggests that her home in Rome, Italy may be located near No. 49 Via Dei Bagni - the Abertny Foundation's Biblioteca Filosofica - when Sara notices a strange sweet smell in the air. In The Mother of Tears, Lachrymarum's home is revealed to be the Palazzo Varelli.In Inferno Lachrymarum attempted to spellbind Mark Elliot during a music lecture in Rome. According to Argento, Ania Pieroni did not return to reprise her role as Lachrymarum in The Mother of Tears because "she now has five kids!"
Lachrymarum is portrayed by Israeli actress Moran Atias in The Mother of Tears. After the deaths of her sisters, the witch has been hibernating, and is awakened when Sarah Mandy opens the urn in which her most powerful relic, a red tunic, is stored. As her minions wreak havoc on the city above, Lachrymarum hides below ground in the catacombs of her Palazzo, regaining her strength. She is defeated when Sarah Mandy discovers her subterranean lair and rips and burns her tunic, causing the Palazzo to collapse. Lachrymarum is killed when an ornamental obelisk from the top of the building crashes into the ceremonial chamber, impaling her.
Inspiration
The idea of "Three Mothers" comes from "Levana and Our Ladies of Sorrow", a section of Thomas de Quincey's Suspiria de Profundis. The piece asserts that just as there are three Fates and Graces, there are also three Sorrows. They include Mater Lachrymarum, Mater Suspiriorum, and Mater Tenebrarum. The attribute of each woman is a direct translation of her name from Latin.Suspiria clearly derives its title from the woman delineated in de Quincey's work. However, Inferno's title does not reference Mater Tenebrarum.