La terza madre (2007)

User Rating:

5.4/10   

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 | Supernatural | Rape | Murder

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

Color:

Color

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:

Daria Nicolodi and Asia Argento are mother and daughter in real life.

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: When the bewitched mother is on the bridge and drops the baby off the side you can see the dummy baby hit the side of the bridge and the dummies hand fly off of it and splash into the water beside the dummy's body.

Quotes:

Mater Lacrimarum: Who wants to eat the girl?

Movie Connections:

References Suspiria (1977)

More gore,less style in the final installment of Argento's "Three Mothers" trilogy.

Sarah Mandy,an American studying art restoration at the Museum of Ancient Art in Rome,examines an urn found at an ancient,decrepit grave near Viterbo.Bound within are the relics of a witch known as the Mother of Tears,Mater Lachrymarum.Breaking the seal heralds the return of the beautiful yet malefic sorceress' powers and Rome is plunged into chaos.A wave of suicides and crime sweeps over Italy's capital as witches congregate to pay homage to their reborn queen.Sarah must eventually discover her latent supernatural powers with the help of her deceased mother and confront Lachrymarum at the opulent Palazzo Varelli."The Third Mother" actually bears very little resemblance to "Suspiria" or "Inferno".The film is not as beautiful as the most famous Argento's works.The gore is pretty extreme and some killings are extremely vicious and bloody as hell."La Terza Madre" feels more like a Fulci film in so far that the narrative is only a vehicle to the gore scenes.Unfortunately some scenes are downright terrible with the use of awful CGI and the climax is weak and disappointing.Still I quite enjoyed this film and you should too if you are a fan of earlier works of Italian maestro.