Berberian Sound Studio (2012)

A sound engineer's work for an Italian horror studio becomes a terrifying case of life imitating art.

Director:

Peter Strickland

Writer:

Peter Strickland

Stars:

Toby Jones, Antonio Mancino, Guido Adorni

16 wins & 15 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Toby Jones	...	Gilderoy
Cosimo Fusco	...	Francesco Coraggio
Antonio Mancino	...	Giancarlo Santini
Fatma Mohamed	...	Silvia as Teresa
Salvatore LI Causi	...	Fabio (as Salvatore Li Causi)
Chiara D'Anna	...	Elisa as Teresa
Tonia Sotiropoulou	...	Elena
Eugenia Caruso	...	Claudia as Monica / Screamer
Susanna Cappellaro	...	Veronica as Accused Witch
Guido Adorni	...	Lorenzo
Lara Parmiani	...	Chiara as Signora Collatina
Jozef Cseres	...	Massimo
Pal Toth	...	Massimo (as Pál Tóth)
Katalin Ladik	...	Resurrected Witch
Jean-Michael van Schouwburg	...	The Goblin (as Jean-Michel Van Schouwburg)

Storyline

A sound engineer's work for an Italian horror studio becomes a terrifying case of life imitating art.

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Plot Keywords:

foley artist | sound recordist | sound recording | movie studio | casting couch | 

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Genres:

Drama | Horror | Thriller

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Certificate:

Not Rated

Details

Official Sites:

Official Facebook Official Twitter

Country:

UK

Language:

English Italian

Release Date:

31 August 2012 (UK)

Also Known As:

Berberian Sound Studio: La inquisición del sonido

Filming Locations:

Three Mills Studios, Three Mill Lane, Bow, London, England, UK

Company Credits

Production Co:

Warp X,Illuminations Films

Technical Specs

Runtime:

92 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The title of the fictional studio refers to Cathy Berberian, the US soprano who married Luciano Berio, a pioneer of electronic music and a key influence on Strickland's film.

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Goofs

At the very beginning of the film, Elena calls Francesco to announce Gilderoy's arrival at the studio. Although the film is set in Italy, when she picks up the phone a continuous dial tone is heard, which is normal for the US or UK; however, the actual dial tone would have sounded very differently in Italy, a country where the phone system has a very distinctive and non-continuous dial tone (consisting of a 425Hz tone with a duration of 0.6sec followed by a 1 second pause, followed by a 0.2 sec tone then a 0.2 sec pause, repeated in a loop until the first digit is dialed).

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Quotes

Giancarlo Santini: Gilderoy, this is going to be a fantastic film. Brutal and honest. Nobody has seen this horror before.

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Crazy Credits

The opening credits are actually put together of those from The Equestrian Vortex, the fictional horror flick that's going to be post-dubbed in the movie, with fast-cut animations, medieval depictions of hell, demons, naves, animal skeletons and tortured female faces, mostly red and black colored.

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Connections

References Evil Ed (1995)

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Soundtracks

The Lark Ascending
Music by Ralph Vaughan Williams

User Reviews

Great sound and framing

The story on the other hand is confusing to say the least. But that is meant to be experienced like that. The question is if you are willing to enjoy the ride. You could also say it's a bit of style over content, though I'm sure the director must have a plan in mind and could explain it all to you.

The cast is great, the pace of the story on the other hand is really slow. Another factor that might make this unbearable to watch for some people. It's definitely a great look behind the scenes of sound making, whatever you think of the movie. Another great thing is that the movie can be watched a couple of times, so you could discover new little things in it.