MovieChat Forums > La terza madre (2007) Discussion > Asia Argento = really bad actress? yeah....

Asia Argento = really bad actress? yeah.

posted 15 years ago by cantfindmysoc
33 replies | jump to latest

holy poop. i watched suspiria the other night, and followed it up with a double feature of inferno and mother of tears tonight. i'm not even done with mother of tears yet, but jesus christ! asia argento *beep* suuuuuucks in this flick. i've not seen any of her other films, but after this, i'm not so sure i want to. in fact, the more scenes i see where she has pretty much any dialogue, i get more and more angry. anyone else have a similar experience? i hope i'm not the only one...

[–] alanbobet 15 years ago

Yes, I truly agree with you about Asia's acting performance in The Mother Of Tears which before MOT, Argento's The Phantom of The Opera was then her least effective performance in her father's films. But Asia delivered better acting in TRAUMA, THE STENDHAL SYNDROME, DEMONS II & THE CHURCH(produced by her father). A really big reason why Asia's performance in MOT is so bad is mainly because of the lousy script for the film and the way, Asia's main character of Sarah Mandy was portrayed and written in the MOT script as one of the worst heroines in an Argento film since Cristina Marsilach's role of Batty in OPERA.

[–] cantfindmysoc 15 years ago

After finishing the film, I'm still not entirely sure that I believe she has any acting prowess whatsoever :) But thank you for the info on her other films. I'll make sure not to write them off solely because she's in them , haha

[–] alanbobet 15 years ago

You should really give Asia a chance. Just because she gave bad performances in Mother of Tears and Phantom Of The Opera, that doesn't mean that she's equally bad in her other films, especially the ones that she didn't made with her father and won her acting awards in various film festivals in Europe. If you don't like her personally, that's your choice, but at least give her the benefit of the doubt and see her other films to see if your opinion of her still holds up after seeing them. There's a lot of actresses and actors I can't stand because of their personality, but I'll give them their do if they give a reasonable decently good performance in either film or television. In this world, even the best actor can give a bad performance sometimes as well as a bad actor can even give a good one once in a while. You might even be surprised!

[–] stefan_639 15 years ago

Yes, she was really awful in this movie :/ The movie sucked anyway so it doesnt matter that much

[–] 15 years ago

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[–] dominickabramsanderson 15 years ago

It is funny how different people's personal tastes and perceptions can be. I have never thought much of Asia's skills as an actress though I still enjoy watching her, in part, BECAUSE her acting style is often so forced and over the top (check out B.Monkey) I have always had a thing for bad, over the top or wooden b-movie/camp/porn "acting" you name it.

Having finally seen Mother Of Tears, I have to say I prefer her in this film to Trauma or especially Stendahl Syndrome. She does seem to have matured somewhat (though I don't think she'll be winning any Oscars any time soon)

[–] alanbobet 15 years ago

I respect your point of view regarding Asia's acting, but I still think her performance as Sarah Mandy in MOT is the worst of the five films she did with her father Dario(PHANTOM OF THE OPERA, TRAUMA, STENDHAL SYNDROME & DEMONS II directed by Lamberto Bava) Her performance in MOT is bad not so much because of Asia's Acting but mainly because of the way her part was written in the script! Asia is much better in films like MARIE ANTOINETTE, LA REINE MARGOT, THE LAST MISTRESS, BOARDING GATE, TRAVELING COMPANION, GO GO TALES, LAND OF THE DEAD, XXX and even the two films she starred & directed in SCARLET DIVA & THE HEART IS DECEITFUL AMONG ALL THINGS. I would suggest to you that you check out these other performances of Asia that I mentioned and you might be surprised that she doesn't play "over the top" all the times in her film and she's capable of giving subtle, controlled performances on screen as well!

[–] whiskey147 15 years ago

I really liked B. Monkey

I will definately check out the others. I just watched MOT and I wanted to litteraly slap the TV. Especially when she is crying, "Mommy, mommy! Come back!" A third grader could have written these lines.

...and I say that metaphorically to the dumb white cajun girl inside all of us.

[–] 15 years ago

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[–] Stay_away_from_the_Metropol 15 years ago

Asia Argento is a phenomenal actress. Dario Argento dialogue is just really bad and don't give her anything to work with. See THE HEART IS DECEITFUL ABOVE ALL THINGS - that's her crowning performance so far in my opinion.

[–] klv17 15 years ago

I'm sorry but when you're good you're good.
Script or no script.
She is an abysmal actress.
However this movie was humorous with her performance.
It actually made the film somewhat watchable.

I would love to see an anime version of this film.
I think that would actually work a lot better than the film did.

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[–] RDionysus 15 years ago

The starter of this thread says "Asia Argento sucks" and then by his own words says "I've not seen any of her other films..." I'm known to my friends as being very critical of actors, but I'm also known to be objective, considering subject matter, role, language (Argento speaks several, and her acting differs quite a bit depending on the tongue), script and director when formulating an opinion as to an actor's skills. While I try to respect the poster's opinion, I consider it intellectual laziness to make blanket statements based on one role.

IMHO, Asia Argento is most certainly not a bad actress. She arguably seems to be more sensitive to direction than some, and appears to flounder a bit under her father. But I can name at least two other films in which her acting was superb. One was the Catherine Breillat film she did just before Mother of Tears, Une vieille maîtresse (in French). The other was the self-directed "The Heart Is Deceitful Above All Things" from around 04-05, I believe. She was excellent in that.

I've also seen her act well in some fairly crappy films. Abel Ferrara's New Rose Hotel for example, itself a pretty weak film, saw a good performance from her, opposite Chris Walken and Willem Dafoe.

[–] 15 years ago

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[–] McQualude 15 years ago

You're confusing bad direction with bad acting.

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[–] vin99 15 years ago

she's bad?.......she is horrendous.

in first scene I was hopeful that she would be murdered.

[–] sanziano 14 years ago

I appreciate Asia as an author but she's everything except an actress. U should hear her in italian language, ot dubbed. God, what a disgrace!

[–] Bdeezine 14 years ago

I had the exact same experience as the OP. Had a great two nights and then followed it up with this third installment. I think Asia Argento and Sophia Copolla should both star in a remake of Ishtar.

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