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| “ | There will be nothing of you left inside. Only space for me. | „ |
| ~ Markos to Susie |
| “ | This isn't vanity! This isn't art! | „ |
| ~ Markos to Blanc |
Helena Markos a.k.a Mother Markos is the main antagonist in the 2018 supernatural psychological remake horror film, Suspiria, she is the founder of the Markos Dance Academy in Berlin during the German Autumn and one of the two directors as well as main Matriarchs of the secret coven alongside Madame Veva Blanc. She claims to be Mater Suspiriorum, one of The Three Mothers.
She was portrayed, along with two other characters, Madame Blanc and Dr. Josef Klemperer, by British actress Tilda Swinton, who also portrayed Jadis the White Witch in the Chronicles of Narnia film franchise, Karen Crowder in Michael Clayton, Gabriel in Constantine, Minister Mason in Snowpiercer and Lucy and Nancy Mirando in Okja.
Appearance[]
Helena Markos is the complete opposite of Madame Blanc; while Blanc is a slim, pale, beautiful woman, Markos' body is a conglomeration of diseases - her skin leaks fluids like pus, there are extra baby limbs on her body that move on their own, and she has well as multiple tumors and warts. She has long, dirty nails that look more like claws. Her hair is short, greasy and grey and she always wears sunglasses that cover her eyes. Her voice cracks and is dry and unnerving.
Personality[]
Markos is vile, arrogant and as disgusting on the inside as she is on the outside. She is willing to do anything to get a new, younger body, and does not care at all for her followers.
History[]
Suspiria[]
Susie Bannion is an aspiring dance student who arrives to the Markos Dance Academy, where she hopes to learn from her idol, Madame Veve Blanc, she has an audition which Blanc witnesses and admits Susie on the Academy right away, it is said that Patricia, who had the protagonist role on Blanc's masterpiece "Volk" left the Academy under unknown circumstances and is currently missing, however she left the Academy when she discovered the matrons had a secret coven inside the Academy and they were all witches, Patricia's psychiatrist, Dr. Josef Klemperer decides to investigate.
Helena Markos in Susie's dream
After Olga, Patricia's replacement in Volk also leaves the Academy accusing the matrons of witchcraft, Blanc gives the part to Susie, it is then revealed that her movements are destroying Olga's body in another room of the Academy. One day the matrons vote for who should lead the coven, Markos or Blanc, Markos wins once again, then Blanc talks with Miss Tanner, her assistant, about their plan of using Susie's body as a host for Markos, as she is very sick and old.
During a rehearsal of "Open Again", Blanc's new project, while Susie's dancing, secretely Markos is feeling her movements on the floor below, Blanc notices this and talks to Tanner, she reveals to Blanc that Markos wanted to feel Susie so she helped her.
Meanwhile Dr. Klemperer has failed on convincing the police of what is happening on the Academy, so he decides to talk to Sara, Patricia and Susie's friend who is also a student in the Academy, she shows her Patricia's journal that tell about the secret coven and The Three Mothers (Mater Tenebrarum, Mater Lachrymarum and Mater Suspiriorum), Sara is skeptical at first but then investigates on her own and discovers the secret door that leads to the inner sanctum, meanwhile, Miss Griffith, one of the witches commits suicide and the others take her to Markos, Sara hears them and steals one of their hooks as proof, which she takes to Klemperer, later the witches realize this.
The Final Act[]
Dr. Klemperer assists to the performance of Volk at the Academy, while Sara is investigating more, she encounters Patricia, rotting alive, also another girl with no legs that crawls towards her and finally Helena Markos' bed where she calls her name, Sara leaves in terror, as Volk is being performed, Blanc manifests holes on Sara's path causing her to break her leg, the other matrons heal her and hypnotize her then take her to the performance so she can do her part, but near the end she collapses to the ground with her leg again broken, something Blanc realizes was Susie's doing.
Klemperer disposes of Patricia's diaries but is fooled by the witches into walking to the Academy where they ambush him, Susie is also led to the secret sanctum where she encounters the students bewitched dancing and Sara and Patricia being disemboweled alive as part of the sabbath while a naked and terrified Klemperer witnesses in terror lying on the ground.
Susie then meets with Madame Blanc and she finally meets Helena Markos face to face, she is in a chair and Miss Tanner is behind her, Blanc and Markos explain their plan to Susie but Blanc is having a bad omen, Markos mocks her for being scared of Susie, Blanc then tries to prevent Susie from accepting, Markos stands up and accuses Blanc of forgetting the coven's purpose and just caring for art, Blanc explains her bad omen to Markos but they argue and Blanc tries to stop the sabbath, Markos, enraged, cuts the back of her neck, nearly decapitating her. Susie then seems to accept her fate, but she is actually summoning an incarnation of Death that walks towards Markos. Susie asks Marko which of the Three Mothers she is, she answers "Mater Suspiriorum", only for Susie to reveal herself as the real Mater Suspiriorum, Death then kisses Markos, making her cough blood on Tanner's face before collapsing on her chair as she rottens to death, then Death makes the heads of all the witches who supported Markos explode as Tanner cries over Markos dead body. Klemperer is released shortly after.
The next day it is revealed Blanc barely survived and Susie visits Dr. Klemperer to apologize and tell her the truth about his missing wife before erasing his memory of all the horrible things he witnessed.
Trivia[]
- This is the second time Tilda Swinton plays two villains in one film, as she had previously portrayed twin sister Lucy and Nancy Mirando in Okja. They are also similar to Blanc and Markos, Markos results to be more vile than Blanc just as Nancy is compared to Lucy, also Nancy and Markos end up becoming main antagonists, however Nancy is a Karma Houdini while Markos was punished for her actions.
- In the original 1977 Suspiria, Helena Markos also appears near the end of the movie but actually is Mater Suspiriorum, while instead in this version, she is a fake.
- Markos starts off as the main villain, antagonizing Susie. However, when Susie becomes aware that she is Mater Suspiriorum, she takes over the role of main antagonist after killing Markos, now antagonizing Dr. Klemperer who is left as sole protagonist hero, even though Susie doesn't sees Klemperer as a threat. Ironically, Klemperer as well as Markos are portrayed by Tilda Swinton, therefore Dakota Johnson and Tilda Swinton constantly antagonize each other throughout the whole film.
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| Three Mothers Villains | ||
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Suspiria (1977) Inferno Mother of Tears Suspiria (2018) | ||