Interview with Coralina Cataldi-Tassoni

Independent, daring and fiercely intelligent, Coralina Cataldi-Tassoni is not only an award-winning actress strongly associated with European horror cinema, but a multimedia artist who explores dark, fantastical themes throughout her work. She also writes, performs and records her own music; music that is imbued with the same dark drama and mysticism that seeps from her paintings. And then there's her film work with legendary European horror directors such as Pupi Avati, Lamberto Bava and, of course, Dario Argento. With roles in the likes of Demons 2, Opera, Phantom of the Opera and Mother of Tears, Coralina has claimed that she 'comes to life' in her death scenes. She kindly made time to chat with Behind the Couch about her film work, art, music and forthcoming biography.

From what I have seen of your artwork, it is quite dark and abstract. Is it fair to say that you are drawn to darker subject matter, artistically?

Being drawn to darker subjects is something I believe happened at an extremely young age. My bedtime stories where tragic and dramatic. They were opera librettos. The people coming and going in my household were like real opera characters come to life. I would do my homework under my father's piano and hear all the truest stories of life. Some were very tragic. It was kind of like being allowed into a psychiatrist's office to eavesdrop all day. I learned at a young age that people give hurt and get hurt.
My life has taken many roads, and a few very long and winding ones have been obscured by my darkest thoughts and by those of others. I am never more familiar with the darker side of my life as when I step with one foot out of hell. Who knows, maybe I am scared of stepping with both feet out. Maybe being drawn to the darker side of things makes me feel in control. In control of death.

Can you tell me about your art? What are you influenced and inspired by?

My art is autobiographical. I am influenced by the faces of people I’ve met; those I know now and those that I will some day meet. Visions. I am influenced by the music I choose to play on my stereo before I begin to paint. Over and over - I keep that thought - until the painting is done. I keep the thoughts that I always obsess about. The ones I dedicate all my art to: to those people and things I have loved, I still love and to those I pray I will never love again.

What ideas and themes capture your imagination the most as an artist?

Courage.

How long have you been involved with writing, recording and performing music?

I love music more than anything. I have been writing for 10 years.

What is your process when composing music?

This creative process is no different from my painting, really. It just happens that I use another instrument. But the thoughts are the same, all the same sounds in my head, just laid out in a manner people can actually hear them; not just see them. I believe everything and everyone has a sound. My memories, my voice, the voices of others, situations, objects, cities, streets, rain, moon, smiles, toys, pebbles. Everything. Everyone and everything are notes. Sounds. I feel them. I hear them. I translate these sounds in the way I hear them. My songs are translations of these sounds.

Click here to visit Coralina's myspace and listen to some of her songs...

I would imagine that with your art work and music you put yourself in quite a vulnerable place; because it is the very essence of yourself that you open up for people to glimpse. Is this a fair statement?

No matter what form, I am always vulnerable. I like being vulnerable. Every form is the essence of myself. It is like speaking more than one language. Sometimes I choose to use an Italian word to express myself rather than an English word, or vice versa. But they are all coming from me.

How did your forthcoming biography, Coralina: A True Life, come about?

Journalist and writer Filippo Brunamonti, who has followed my career for years, was in New York and approached me with his idea of writing my life story. I accepted because I knew I could not be in more talented and caring hands than his.

You collaborated with Mariano Baino (Dark Waters) on the trailer for the autobiography. Do you have plans to direct more in the future?

A few months ago I would have told you no. But after experiencing the writing and directing of the trailer with Mariano, I cannot make that statement any more.

Can you tell me about your recent short film The Dirt?

Claudio Simonetti (Goblin) and his sister Simona, offered me this role. I am forever grateful for their trust in me. I play a photographer who is obsessed with wanting a child. She has many secrets, but not as many as the strange plant that grows in her apartment. The Dirt has been going around the festival circuit and I recently won for Best Actress in a Professional movie at Fright Nights Film Festival in Austria.

You’ve worked in the horror genre quite profusely – does this again indicate that you connect somehow with the dark side of art and expression?

No, I just connect with these particular directors and they connect with me.

What film makers do you most admire and why?

I like elegant and classy filmmakers that have the courage to be themselves. I like to be infected by courage.

How did you come to meet and work with Dario Argento?

I guess if one lives in Italy, auditions in Italy, as a consequence, one works in Italy. I met Dario in soul for the first time, while watching Deep Red on TV as a little girl late one night. I would meet him in person a few years later. He wrote the character of Giulia in Opera for me. Opera was like coming home, returning to all those years I spent in opera houses. The smells, the sounds, the music...

You’ve been murdered quite graphically several times on film. What is this experience like? Is it unsettling? Cathartic? 

I doubt any death can prepare me for my real death some day. Also, I do not think it is cathartic. It is what it is. Tragic, disturbing and sad. What I can say is that I would rather die in an Argento movie than not. What would be even better, is if I could die in an Argento movie but in real life live forever. But who knows? Maybe this is the closest way of achieving my goal of immortality.

What do you think about the allegations of misogyny Argento has faced?

Well, I personally cannot complain. When he kills me, we both come to life. We give each other life. I do not think hatred breeds life.

What do you think of horror films today? Can any comparisons be made between current offerings and the films of years gone by?

Today too many of them are just about grossing me out. I think there is this huge misconception about me and my interest in horror movies. I like stylized visions and emotions. Intelligent movies of words, faces, thoughts and camera work that makes me think. My thoughts like to be moved around, shuffled, placed, misplaced and found. Not frozen by disgust - that is boring.

You were invited to compile a top-10 list of your Favourite Tragically Romantic Heroine Deaths in Opera. It seems that Italian art-forms are rife with depictions of passion and death – what do you think draws Italian artists (including Argento) to this mysterious link between sex and death?

Life.