Dario Argento found inspiration in reality for writing 'Trauma'.
According to him, he was in America, walking along the street when he saw an
extremely thin girl who was vomiting and being completely ignored. Dario
became interested in anorexia and the problems caused by it and wrote a
short story called 'L'Enigma di Aura' (Aura's Enigma) and then slowly
started working on 'Trauma' from there.
While he was writing the plot and the characters were coming alive, he
realized that the part of Aura was perfect for Asia. She noticed that
her father had been studying her, spying on her, so she already knew the
role would be hers when he invited her to star in his film.
In the film, she plays a severely disturbed anorexic teenager who witnesses
her parents' murder. Throughout the film the distress is written on her
face, which is drawn and deathly pale. During filming, her father placed
strict controls on her diet, preparation that seemed beyond the call of
duty.
Asia has a different version of the story. She says that they did the film
for Anna, her half-sister, who was anorexic. Anna died in 1994, at the age of 21,
in a scooter accident in Rome. Asia was 19 at the time.
"As he was writing the script," relates Asia, "Dario told me he
was thinking of me in the lead because the story was based on the experience of my
half-sister, Anna. He was actually beginning to get jealous that I'd worked
with every major Italian director apart from him. I must admit to being a
bit frightened of working with my father for the first time... but it turned
out well, as our mutual trust in each other was simply transferred to the
shooting. I always knew instinctively what he wanted, and he never shouted
at me once."
"This is a very Argento way of dealing with things. It's very
hyper-critical. We're not good at talking, so we make films. My father's
films are all about what we think and the way we are living”.
"My sister Anna was anorexic and he called my character Aura, 'cause the name
has four letters and it starts with A and ends with an A. It was for her, for
my sister to see. He thought this could help, which it didn't. It was weird for
me to play this. I remember that I was on this strict diet, I think my father was
really sorry for how he had pushed me into this incredible diet in which I was really,
really skinny and almost anorexic. I had asked my sister Anna to write this diet for me,
to become like her. Anna had all this little girl sort of attitude towards life.
She was stuck in this like... child, not wanting to grow up. This is a problem with many
anorexics. I studied the matter a lot at the time with her, read many books. Then a psychoanalyst
helped me figure out the role. For instance, like this thing to cover up my breasts, that was a
tip that this psychoanalyst gave me, about anorexic girls not wanting to deal with their femininity.
It was like Anna really didn't want to grow up. This is why I think she died even if she didn't want to...
it's like she was not meant to grow up. This is why I played the role like that, especially with the mother...
the mother is treating her like a little girl and she is a little girl with her."
Dario didn't regret his choice. He said that Asia was really good and showed
a side of her personality that even he wasn't aware of. Asia
wasn't sure of herself, so she didn't think anything she has done was very
good. But, according to her, working with her father was a tough yet wonderful
experience. "The day he offered me the role of Aura Petrescu in
'Trauma' was one of the happiest days of my life. I do think Dario is very
courageous in what he does and I do admire him more than any other director
I've worked with. And I'm not saying that just because he's my father. He
acknowledges his fears and is brave enough to show them to the world. I
never thought it was weird that my father would have me naked and raped in
his movies until a friend pointed it out to me. I was just making movies and
never even thought about the possible subtext going on. Nor do I have the
psychological tools to decode his latent feelings. Perhaps I haven't wanted
to either because it might reveal something I have no desire to discover. Is
Dario reliving his relationship with Daria through me? I did think at one
time I was only born so my father had an actress in the family he could work
with in the future."
"I was 16 and it was the first time we were working together. I was not comfortable
with the sex scene although it is very tender. The scene in which Aura undresses and
takes off the thing that covers up her breasts; I cried a lot before doing that. I always
cried before doing this sort of sexual scene with my father, because I find it really
embarrassing and really painful. He says, when we're working together we're not father and daughter,
we're like working companions and that we have to be detached. Our relationship became much tighter.
Before 'Trauma' I had many issues that I couldn't talk to him about, but it was a really freeing
experience and he became really like a buddy, like a good friend. So it was never like the father
figure to be scared of, to hide things from, he was like my friend, somebody I could not
only work with, but share the most beautiful things in life."
'Trauma' marked Asia's debut both in an English-language feature and being under
her father's direction. It was also Dario's first American feature.
Music: Asia Argento - Disco Sux/U Just Can't Stop The Rock/Sad Core (2008)
