The Cinematic Unconscious and the Gaze in Dario Argento’s Profondo rosso

Abstract

The aim of this article is to explore and locate the cinematic unconscious in Dario Argento’s Deep Red. Through a close analysis of specific key sequences and narrative elements, the article examines how and where the Lacanian Gaze, which is a point in the field of vision from which we can grasp the unconscious, emerges. Drawing on psychoanalytic theories elaborated by Sigmund Freud and Jacques Lacan, in which the unconscious is considered the necessary ‘key’ to understand and discover the very nature of one’s mind and experiences, this study analyses the symbolic and meaningful elements of the cinematic representation which are crucial for deciphering the unconscious of the film and which offer the opportunity to question the ultimate meaning of cinematic representation.