Dakota Johnson explains why she needed therapy after Suspiria: 'I was not psychoanalyzed'

Dakota Johnson‘s comments about how Suspiria “f—ed me up so much that I had to go to therapy” followed her all the way to Italy. The actress was quoted saying that in an April issue of Elle magazine, but she had a few clarifications when asked about it again during a press conference for Luca Guadagnino’s film at the Venice Film Festival.

“First of all, I was not psychoanalyzed and I hope I never will be,” she began. “I find sometimes when I work on a project and — I don’t have any shame in this — I’m a very porous person and I absorb a lot of people’s feelings. When you’re working sometimes with dark subject matter, it can stay with you and then to talk to somebody really nice about it afterwards is a really nice way to move on from the project. My therapist is a really nice woman.”

Johnson further clarified that her experience making Suspiria, a remake of the cult film from 1977, “was not traumatic.” The Fifty Shades of Grey star portrays Susie Bannion, an American woman from Ohio who attends a prestigious dance school in Berlin that is secretly run by witches.

“It was the most fun and the most exhilarating and the most joyful that it could be,” Johnson said of the film. “It’s mischievous and play[ful] and I love it more than anything. It wasn’t that this film sent me to a ward, I just have a lot of feelings.”

Tilda Swinton, who plays dance instructor Madame Blanc, also said at the conference, “I’ve known Luca for a very, very, very, very, very, very long time and he is one of my closest friends. We are pretty much blood related — I mean, very much blood related now I would say.”

Swinton has appeared in many of Guadagnino’s movies, including A Bigger Splash, The Protagonists, and I Am Love. She also happens to be part of a larger mystery going on with Suspiria.

Over the past few weeks, many critics have suggested that Swinton actually plays two roles in the film: Madame Blanc and, under heavy prosthetics, psychoanalyst Dr. Jozef Klemperer. Swinton, in a tongue-in-cheek move, according to The Hollywood Reporter, denied she played the character and read aloud a presumed letter from Lutz Ebersdorf, the actor credited in the role.

“Though I strongly suspect Suspiria will be the only film I ever appear in, I like the work,” Swinton read at the Venice conference. Then, seemingly as a reference to Johnson, the actress continued, “I would urge any of you disturbed by this film to seek a good therapist.”

Suspiria will get a limited release starting Oct. 26 before going nationwide on Nov. 2.