Nosferatu

[smokingboot]

Oh my.

I don't think this is likely to be compared to earlier versions of the story. I do think it's going to be compared to Francis Ford Coppola's Dracula, the eternal lover with his old world courtesy and his noble demeanour, while the music reminds us constantly how we drift across tides of time yet the man is the monster is the lover. That's one of the problems in defining vampire fantasies as metaphors for sex. Sure, that's often the case, but sometimes it's the other way around; sex becomes a metaphor for forbidden ecstasy, merging, devouring and being devoured, a kind of oneness that's more an aspiration of sex than its reality. And here we are meeting on the streets of London, here we are remembering the beautiful Carpathian mountains with our beautiful prince and our beautiful self, here we are giving up our best friends and our lovers and our lives for what is essentially an enormous withered demi-bat that chucks our wishes back at us, weeping for eternity and licking its lips now and then.



Safe to say we don't have to worry about evil's irresistible beauty here. Orlok's horrible. Bill Skarsgaard gives him huge formidable presence. That Latin pre-Romanian whatever-the-hell language he speaks at first, the endless growl of his voice so unused to talking like a human, the disgust of him, the power of him. If he's in the scene, the scene is his. Lily Rose Depp does very well not to fade beside him, and Nicholas Hoult is brilliant as bewildered then terrified humanity. I can imagine myself feeling as Thomas Hutter feels, sweating and trembling and trying to play polite, holding on to ordinary as though there's rescue in it.

Lily Rose Depp takes us into the world of hysteria to the point of demoniac, unacceptable woman in so many ways. One very minor issue I would say is that we seldom see anything beyond melancholy in Ellen, so it's hard to understand why her husband and her best friend love her so deeply. Conversely it's easy to see why Friedrich Harding might think her emotionally incontinent and manipulative.

Willem Dafoe gives a strong performance as Van-Von-Absolutely-Not-Van-Helsing, including the batsht moment written into every contract for every film he's ever in. It's a solid cast all round.


Flaws? A couple of weak plot points here and there. Pace? I don't mind a slow burn, and this is never too slow. Would I watch it again? Probably tonight.

Comments

[mallorys_camera]

So, you liked it? 😀 I liked it: For what it was, I thought it was very well done, and the cinematography was extraordinary.

Have you seen the year's other big horror flick, The Substance? That one actually physically nauseated me. I had to stop watching halfway through.

[smokingboot]

Funny you mention nausea, I saw the poster with the two pupils in one eye and it made me feel queasy, so I haven't managed the film yet.

[philosophi_cal]

Mina and Jonathan are people I always want to throw things at, regardless of what they're called, so I was unlikely to be totally enamoured of this film. It was pretty damn good in the circumstances.

[smokingboot]

They're such planks! But here, when they are stupid, I can understand why. At first, there's irritation at Jonathan Harker/Thomas Hutter signing contracts in a language he doesn't understand. He's a solicitor so what the actual? But I do get that that he's over-wrought, suffering blood loss, absolutely terrified and in denial.

As for Mina Harker/Ellen Hutter, I love the fact that it is effectively all her fault! :-D