Nosferatu (2024)

 

I have been traveling, so I have not had a chance to write a complete summary of my opinion on this film. I do want it on my 2024 time line so here is an abbreviated comment. Come back later this week for more details.

I was surprised at how much I liked this film. It is the subject of the LAMBcast this week, and when that episode is done, I will post it here for you.  

Update

Now having a little more time to write, I thought some more complete thoughts on "Nosferatu" would be useful. I have made no secret in the past for my indifference to some Robert Eggers films and my loathing for one in particular (The Lighthouse). It was with some trepidation that I included the new version of "Nosferatu" on my list of films to see on Christmas. Having already watched the dreadful "Babygirl", a second disappointment would surely have been a downer on my holiday spirit. As it was, this did the trick of brightening my day in spite of the gloomy subject matter. 

This is a vampire film with a mostly unhappy ending, that succeeds in enveloping us in a time and place that is in our heads from so many older films. The original version of this movie was a silent film from the 1920s which was nearly lost to us because it was made by violating the copywrites of the original source material, the novel "Dracula". A court had ordered that the film be destroyed but a few copies remained hidden and this gem of filmmaking from the early days survived. When it was remade in 1979, it was done in color and it has a very solid reputation.  Director Eggers has had a version of this film in his head for a long time, and now that he has brought it to the screen, there are a couple of obvious insights that I have had. First of all, because he follows the story so closely, he avoids the preposterous plot turns that marred his other films in my opinion. A template for the story has grounded his narrative.

Second, Eggers is both a visual artist but also a linguistic one as well. His dialogue feels of the time, with colloquial expressions and period authentic pronunciation, despite English being spoken in the German setting. The traditional status of men and women is reflected in the formality of some interchanges and the politeness of the social class is emphasized by some of the word choices. Even Orlock, the evil vampire has an elegant way of expressing himself with his brutal voice. The design of the dialogue does as much to transport us into the world as the physical production design does.  

The towns, castles and streets of the film are solid reproductions of the era or they are well chosen locations to reflect pre-Victorian Europe. When the streets fill with rats and bodies, you would certainly dread being in those times in that place. The film is in color, but so many scenes are shot in low light with a blue filter that much of the story seems to take place in black and white. In addition, there are sequences that are in fact drained of any color. I found that the camera acrobatics that bothered me in some of his other films, worked effectively in this old fashioned sort of story.

All of the actors are doing their jobs well. Bill Skarsgård has to act behind a face full of appliances, but his vocal expressions are top notch creepy. Lily-Rose Depp is convincing as a bride of the 1820s, dutiful and devoted to her husband, but with a mysterious inclination toward dark thoughts and sexuality.  When her lustful possession stirs her husband, the influence that Orlock has on her personality becomes clear. He is a monster, turning the husbands love into sexual rejection on a massive scale. The devotion that Nicolas Hoult's character continues after those moments reveals the way that masculine love ideals of the time are far superior to the self centered transactions of today.

Willem DaFoe is getting all the nutjob roles that Nic Cage used to get. Prof. Albin Eberhart von Franz is as weird a character as the one he played earlier this year in the Beetlejuice sequel. DaFoe clearly relishes these parts and he is having a great time, overdoing the histrionics of his character. There are some very grim moments in the film, including child deaths and animal mutilations, so the gruesome aura of the story cannot be overemphasized. Kids should not be seeing this movie. 

I will be including this film in my favorite films of the year post coming soon. You should take advantage of any opportunity to see this in a theater. Home video will require a lot of fine tuning of your screen to be able to see some of the things on the screen.