‘Nosferatu’ review: demonic love story with a feminist approach
Director: Robert Eggers | Script: Robert Eggers | Cast: Bill Skarsgård (Count Orlok), Lily-Rose Depp (Ellen Hutter), Nicholas Hoult (Thomas Hutter), Willem Dafoe (prof. Albin Eberhart Von Franz), Aaron Taylor-Johnson (Friederich Harding), Emma Corrin (Anna Harding), Ralph Ineson (Dr. Wilhelm Sievers), Simon McBurney (Herr Knock) each | Playing time: 132 minutes | Year: 2024
Nosferatu FW Murnau’s 1922, illegal adaptation of Bram Stoker’s epistolary novel Dracula, is a chilling masterpiece that overly ambitious directors should avoid when thinking about a remake. Especially after all those countless film adaptations of Dracula that add little to nothing to the original story. But Robert Eggers has… the witch, The lighthouse in The man of the north He’s proven he can do something and has a unique take on well-known source material. What he did with Hamlet, he now does with the famous vampire. The result is impressive.
The silent masterpiece of 1922 terrified viewers of the time. This was allowed in Sweden. Nosferatu by Friedrich Wilhelm Murnau were not shown until 1972 because they were too horrible. It is true that, just over a hundred years after the first performance, only teenagers and children will have nightmares about the most famous adaptation of Bram Stoker’s Dracula. But still. This jewel in the crown of German Expressionism continues to possess enormous power, thanks to Murnau’s play of shadows and specific sets, and Max Schreck’s macabre makeup. So what more is there to add?
Robert Eggers managed to find something about it. He stays away from the theatrical and ridiculous. Dracula of Tod Browning and the operatic style that attracted so much attention in Bram Stoker’s Dracula) by Francis Ford Coppola. He does not hide his admiration for Murnau’s masterpiece. He also cites Werner Herzog’s very interesting remake from 1979. But although Eggers partly returns to German Expressionism, he still uses his own style and produced a unique and personal work with an original approach.
The story generally follows that of the much-discussed classic. In 1838, Thomas Hutter had to leave his young wife Ellen in Wisborg, Germany, and travel to Transylvania. He must personally deliver the purchase documents for an ancient property to the buyer, the mysterious Count Orlok. Too late, Thomas realizes that his host is a vampire who harbors a devouring “love” for Ellen. Drawn by a special telepathic power, Orlok sails a doomed ship to Wisborg to claim his bride.
The first change Eggers implemented is Orlok’s appearance. Neither a bald head like Max Schreck with buck teeth nor a demonic dandy a la Gary Oldman from Coppola’s film. Eggers was inspired by the portrait of the 15th century Romanian ruler and national hero Vlad III, nicknamed Vlad the Impaler or Vlad Dracula. What stands out most about him is his thick mustache. In the first half of the film, Eggers leaves it mostly in the shadows, but in the second half you get more and more details.
Unlike the relatively static camerawork of Murnau and Browning’s films, Eggers moves his camera incessantly, but only panning. This means that you don’t feel like the camera is rotating, but it isn’t still either. The director sometimes decisively chooses white, black and gray in certain scenes. However, in the family scenes we get a monochrome sepia look and other striking colors. It seems as if the tone of a scene is determined by a specific wavelength. The visual approach evolves parallel to the narrative journey from darkness to full sun.
Eggers provides content Nosferatu a feminist background. Ellen is not a victim and has felt an immense drive for the ultimate satisfaction of her sexual desires since puberty. But no man obeys, possibly due to trauma. So the satisfaction must come from a demonic figure. Orlok is a horny goat who foreshadows his own doom through his obsession. To put it somewhat simplistically: Eggers makes the woman the heroine who makes the ultimate sacrifice to save the men who could never satisfy her.
You just have to accept that the film is not as exciting as you might think. Eggers’ previous films weren’t exciting, but they did excel in a specific style and aesthetic. He is a filmmaker par excellence, with enormous respect for his legendary predecessors and always seeking artistic innovations and inventive subtexts. It would be almost an insult to mention him on the same level as modern American horror filmmakers who only go for shock effects, blood and gore.