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Nosferatu: Honourable Homage or Disrespectful Dud?

Cinematography is undoubtedly the film’s most impressive element; Eggers works alongside cinematographer Jarin Blaschke perfectly capture the bleakness of this world with a fantastically dreamlike quality.

Image Courtesy of IMDb

By Anna Dodd, Third Year, English

Dread permeates every ether of Robert Eggers’ fourth feature Nosferatu; it is a dark, depraved, and demonic retelling of Bram Stoker’s Dracula, a novel that has become a hallmark of the Gothic canon and has been adapted repeatedly across the last century. This is a story that takes place in the shadows, Eggers plunges us into a gloomy realm that doesn’t shy away from the macabre. The film is predominantly based in the fictional German town of Wisborg, as it attempts to grip onto Puritan values and rationalist sensibility in the face of Count Orlok (Bill Skårsgard) who embodies primordial evil at its most pure. Unlike other adaptations of the tale, including Nosferatu: A Symphony of Horror (1922) and Francis Ford Coppola’s Bram Stoker’s Dracula (1992) Eggers places Ellen Hutter (Lily-Rose Depp) at the beating heart of the narrative, as her psychosexual bond with Count Orlock deepens in the dream realm.

In the opening act of the film, we join Ellen’s sensible but naïve husband Thomas (Nicolas Hoult) as he traverses through rural Transylvania before arriving at Count Orlock’s castle to close a real estate deal. This is where the most impressive sequence of Nosferatu takes place, as Thomas leaves behind the superstitious Romanian village, whose customs are outrageously unfamiliar to his Victorian uptightness but nonetheless offer him the last traces of safety in community. He finds himself in complete isolation, with only the howling of wolves for company. What unfurls from this moment onwards, leading up to his first encounter with Count Orlock is utter terror, all accompanied by deliciously Gothic imagery. The play between darkness and light in wide shots emphasize Thomas’ vulnerability, and the tension between him and Count Orlock builds tremendously to a symphonic climax. 

Image Courtesy of IMDb

Cinematography is undoubtedly the film’s most impressive element; Eggers works alongside cinematographer Jarin Blaschke perfectly capture the bleakness of this world with a fantastically dreamlike quality. Nosferatu was shot in 35mm film, and despite a drained color grading and abundance of grey tones, it is endlessly captivating and jaw-droppingly breathtaking to the eye. Eggers’ dedication to precise historical realism is outstanding, from the period-accurate costume design to the intricate set of Wisborg, that was built for production purposes, there is no denying that this was extensively well thought out. 

Image Courtesy of IMDb

As Count Orlock’s choice of prey, Depp leaves nothing to be desired in her performance, pushing her physicality to its limits. Skårsgard completely disappears into his role, creating a unique version of this archaic character that is twisted, lecherous, and at times bewitchingly seductive. Both actors worked with professionals in specialized performance fields, Skårsgard with an opera singer to allow his voice to reach monstrously low levels, and Depp training in Japanese dance, to limit use of CGI in this movie, making it all the more authentic and immersive. Together their connection is palpable, raw in its lust and chilling in their fixation on one another. 

Depp and Hoult’s emotionally turbulent relationship as newlyweds is also worth highlighting, and Ellen’s desire to be psychologically and sexually understood by her husband is especially convincing. In the focus on these dynamics however, other characters, including Aaron Taylor Johnson as Friedrich Hardling and Emma Corrin as Anna Harding, suffer from underwritten roles and a lack of presence that means tragic elements of the plot fall somewhat flat. Fortunately, Willem Dafoe doesn’t face this treatment as the esoteric occultist Albin Eberhart von Franz. Dafoe seems to understand completely the stakes in this fight, he is a powerful yet comforting presence amongst the dark chaos, and is believable in his delivery of one of the best lines of the film: "I've seen things in this world that would have made Isaac Newton crawl back into his mother’s womb.”

Image Courtesy of IMDb

In our current era of endless remakes, it is worth questioning why these stories continue to be told, and what their value in adaptation is. Vampires, and more specifically their ability to become vessels for libidinal exploration is a trope that has captured the cultural zeitgeist, and Eggers certainly had a tough act to follow. With its Gothic undertones, Oscar worthy performances and visual delights, the film exceeds expectations in some areas. However, after a lackluster ending and a serious pacing issue, this 21st century version of Nosferatu ultimately is a little drab. The decisive focus on a repressed Victorian woman’s psychosexual nature was a compelling idea certainly, but could have been done with more conviction and nerve. Eggers played this safe, and whilst Nosferatu serves as an appropriately perverted and satisfying horror for a foggy day, it doesn’t quite pack the punch needed to dominate its predecessors.


Do you think Robert Egger's Nosferatu did justice to its predecessors?

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