Nosferatu the Vampyre
Werner Herzog considers F.W. Murnau’s Nosferatu to be one of the finest films in German history, so his 1979 remake of it reflects the German director’s passion and pride in the process of filmmaking. More than that, however, it reflects the mood and texture of vampirism in bleak terms. It describes without telling and moves without taking a step, allowing the brilliant Klaus Kinski to draw out the vampire organically while Herzog handles the rest.
At the core of Herzog’s version of the vampire legend is a sense of pity for the Count. All good vampire stories, whether in film or in books, need a certain sense of pity and regret. This isn’t a sort of lifestyle to aspire to, nor is it a condition to envy. The lust for blood, at least in the reliable tales, is a metaphor for a desire for life and for love. Herzog takes that element and presses it deep within the landscape of our story, thus transforming Count Dracula into a character to feel a certain sense of shame for.
Nosferatu the Vampyre opens with the introduction of Bruno Ganz as Jonathan Harker. He is married to the beautiful Lucy (Isabelle Adjani) and they live in Wismar. Lucy’s been having weird dreams lately and becomes very uncomfortable when her husband announces that he’s taking a trip to Transylvania. Jonathan is to visit an eccentric nobleman named Count Dracula (Kinski) and is to help him complete a lucrative deal on his house that will have the Count moving to Wismar.
Along the way to visit the Count, Harker encounters the locals and they tell him various stories about the evil that lies in the area. He brushes it off, thinking nothing of it and wanting to close the deal so that he can move his dear Lucy into a more suitable home. Upon meeting the Count, however, Harker is convinced he should have listened to the locals. The Count is drawn to Lucy through an image and makes his way to Wismar to wreak all sorts of havoc.
Ganz, who I have come to know and love as the man bold enough to play Hitler in Downfall, is brilliantly understated at Jonathan Harker. He truly knows nothing of the evils that lie ahead and maintains a focus on Lucy and the idea of living with her. Adjani, too, draws the same elements of the purity of love into her character. She exists only for her husband, she tells the Count at a later encounter, and would die before having to be in another’s arms.
With all of this on her plate, Adjani’s Lucy is the legitimate protagonist of the story. Her “pure heart” holds the key to it all and her love for Jonathan is the element that draws the Count out. Lucy’s ultimate sacrifice reveals her raison d’être profoundly, as she winds up deciding that it is better to sacrifice herself than to sacrifice Jonathan.
Against this purity is Kinski’s Dracula, a character inflamed with covetousness towards this purity. He wants what Lucy has; he wants what Jonathan has. The blood serves as a symbol for the essential fluidity of existence, something that has left Dracula long ago. In place of life’s vibrant kiss are long fingernails and decrepit teeth. Herzog’s vision of a vampire lacks strong incisors, just as Murnau’s did. In place of the strong, assertive fangs of modern vamps lie two pathetic-looking tusks.
Nosferatu the Vampyre is also largely concerned with Herzog’s style. This is a film that uses atmosphere, sound and music extremely well. Much like Malick would do later, Herzog allows scenes of nature to unfurl in their own stillness. He invokes small, slow shots to draw us into the world of the vampire and into Transylvania, making the tale richer by taking his time developing a sense of place and texture.
Herzog’s picture does more for the vampire movie than most other similar films. It establishes a life of pain and suffering for the creatures, robbing them of the glamour and glitz of modern Hollywood and placing them in a painful, jealous existence. They want what we, as humans, have. They want life and love.
NOTE: Herzog actually shot two versions of this film, one in German and one in English. I urge you to seek out the German version and use the subtitles.
Trailer (English version):
