Vampyr

Vampyr (Carl Th. Dreyer, 1932)

This first attempt at sound from Carl Th. Dreyer separates cinephiles that love and cherish his later work Day of Wrath, Ordet, and Gertrud but also the admirers of F.W. Murnau’s Nosferatu. Without being perfectly bleak and mastered like, let’s say Ordet for example, or being completely genius and more linear  like Nosferatu, Dreyer’s step into horror and fantasy with Vampyr isn’t a crowd pleaser but a “chilling masterpiece whose hazy, fuzzy beauty has only been enhanced by decades of wear and tear, by the degraded, scratchy quality of the surviving prints” – Ed Howard at Only the Cinema.

The story of Allen Grey (Julien West) who travels into a little village to seek out paranormal activities. Leaded to many manifestations of ghosts, vampires, and suspect shadows Grey learns from the encounters of the real and unreal world. Lots of Balkanic Countries believed to recent times that vampires really existed and that the body of people who behave badly in their lives would raise from their grave and attack them. The mysterious use of silence, music, and strange sounds makes this film an effective work of discovery of the mystery and myths.

The visual effects of the shadows and backward movements display a mastery and exploration of the possibilities of the media. A lot like one of Buster Keaton’s masterpieces Sherlock Jr. where the hero dreams of entering the picture and by many tricks of camera Keaton creates surprise and a level of mastery no one would have expect to achieve. The visual effects of Vampyr may look easy to redo with the technologies of today but in 1932 it was a lot more complicated to attain these effects and also experiment them and made them look like apparitions of spirits.

The structure of the story, not as traditional or evident as Nosferatu, reflects a certain state of wandering as the character of Grey wanders in the village. We are carried around not really knowing if it’s Grey’s reality or not. Just like how Vampyr is mounted clearly reflects this state of uncertainty and woozy.

This might not be as visually perfect as Ordet or Gertrud, but Vampyr clearly narrated as a silent film while not quite being a sound film is visually impressive and lets a permanent impression in the viewers’ mind. Vampyr is a film with soul or if you prefer with souls and the wears of time gave to it a eerie charm of a masterpiece from a great master. This is an unexpected journey that brings us places the common Horror movie wouldn’t care to go and be.

Top Films of Carl Th. Dreyer by LMdC

1. Ordet (1955)
2. Day of Wrath (1943)
3. La passion de Jeanne D'Arc (1928)
4. Vampyr (1932)
5. Gertrud (1964)
I still need to see: The Parson's Widow (1920) Michael (1924) Master of the House (1925)

Jeanne d'Arc selon Dreyer

TSPDT Greatest Films #20 La passion de Jeanne d'Arc (Carl Th. Dreyer, 1928)


I often get questions like: What is the best film of all-time? or What are the true cinematic masterpieces? Well, most of the times we hear Citizen Kane, Vertigo, 2001: A Space Odyssey, Bicycle Thieves, La règle du jeu, Seven Samurai, etc. Most of the time the silent masterpieces are forgotten. Maybe because these films are older or harder to find, but of all the masterpieces of the seventh art La passion de Jeanne d'Arc is a one of a kind film! Brilliantly revisited by Robert Bresson in 1962, the 1928 version is still deeper and even more metaphysical.

The story depicted in La passion de Jeanne d'Arc is represented by the messianic figure of Maria Falconetti from the trial of Joan of Arc to her tragic death on the stake. Shot entirely in close-ups by Dreyer who wanted to catch only the dramatic expressions from the face of his heroine. Other elements are out of focus and the sets are there to be backgrounds of the "mise-en-scène". The mise-en-chot became famous but never really used after because of the uncommon way and also because i could annoy the spectator the get all this intensity all along the film. I read somewhere that the sets used to shot this film was very expensive and all the Antiques were bought at high costs. To be only used out of focus...

Presented like that this film could sound very simple and maybe a little boring, the case is that La passion de Jeanne d'Arc is not that simple. It proposes that Joan of Arc was really a messianic figure while being made of flesh and blood. Also that purity and goodness can be found in any human being but also that we all can be executioners and victims. It reflects the time the movie was made: France won the War but suffered from the German attacks. The French nation have been victimized and executioners with the sentence imposed on Germany after World War I.

Carl Th. Dreyer is one of the most religious directors and most of his films are based on faith and the many representations we can find of. His films are austere but also purified the more simplistic. He used to take his actors like puppets and only allow them to move the way he intended them to move. Long shots and few if almost no editing caracterize his films. Those long shots seem like he tried to catch the perfect moment that could help him to catch the light of God. The slow action depicted in all his films feels like we are bewitched by the story and the imperceptible camera moves.

Far from being an easy film, La passion de Jeanne d'Arc is unique and crucial.


A review by Michaël Parent

#25 Carl Theodor Dreyer

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Lists:
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