Nosferatu (2024)

For cinephiles, Robert Eggers' adaptation of the 1922 German film Nosferatu was one of the most anticipated movies of 2024. Eggers is known for his slow, atmospheric, historically accurate films and Nosferatu is a great fit for the director of The VVitch and The Lighthouse.

I would say that Nosferatu is probably my least favorite of Eggers' films...but even the "worst" Eggers film is still miles beyond the best work of many Hollywood filmmakers. I only say it's my least favorite because while all of his films are slow, his previous ones have been surprising and unfamiliar in a way that Nosferatu is not and cannot be for me since I've seen the 1922 version, directed by F.W. Murnau, multiple times and the 1979 version, directed by Werner Herzog, multiple times as well. There isn't much here to surprise me.

Which isn't to say it's a bad film. By no means! Nosferatu is GORGEOUS. The cinematography, lighting, costumes, and set design are all delicious. Set in 1838 Germany, the film feels strangely cozy even as death and destruction haunt its characters. 

The plot is simple and familiar: Thomas Hutter (Nicholas Hoult) is a newly married estate agent who travels to Transylvania to sell a piece of property to an old, eccentric Count Orlock (Bill Skarsgard). His wife, Ellen (Lily Rose-Depp), begs him not to go, telling him of a dream she had that portends death. Thinking of his and Ellen's future financial security, Hutter doesn't heed her protestations. 

Although locals try to warn Hutter away from going up to Orlock's castle, he arrives and is...uh, welcomed...by the Count. Skarsgard, mostly hidden in shadow, wears pounds of makeup to look like the rat-faced and utterly terrifying Count. Unbeknownst to Hutter, what Orlock is really after is Hutter's wife. Orlock spends several nights drinking Hutter's blood until the man is weak and weary...he then tricks Hutter into signing a document in an ancient language that dissolves Hutter's marriage. Orlock leaves the ill man in his castle and makes his way by ship to Wisborg, Germany to claim Ellen. 

Meanwhile, Ellen is living at Friedrich and Anna Harding's home and is sleepwalking and having fits every night. In this interpretation of Nosferatu, Ellen and Count Orlock are bound by a childhood wish Ellen made. As a lonely child, she prayed for a "guardian angel" to come to her...and, instead, awakened the Count. She believes that the Count is essentially her own inner darkness made corporeal and therefore she is to blame for everything that happens. I found this to be a really interesting interpretation of the story and one that anyone with anxiety will relate to: the idea that bad thoughts and fantasies inside your own head will somehow become real and cause destruction to everyone you love.

Friedrich (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) has Dr. Wilhelm Sievers (Ralph Ineson) examine Ellen and the doctor recommends bringing in Professor Albin Eberhart Von Franz (Willem Dafoe), who is an expert in the occult. Friedrich is skeptical but desperate for a solution, so he allows Von Franz to examine Ellen. 

In the final third of the movie, three plot points come together: Hutter, after being nursed to health by nuns, returns to Wisborg; Count Orlock arrives on a plague-ridden ship to Wisborg; and all the men involved (Friedrich, Sievers, Von Franz, and Hutter) realize that Orlock is ultimately after Ellen and they try to figure out how to stop him.

But both Ellen and Von Franz know that the only way to truly stop Orlock is for Ellen to sacrifice herself to the Count. If she can entice him to feed on her throughout the night until daybreak, the Count will die. They engineer an opportunity for that to happen without Hutter interrupting. Hutter loses his beloved, but the people of Wisborg are spared from the plague that the Count brought with him.

Nosferatu, which is a slightly different retelling of Bram Stoker's Dracula, which itself is an amalgamation of vampiric folklore and historical events, has many interesting and layered thematic elements. It's a story about infection, as Count Orlock is the bringer of the plague--of death and disease. It's about the clash between old ways and new ways, between ritual and science. It's also about the fear of women and their sexuality. Robert Eggers' Nosferatu leans heavily into the sexuality angle and folks have called this the "horniest" interpretation of Nosferatu yet. There is much orgasmic moaning, gyrating of hips, innuendo, and the like throughout the movie. Ellen's constant gaspy breathing and hysterical fits eventually got on my nerves, as I'm sure "hysterical" women got on the nerves of men throughout the centuries. 

I'm not going to go into a super deep and detailed reading of the movie, but I took it to be this: Hutter, Friedrich, and Sievers represent science, modernity, polite society, and masculine control over nature. Ellen and Orlock represent nature, "base" instincts, sexuality, the old ways, and the ultimate feminine dominion over men. Von Franz is the bridge that links the two worlds: he is a man of learning, but he accepts the reality of magic, superstition, and things that science can't explain. While men try to dominate and control women/nature, ultimately nature wins out. And letting Orlock and Ellen follow the path of destiny is the only thing that stops the death and destruction along the way. 

So there you have it--my interpretation of this ageless tale. I enjoyed the movie a lot and it was pretty much exactly the film I thought it would be. Solid, but no surprises. I definitely recommend it, though I'm pretty sure The Lighthouse will always be my favorite Eggers film.

Grade: B+