Nosferatu
Yes, it’s Nosferatu – I have finally seen it! I still remember declining the offer to watch it about a year ago and have always felt not at ease because of it, for no reason at all. Now, I have had the opportunity to see it with a live concert! Although the student ticket cost 12 euro (goddamn it, Babylon Berlin Mitte), it was absolutely worth it.
Ultimately, the experience of “Metropolis” had a bigger impact on me: The music was more dramatic, the atmosphere was better and perhaps the film itself was a more impressive one? Oh, and it seems that the audience of “Metropolis” was comparably more capable. People kept laughing during the screening of “Nosferatu” – what the heck?
Most of all, I was strongly impressed by the performance of the pianist during “Metropolis”. It was an extremely energetic and virtuous playing, and at the end, the performer was literally covered with sweat. Perhaps it was because I have never seen a silent movie with live music before and the first time made such a huge impact on me, but I truly believe that it was an unforgettable event.
Even though the experience of “Nosferatu” was less impressive, I still think this was an outstanding performance coupled with a movie that totally deserves its extremely high reputation. There was a pianist, a lead singer and a choir of about 40 people, who didn’t only “play music” but also made all sorts of noises like animal cries when there was a scene in the forest. Apart from a few shrieks that hurt my ear a little bit, the music was splendid. It’s difficult to describe such a live performance, but it definitely heightened my desire to see more of it.
So, I still have not said much about the film itself, didn’t I? This is mainly because (similar to Metropolis) it’s mainly a visual feast of brilliant storytelling, and I cannot believe that it’s the same when you watch it at home on a small DVD screen. (“To be or not to be” is another one of these kinds of films – it’s way too much fun to hear a whole audience laughing enthusiastically.)
But let me try. The first thing I have noticed throughout the whole film is that it had an incredibly dense atmosphere. The best scene of all was the carriage ride through the forest, I am sure Pixelmatsch will be fanboying more about this particular scene, because it’s just too good – visually and atmospherically the strongest of the whole film in my opinion.
Even though no black cat was involved, this atmosphere reminded me a lot of E.T.A. Hoffmann. The whole mid-19th century setting including the mysterious nature and the creepy main character, the subtle desire of sex and the bourgeoisie was so typical from what I perceived as romantic in the sense of the German literary movement. I was amazed and I liked that part of it a whole lot. I am sure Baudelaire and Hoffmann would have liked this movie.
The movie came with an interesting in which the people who organized this live event have commented on the film. Although I found the comments very interesting and insightful, I had to laugh a little when I notice how strongly they emphasized on the topic of sex. Sure, Nosferatu desired Hutter’s wife and it’s one of the major themes of the film, but ultimately it only received very little screen time. Whether Hutter’s wife was a sexually frustrated woman is rather questionable in my opinion and it does not surprise me at all that there were people who were interpreting the film in such a way. Of course Emilia Galotti was a passionate woman, but in this film it’s still a little far fetched in my opinion, heh.
“Nosferatu” is a classic, and one has to watch it with this in mind. Because of that reason, I always am having the impression that whoever would stumble upon this blog post has already seen the film, heh. As for myself, I am very interested in seeing more by Murnau now. I know that I will at least watch “Sunrise”.