Nosferatu Effort Post
TLDR: Most people are viewing Nosferatu too literally. The movie explores religious doubt, lack of meaning, and existentialist redemption. Not about killing a fucking horny vampire.
Warning: this is the most pretentious thing I've ever written. But all the classic Monster novels and horror movies with something to say are very metaphorical in their construction. And Robert Eggers is, if nothing else, a meticulous writer/director.
I think Destiny, and frankly, most people who saw the movie weren't looking at it metaphorically, which gives a ton of weight to the narrative over a literal interpretation. The movie's aesthetics are undoubtedly excellent, and I usually connect most with those aspects of a movie(Huge Kubrick cuck). But I have never felt so enthralled by a movie's themes and narrative.
To me, the mustache, which people kept bitching about, was to me the MOST critical tell of what this movie is about. Which may seem silly on its face (see what I did there? 😏), but hear me out.
I haven't seen anyone connect the mustache/Nosferatu/Ellen with Friedrich Nietzsche. Given that the movie is dripping with Nietzschean dialectic and subtext: The death of God - Nosferatu, The problem of the existence of disease and suffering, and realizing that faith cannot be the bulwark against it in a new scientific age.
The characters in the movie think science, material things, or denial can replace god or deal with the problem (except for Ellen, who, since she was a child, has a fear of this monster who visits her dreams and represents people who genuinely wrestle with the issue deeply. Nietzsche thought the Ubermensch would come from people who deeply stared into the despair of life and death). People who exalt the coming of Nosferatu (Nietzsche proclaimed the death of god as inevitable, even if he wasn't the one to bring it to light.) are seen as blasphemers (Renfield, "I am blasphemy!"). A somewhat feminist version of the Ubermensch is seen in Lily-Rose Depp's character arc (A good portion of her dialogue, especially the possessions, are ripped from Nietzsche: "Streets running red with blood").
Thomas's character is simply part of the themes of exploring secular modern men who don't wrestle with the problems that come with the lack of faith and pursue material wealth or scientific achievement as a path to meaning(Ellen responds to Thomas's gift of flowers lamenting that they will be dead in three days). He ultimately loses much of his agency to the will of Nosferatu(A mirror breaks when he looks into it, which usually symbolizes a lack of reflection). The first part of the movie is an adventure into uncharted territory; along the way, he is gifted a cross necklace and sees the peasants killing a vampire with garlic, a stake, and a naked woman on a horse (Old remedies to lesser vampires). Thomas ends up ripping off the cross necklace given to him by the peasants after he has his heart(soul, faith, meaning) sucked out by Nosferatu. Nosferatu explicitly tells Thomas that the peasants are religious fools and to ignore them.
Every character is combatting the force of nihilism, nature, and death. In the three days at the movie's end, the characters explore how people will try to deal with the conflict of faith and science against death, disease, and suffering. The Christians die not understanding why God would bring such suffering on faithful people (even sinless children) because they don't accept nature and, as a result, have the least agency and join the others in death anyway. Thomas and Van Helsing think that science, materialism, and putting a stake in blasphemers will fix it (burning Renfield, I think, is saying that the act of dismissing the people who do acknowledge the death of god as blasphemers should be reformed and investigated seriously), eventually attempt to repeat the actions of the peasants that Thomas sees on the way to the castle.
Sexuality has always been at the core of the Dracula story, but Eggers seems to have brought a feminist lens to this aspect. On the last day, Ellen seeks very nasty sex with Thomas to see if that would appease the shadow of nihilism (Possibly a critique of worshipping sexuality in response to women's liberation, or maybe Eggers was just horny that day). Also, Nosferatu says "Lilac" when he looks at Ellen's picture. Lilacs are a symbol of beauty, youth, and among others, renewal. I see the "marriage" of her and Nosferatu as the successful integration of death with the spirit of renewal and youth. Stating that we as modern people should seek meaningful relationships while rejecting the old concept of marriage that attempts to appease God(Ellen refers to her marriage with Thomas as the happiest day of her life, which she immediately contrasts with seeing all her loved ones dead in her dream, it doesn't fix her nihilism). Only at the end, when Ellen lies with Nosferatu and embraces death, do the characters see enlightenment (light comes through the window and kills Nosferatu).
I watched the original and Herzog's Nosferatu to prepare for the Robert Eggers film and happened to read a bit on Nietzschean philosophy over the last couple of years. So, I'm admittedly primed to see these themes.
I loved this movie and have more to say and connect thematically. I had goosebumps the whole runtime once I connected these ideas in the first scene with Nosferatu. I've been wanting to write out a full review on IMDb just to help people look at it in a different light. I checked after watching because I thought looking too deeply into the themes, but to my surprise, there's a literary paper from 2013 on a Nietzschean interpretation of Bram Stoker's Dracula. I bet you anything Eggers used it as inspiration.
I encourage Destiny to look at this movie like he did Synecdoche New York; that approach is more appropriate to me. I don't expect anyone to agree with my interpretation fully, but looking at it this way makes the movie much more interesting. I'll have to watch it again, along with The Lighthouse, to see which one I prefer.
I'd love to hear if anyone sees my rambling as valid or if I'm just another Renfield.
Thanks for reading!