Vampyr (1932) – Vampiric Projections II: Regression/Reversal & Slowing + Jacques Aumont

Vampyr Tyskland, Frankrike 1932 Regi Carl Theodor Dreyer Manus Christen Jul, Carl Th. Dreyer Foto Rudolph Maté Med Julian West, Maurice Schutz, Rena Mandel, Sybille Schmitz 1t 14m DCP Tyske tekstplakater, engelsk tekst Aldersgrense 12 år

We explore further the Regression/Reversal trope in the Vampiric Projections with Vampyr (1932), a seminal film by Danish filmmaker Carl Theodor Dreyer.

The film is the first loose (like most subsequent ones) adaptation of J. Sheridan Le Fanu’s novella Carmilla (1872). It is a hybrid of a silent film and a sound film, with very minimal dialogue, in addition to intertitles. The result is of an outstanding style in vampire cinema, with an unusual diegetic structure.

The visuals at times remind of Luis Buñuel’s at-the-time contemporary L’Âge d’Or (1930). Dreyer seems to have opted for an even more experimental approach with his cinematographer Rudolph Maté, who previously collaborated with him on The Passion of Joan of Arc. It was almost by accident that Maté showed the filmmaker a shot that came out fuzzy and washed out, which made Dreyer decide to adopt this effect for the whole film. The cinematographer filmed Vampyr through a piece of gauze held about 1m away from the camera to achieve this look.

During the film’s premiere in Berlin, in May 6, 1932, upon being asked about his intention, Dreyer said: “I had not any particular intention. I just wanted to make a film different from all other films. I wanted, if you will, to break new ground for the cinema. That is all.”

Film critic Jacques Aumont published within the book series ‘Long Métrage’ a detailed analysis of Vampyr. In this text, he astutely observes the many instances in which reversal is achieved, whether via the actions of characters (and the resulting inversion of their shadows, even at times coming from above instead of below), as well body and head poses inside the frames of many shots. An additional observation to Aumont: Dreyer’s film excels at framing those latter poses inside solid confines (coffin, staircase, etc.), which are then framed disorientingly in the image frame.
In a later section of the book, Aumont lays on a series of pages a number of still frames (grouped in different ways) from the film as photographs, under the title ‘Freeze frames’ (or translated more literally from French: ‘stops on images’). He writes about this: “This notebook is not designed as a linear continuity. Keys to a better understanding of the structures of the film, cues for apprehending its texture, the photograms are grouped here around a few common themes.”

After the screening, artist Oscar Debs will project scans from the abovementioned notebook, accompanied by poetic cues from Jacques Aumont.

Suggested readings:
‘Are You Sure I Saw It?’ – pages 111-116
&
‘The Emperor’s New Costume, Or the Case of the Missing Mask:’ – pages 116-126
&
‘The Off-Screen and/or the Set On-Screen’ –
pages 141-147 from (Vampires): An Uneasy Essay on the Undead in Films