Nosferatu

Nosferatu "Does evil come from within us or from beyond?" I didn't think this could really become one of my favourite movies as soon as I finished watching it, but its true potential really kept growing onto me with the passing of time. First of all, Nosferatu is a beautiful movie, gothic and painting-like, and each frame perfectly evokes a dark and malignant atmosphere. The same can be said for Egger's direction, curated in each movement and perfectly built (some scenes make us face just the character themselves, surrounded by the absolute black darkness of the night, creating thus an incredibly suggestive claustrophobic effect). The narrative rythms are good (even if the third act feels a bit rushed) and the acting performances - especially Lily Rose-Depp's Helen - were phenomenal. But what is the point of this movie? It is not a mere vampiric horror story, but a journey through our inner self and repressed desires: as every character seems to care just about themselves and their individuality, Orlok reigns as an absolute, an appetite, which everyone of us has to face in some way. It is in this sense very Jungian: Count Orlok is, at its peak, the shadow-self of Helen herself, not only of her repressed sexuality but of her repressed freedom and desire to act and be known and, more than anything, understood. It may seem over the top, sort of grotesque even, but Egger's Nosferatu makes us face not only our own demons, but the demons of our own society and world, so full of individuality and movement that desire, infinity, slowness and deepness become nothing but shadows. So, once again, don't simply hear but listen, when she asks: "Does evil come from within us or from beyond?" For doesn't the question itself sound just like its answer?