The Podcast of the Lotus Eaters - PREVIEW： An Analysis of Nosferatu (2024)

00:00:00.000 Hello and welcome to Harry and I's discussion of the recently released film Nosferatu.

00:00:05.960 This was directed by Robert Eggers, who is one of our favourite directors, I think it's safe to say.

00:00:10.160 Certainly my favourite director of the moment.

00:00:12.620 I would say the same thing, because I think Stanley Kubrick, you know, always be number one for me.

00:00:19.000 Yeah, and David Lynch is my favourite overall, but he's not really releasing anything these days.

00:00:24.020 There's always rumours spreading that he's about to do something with Netflix,

00:00:27.500 or maybe he's going to carry on Twin Peaks in some esoteric and roundabout way.

00:00:32.460 But the man's nearing his 80s now, and he's living in LA, which has just burned down.

00:00:37.820 So, you know, best wishes to him.

00:00:40.140 Stay safe.

00:00:40.740 Stay safe. I don't think anything's going to be coming from him any time soon.

00:00:44.280 I'd love to be proven wrong, though.

00:00:45.940 Yes. So Nosferatu, obviously, is something that is not unfamiliar to most people.

00:00:53.520 Most people are familiar with the name, which is a made-up name, of course.

00:00:58.020 And this, of course, is a thing that was inspired by Bram Stoker's Dracula.

00:01:04.600 Heavily inspired.

00:01:06.500 Some might say his widow.

00:01:09.060 Yeah, his widow might even argue, which she did, that it was a complete rip-off.

00:01:12.980 And of course, the original film was ordered by the courts to be destroyed,

00:01:17.200 because it was so similar to the original.

00:01:19.980 And this was released in, what, 1922, wasn't it?

00:01:22.500 Yeah, the original was 1922.

00:01:24.700 It was some production company in Germany that only released one film, which was Nosferatu.

00:01:30.960 And the reason that they ordered it to be destroyed was by the time that they were making the...

00:01:35.000 She was making the court order against them.

00:01:37.480 They had no money.

00:01:38.820 They were bankrupt, so they couldn't defend themselves in court.

00:01:41.920 Well, what I understand of it, obviously it was a long time ago, and it also doesn't matter,

00:01:46.880 but I'm going to be pedantic anyway,

00:01:48.180 is that the occultists set up the film company, because it was funded by an occultist figure,

00:01:55.700 to make films about the occult.

00:01:59.200 And this was going to be the first one.

00:02:01.540 And basically, to avoid having to pay a large sum of money,

00:02:05.340 he made the film company bankrupt as a choice.

00:02:10.880 Oh, okay.

00:02:11.400 To avoid the potential hefty fines.

00:02:14.460 That makes sense.

00:02:15.420 Pretty scummy behaviour, overall.

00:02:17.960 Well, I don't agree with the notion of intellectual property, so I don't think...

00:02:23.000 It's like how the Verve's Bittersweet Symphony pays the Rolling Stones,

00:02:29.220 even though what they did with the samples is entirely different.

00:02:34.160 Wait, I didn't even realise that song sampled the Rolling Stones.

00:02:37.380 It samples a string part in one of the Rolling Stones' more esoteric albums.

00:02:44.560 Oh, is that what the main string refrain of the song is?

00:02:47.800 But they've added stuff, they've moved it around, they've changed the character of it.

00:02:50.860 It's an entirely different song.

00:02:53.420 And just as Dracula is one story, I think Nosferatu is another.

00:02:57.620 And although they're similar, and they're playing off of vampire sort of myths...

00:03:03.160 Folklore.

00:03:03.840 Folklore, that's a better word for it.

00:03:05.560 But it's the same with anything, really, isn't it?

00:03:08.220 It's like folk music, in that things pass around through word of mouth,

00:03:14.120 and it sort of gets embellished slightly over time.

00:03:18.200 That's natural, and I think it's healthy.

00:03:20.180 Oral tradition, which is passed down through generations of a particular culture.

00:03:24.920 So I agree with you that it's healthy.

00:03:26.740 Just to harp on the intellectual property thing as well,

00:03:28.960 we have both complained at length about people accusing Led Zeppelin of ripping off various blues artists and blues songs.

00:03:37.180 I have complained about this online, and somebody sent me a song that was supposedly the song that Led Zeppelin ripped off for Whole Lotta Love,

00:03:45.000 which has one verse that has the same lyrics, otherwise is a completely different song.

00:03:51.640 They sound nothing like one another.

00:03:54.560 Too often, sadly, the argument of intellectual property can be used so that somebody who is unsuccessful, unknown,

00:04:02.420 basically a nobody, can piggyback off of the success of somebody else.

00:04:06.600 Notice how it was Bram Stoker's Widow that did it, you know, payday. 0.95

00:04:13.640 Also, for the Rolling Stones and the Verve, it was their lawyers, and the Rolling Stones said,

00:04:18.960 oh, the Verve song's way better than ours, they should keep the money, and that's not happened.

00:04:23.700 You know, respect to them, I suppose.

00:04:26.100 Yeah.

00:04:28.140 Actual creatives can respect other people's creativity, and they can see that it's distinct,

00:04:33.060 but when there's money involved, people tend to be scummy.

00:04:35.960 Yeah, thank God that there weren't lawyers about when we first figured out the diatonic scales,

00:04:41.120 or they'd all be copyrighted, and you wouldn't be able to do anything.

00:04:45.160 Well, I mean, pharmaceutical companies can copyright chemical compounds,

00:04:51.820 like the actual aspects of the way our universe works can be copyrighted.

00:04:57.020 That's very interesting.

00:04:57.860 I think we're going a little bit off topic here, which I have helped along, so...

00:05:01.380 I'm just hammering that point home.

00:05:02.860 But the point being is that there are lots and lots of adaptations of Nosferatu,

00:05:08.260 I think around 30 in total, if not more so.

00:05:12.840 Certainly even more if you include amateur productions and perhaps stage plays and things like that.

00:05:18.260 Well, I think Robert Eggers has said that in his childhood, he put on a school performance of Nosferatu.

00:05:25.260 That was his foray into sort of the performing arts, in a sense, isn't it?

00:05:30.120 He started off as a bit of an actor rather than a director,

00:05:34.360 and I think he had a role in directing that play, but it was very different.

00:05:39.020 Yeah, well, this has been a passion project of his, and on the subject of the other versions of Nosferatu,

00:05:46.160 in preparation for this, I decided to watch the two most famous ones,

00:05:50.460 which is the original 1922 film, and then Werner Herzog's 1979 adaptation,

00:05:58.580 which is a strange hybrid because it's telling the story of Nosferatu, the 1922 film,

00:06:03.960 but changes everybody's name so that they're back to the original Bram Stoker name.

00:06:08.980 So it's not Nosferatu, it's Count Dracula.

00:06:11.600 You're not following Thomas Hutter, you're following Jonathan Harker.

00:06:16.760 So it's a strange mix of the two, but overall follows the same beats

00:06:21.380 with a few additions that Herzog put in himself,

00:06:25.780 and it was the first Herzog film that I've ever watched.

00:06:28.540 I really enjoyed it.

00:06:29.400 I've got to admit, I much preferred it to the original one,

00:06:32.940 because the original one, I understand, is a German expressionist classic.

00:06:37.600 It set the stage for a lot of different film techniques, special effects.

00:06:41.360 The use of shadow, especially, is wonderful.

00:06:45.360 But perhaps I'm just spoiled by the delights of colour and sound that we get these days with films.

00:06:52.720 The actual style of silent film does not work as well for me.

00:06:56.500 I was thinking about this in terms of aviation,

00:06:59.760 because I agree that the 22 film is very important,

00:07:02.800 and it's very useful for film analysis, perhaps.

00:07:07.440 However, as an actual thing to watch, I think more recent forays are better.

00:07:12.840 And it's similar, in my mind, to an old biplane,

00:07:17.720 compared to, say, a, well, maybe not a Boeing 747,

00:07:22.960 those are a bit dodgy.

00:07:23.940 Like, I don't know, a modern plane.

00:07:27.300 You know, the old biplane has a certain charm to it.

00:07:30.840 It's, you know, a bit fanciful and a little bit outdated,

00:07:35.340 but also it's got a lot of character to it.

00:07:38.340 However, if you were to actually use the product to sound sort of disgustingly consumerist,

00:07:45.940 you would rather use the modern one,

00:07:48.240 because it's, the technology has moved so far.

00:07:51.740 Well, objectively, it's just better, right?

00:07:54.200 But we do have to, you know, thank the original for being made in the first place,

00:07:59.500 because otherwise we wouldn't be getting wonderful adaptations of the story like Robert Eggers' version.

00:08:04.020 Yeah, and it also doesn't mean that we can't acknowledge the fact that it was very important at the time of its release,

00:08:09.700 and it was very influential.

00:08:12.060 However, sometimes these things don't necessarily translate well, at least in my opinion.

00:08:16.600 I think it also didn't help that because it's public domain,

00:08:20.100 and there are so many different versions of the film,

00:08:22.780 the version that I watched half of, that I watched first,

00:08:27.040 was a public domain one on YouTube,

00:08:29.460 which had remastered the picture,

00:08:31.660 so it was all nice crisp HD,

00:08:33.460 and changed a lot of the cards,

00:08:35.220 and also used very different music.

00:08:37.740 And the picture as well was in black and white,

00:08:39.760 where the original one is tinted,

00:08:42.180 depending on what time of the day it's supposed to be.

00:08:44.720 So the nighttime scenes were all shot during the day,

00:08:48.020 but on the original version,

00:08:49.820 they're tinted blue,

00:08:50.800 so that you know that it's taking place at nighttime.

00:08:53.060 This was all picture-perfect, crisp, black and white,

00:08:56.240 so it just looks like Nosferatu himself is just roaming about in the middle of the day,

00:09:00.320 which confused me somewhat.

00:09:02.320 And then it did...

00:09:03.460 The worst part was the music that they chose.

00:09:05.940 It's a horror film.

00:09:07.160 It's a gothic horror film.

00:09:08.840 Some might argue the original gothic horror film.

00:09:11.860 It's supposed to have scary music with organ stings 0.67

00:09:15.240 to let you know when you're supposed to jump.

00:09:17.680 This had the most pleasant classical music

00:09:21.860 playing in the background.

00:09:23.280 It wasn't quite to the level of...

00:09:25.040 But it was close.

00:09:28.940 And I almost fell asleep 10 times watching it.

00:09:32.820 So I was like,

00:09:33.480 what on earth is all the big fuss about with this?

00:09:36.220 And then I...

00:09:36.860 A nice Dracula film to fall asleep to.

00:09:38.660 I know.

00:09:39.480 And then I found a better version of it,

00:09:42.240 which was more along the lines of the original,

00:09:44.260 with better title...

00:09:45.140 With better cards used.

00:09:48.020 The tinting kept there.

00:09:49.680 Lower picture quality,

00:09:50.840 but that actually helped.

00:09:51.860 And the entire thing was soundtracked by spooky organ.

00:09:56.020 So there's two things to say here.

00:09:57.620 First of all,

00:09:58.040 the director, Robert Eggers,

00:09:59.780 actually told a story about how he saw a still

00:10:02.460 from the original Nosferatu,

00:10:05.160 and he thought it was the coolest thing he'd ever seen.

00:10:07.220 And he said to his mum,

00:10:09.280 I want to watch this film.

00:10:11.300 And so they ordered it in the video store,

00:10:13.980 and it took a month to arrive.

00:10:16.700 And apparently,

00:10:18.140 because it was quite old as well,

00:10:20.660 it was quite grainy and worn out.

00:10:22.780 And he said that actually added to the film,

00:10:25.080 because he had seen more modern,

00:10:26.700 but like recreations, I suppose,

00:10:28.980 remasters, whatever you want to call it.

00:10:30.860 And the precision of the image didn't help it.

00:10:34.540 Actually,

00:10:34.900 the sort of fading and degradation of it

00:10:37.600 helped sell the original films.

00:10:40.420 I think it becomes more immersive with something that...

00:10:42.920 It feels more like you're watching something

00:10:44.740 that's real rather than a piece of fiction.

00:10:47.160 I'd like to think of it as sort of him

00:10:50.860 almost thinking it's like found footage.

00:10:53.500 Yeah.

00:10:53.740 As a young kid.

00:10:55.340 But one important thing about that,

00:10:57.820 that you're talking about the original,

00:10:59.040 is that they used sort of slides to colour the thing.

00:11:03.480 That's exactly how Eggers gets the amazing night time scenes.

00:11:08.720 Some of the best visuals of night time and darkness

00:11:13.940 I think I've ever seen in a film, by the way,

00:11:16.540 which is saying something

00:11:18.120 because, of course, so many films do it.

00:11:20.660 Normally, in a lot of modern cinema,

00:11:23.600 when it's very dark

00:11:24.720 and there's a sort of love of the dark

00:11:26.340 over the past five to ten years

00:11:28.100 in both TV and cinema,

00:11:29.800 I'm thinking Game of Thrones was very guilty of it.

00:11:32.120 Oh, don't remind me of Game of Thrones.

00:11:34.280 I know.

00:11:34.840 But you tend not to be able to make out anything,

00:11:38.420 but what Eggers did was had it very bright,

00:11:41.340 but then put a...

00:11:42.520 They basically eliminated the reds 1.00

00:11:45.120 at the camera level

00:11:46.600 and had a blue filter over it.

00:11:50.900 So it was mostly blue and green light,

00:11:53.540 but mostly blue.

00:11:55.120 There would still be a little bit of green there.

00:11:57.540 But that gives you an impression

00:11:59.360 of things being illuminated by moonlight.

00:12:01.920 And that really works.

00:12:02.880 It worked very well.

00:12:03.960 I was so surprised at how well done it was.

00:12:09.740 And it really goes well to sell the film

00:12:12.780 as a really polished piece of cinema, I suppose.

00:12:18.140 Oh, yeah.

00:12:18.420 I mean, this is one of the best-looking films

00:12:21.220 I've ever watched.

00:12:22.180 I agree.

00:12:22.600 Honestly, every frame is gorgeous in this film.

00:12:26.700 And it's very, very impressive

00:12:27.680 because Eggers is already

00:12:28.800 a very technically accomplished filmmaker.

00:12:30.440 Well, let's talk about his previous films, actually.

00:12:33.440 Well, just let me...

00:12:35.040 This film was on what is today considered

00:12:38.060 a mid-level budget,

00:12:39.640 which was about $50 million.

00:12:41.440 And I believe globally

00:12:42.900 it's already taken in more than $100 million.

00:12:45.480 So if you were to account for marketing as well,

00:12:47.980 it's already broken even,

00:12:49.680 which is really good to see

00:12:51.500 because I would like to see more directors

00:12:54.320 take on passion projects like this

00:12:56.980 and be rewarded for it

00:12:58.520 rather than somebody like Robert Eggers

00:13:00.740 get sucked into the studio system

00:13:02.740 where they would get him to churn out 0.99

00:13:04.180 crap for a few years 1.00

00:13:05.980 and then decide because the crap 1.00

00:13:07.660 that they've hired him on as a director 0.99

00:13:09.660 for, you know, his gun for hire

00:13:11.380 didn't make them the money back,

00:13:13.140 then all of a sudden his career is ruined.

00:13:15.080 I'm glad he's not taking that road.

00:13:17.900 Yeah, because many talented directors

00:13:19.440 have fallen prey to that.

00:13:20.940 And also actors have gone into those films

00:13:24.220 for the promise of a paycheck

00:13:25.320 and they've struggled to get away from it.

00:13:27.500 I think a good example of someone

00:13:29.920 who's lived in the shadow

00:13:31.080 of just accepting bad films

00:13:33.120 is Nicolas Cage.

00:13:34.100 And people say he's a bad actor,

00:13:36.240 but it's not his acting.

00:13:37.520 He elevates the bad films he's in.

00:13:40.120 It's not that he's dragging it down,

00:13:42.060 quite to the contrary.

00:13:43.180 It's just that I think he got into a lot of debt

00:13:45.200 and had to just accept lots of films

00:13:47.260 and churn them out.

00:13:48.220 I believe it was the IRS

00:13:51.080 wanted a lot of...

00:13:53.400 because Nicolas Cage was not the most diligent

00:13:55.860 in paying his government taxes.

00:14:05.520 Just another reason to like the guy.

00:14:07.340 And as a result,

00:14:08.740 it ended up with him having to star

00:14:10.240 in a lot of bad films

00:14:11.120 so he could pay them back.

00:14:12.240 Well, now he lives in the UK, doesn't he?

00:14:13.800 He's got a house in Bath.

00:14:14.860 Also, he just loves starring in films.

00:14:16.540 I think he's just mental

00:14:17.720 and loves starring in films,

00:14:19.320 which, you know, more respect to him.

00:14:21.140 But on the subject of the budget, right,

00:14:23.280 to show how overinflated

00:14:25.060 the typical Hollywood budget is these days,

00:14:28.220 I think a comparison is order.

00:14:30.280 So a recent film that came out

00:14:32.280 was called The Red One,

00:14:34.420 I believe was what it was called.

00:14:35.820 Never even heard of it.

00:14:36.620 It was starring The Rock

00:14:38.620 and it was about Santa Claus being kidnapped

00:14:42.060 and The Rock teams up with

00:14:44.680 Chris, not Chris Pratt,

00:14:46.980 one of the other ones from The Avengers

00:14:48.620 and ends up having to try and save

00:14:51.800 Santa Claus from Krampus

00:14:53.320 or whoever it is, right?

00:14:55.380 That film had a $250 million budget

00:14:59.100 and $50 million of that alone

00:15:02.660 was to pay for The Rock.

00:15:05.140 So The Rock's entire paycheck

00:15:07.060 for starring in that film

00:15:08.680 was the same as the budget for this.

00:15:11.940 And the film made no money back,

00:15:14.620 obviously,

00:15:15.540 because it turns out

00:15:16.320 paying $50 million to The Rock

00:15:17.880 doesn't automatically guarantee

00:15:19.320 your film will be a success

00:15:20.820 because most of the films 1.00

00:15:22.100 The Rock stars in are shit. 1.00

00:15:24.040 Well, he's like a litmus test 1.00

00:15:25.480 for will I watch that film?

00:15:27.280 There are lots of actors like that

00:15:28.700 where if they're in the film,

00:15:30.020 I won't watch it.

00:15:31.020 Also, Willem Dafoe is in this one.

00:15:33.120 He's a much better actor than The Rock.

00:15:35.280 It's not even...

00:15:36.120 It feels insulting comparing them.

00:15:38.420 And I don't think he would...

00:15:40.360 In fact, I think Willem Dafoe

00:15:42.500 actually approached Eggers

00:15:43.760 and said,

00:15:44.420 I want to work with you

00:15:45.400 rather than the other way around.

00:15:46.800 Well, it's an excellent

00:15:47.420 working relationship thus far

00:15:49.160 because the first collaboration

00:15:50.220 they had was The Lighthouse.

00:15:51.800 And since then,

00:15:52.640 he's been in The Northman

00:15:53.720 and now Nosferatu.

00:15:55.320 The only film he's not been in

00:15:56.500 was The Witch.

00:15:57.260 Let's talk about these films then.

00:15:59.080 So Eggers' sort of filmography

00:16:00.980 is The Witch was released in 2015.

00:16:03.660 The Lighthouse in 2019

00:16:05.080 and The Northman in 2022.

00:16:07.600 And I think it's worth

00:16:08.300 just talking briefly

00:16:09.340 about those films

00:16:10.440 because I think my favourite

00:16:13.620 out of all of Eggers' films

00:16:15.340 is The Lighthouse.

00:16:17.000 I'd have to agree with you there.

00:16:18.720 The Lighthouse,

00:16:19.960 for what it's aiming for,

00:16:21.680 is perfect.

00:16:23.100 In every detail of that film,

00:16:25.400 you can tell

00:16:25.960 that it's the work

00:16:27.480 of a genius, artsy mind.

00:16:30.280 It's not the sort of film

00:16:31.200 that appeals to many people.

00:16:33.100 I've shown it to friends.

00:16:34.460 I got my family to watch it.

00:16:36.340 They all came out

00:16:37.060 of the other end of it

00:16:37.960 disgusted and horrified

00:16:39.620 that I got them

00:16:40.440 to sit through it.

00:16:41.720 But I think it's a masterpiece.

00:16:44.280 So do I, yeah.

00:16:45.060 I think everything about it

00:16:47.540 was done well.

00:16:48.360 The fact that he used

00:16:49.580 the sort of film

00:16:50.880 that was authentic

00:16:51.500 to the time he was trying

00:16:52.400 to set it in,

00:16:53.160 the aspect ratio.

00:16:54.220 He got,

00:16:55.920 the dialogue

00:16:56.940 was actually taken

00:16:58.440 from old Lighthouse Keepers

00:17:00.520 journals

00:17:01.220 and things like that.

00:17:03.520 And he'd read

00:17:04.600 lots and lots

00:17:05.620 of period appropriate things

00:17:07.360 to make sure

00:17:08.300 there were no

00:17:09.440 anachronistic things

00:17:10.540 that stuck out.

00:17:11.700 He also got two good actors

00:17:12.900 in Willem Dafoe

00:17:14.020 and Robert Pattinson,

00:17:16.300 of course,

00:17:16.720 known for the Twilight films.

00:17:18.640 But he's much more than that.

00:17:20.080 He's actually

00:17:20.420 a very solid actor.

00:17:21.500 He's an excellent actor

00:17:22.900 when you get in

00:17:23.460 with the right director

00:17:24.320 in the right role

00:17:25.320 and the Lighthouse

00:17:26.220 was a standout performance

00:17:27.660 for him

00:17:28.060 and for Willem Dafoe

00:17:29.400 as well.

00:17:30.280 Both of them, yeah.

00:17:31.240 And you can see why

00:17:32.240 after you starred

00:17:33.000 in something like that

00:17:34.220 with that director

00:17:34.980 you'd go,

00:17:35.520 all right,

00:17:35.760 this guy's got

00:17:36.760 a visionary eye

00:17:37.640 and I want to work

00:17:39.020 with him more.

00:17:39.520 If it means I get to do

00:17:40.420 more performances like this,

00:17:41.820 more excellent character

00:17:42.800 work like this.

00:17:43.760 Because outside of anything else

00:17:45.280 you can say about

00:17:45.900 the Lighthouse,

00:17:46.740 which is,

00:17:47.800 for how claustrophobic

00:17:49.840 and small scale it is,

00:17:51.360 it's also very expansive

00:17:52.760 in the interpretations

00:17:53.820 and themes

00:17:54.460 that you can glean from it.

00:17:55.620 I've even seen

00:17:56.240 some interpretations

00:17:57.120 which I would

00:17:57.980 quite agree with

00:17:59.100 is that it's a stealth

00:18:00.120 retelling of the myth

00:18:01.200 of Prometheus.

00:18:03.420 I've seen that one as well.

00:18:04.820 Where Robert Pattinson

00:18:06.540 is trying to

00:18:07.680 steal fire

00:18:09.160 represented by the light

00:18:10.420 at the top of the lighthouse

00:18:11.520 for the sake of

00:18:13.120 expanding man's knowledge

00:18:14.300 and he's being guarded

00:18:15.260 from it by Willem Dafoe

00:18:16.580 who's representing

00:18:17.300 the rest of the pantheon,

00:18:19.440 Poseidon in particular.

00:18:20.620 There are a few scenes

00:18:22.160 that are explicit

00:18:23.420 nods to Greek mythology.

00:18:26.960 And the last shot

00:18:28.140 of the entire film

00:18:29.020 where Pattinson's

00:18:29.800 getting his guts

00:18:30.780 eaten out by the crows.

00:18:33.120 Sorry if you wanted

00:18:34.020 to watch the film.

00:18:35.520 Well, you know,

00:18:36.420 I imagine

00:18:37.380 there's a lot,

00:18:39.000 there's still a lot more

00:18:40.060 to the film

00:18:41.080 if you want to watch it.

00:18:42.740 Even if you know

00:18:42.860 what happens,

00:18:43.480 it's one of those films

00:18:44.180 where if you watch it

00:18:45.760 knowing what happens,

00:18:47.620 you're still in

00:18:48.400 for a wild ride

00:18:49.940 and a good time.

00:18:50.960 Yeah.

00:18:52.040 So, you know,

00:18:52.900 I love The Lighthouse.

00:18:54.400 After that,

00:18:56.120 I'm trying to think

00:18:56.800 of how I would rank

00:18:57.680 his films.

00:18:58.680 I'd probably put

00:18:59.720 The Northman

00:19:00.360 as my second favourite

00:19:01.780 of his

00:19:02.780 because, again,

00:19:04.280 with his

00:19:04.800 eye for period detail

00:19:06.480 and his respect

00:19:07.480 for history,

00:19:08.140 I would say

00:19:09.180 that Robert Eggers

00:19:10.200 is the only

00:19:12.240 reactionary filmmaker

00:19:13.660 in Hollywood

00:19:14.420 and he's gone

00:19:15.180 in interviews

00:19:15.780 to basically

00:19:17.840 say it as politely

00:19:19.020 as possible.

00:19:20.880 You'll notice

00:19:21.580 a lot of his films

00:19:22.600 have no diversity

00:19:23.920 in them whatsoever

00:19:24.960 and he seems

00:19:25.860 to choose period pieces

00:19:27.100 that he would

00:19:27.920 be able to say,

00:19:29.160 well, I'm respecting

00:19:29.900 the history

00:19:31.460 and the perspectives

00:19:32.460 of the people

00:19:33.080 at the time.

00:19:33.760 The Northman

00:19:34.220 is a great example

00:19:35.040 of that.

00:19:35.520 It is brutal.

00:19:36.680 It is uncompromising.

00:19:38.400 The main character

00:19:39.100 Amleth,

00:19:39.740 because it's retelling

00:19:40.420 the story of Amleth,

00:19:41.660 which was an old saga

00:19:42.660 that was later adapted

00:19:44.000 by Shakespeare

00:19:44.680 into Hamlet,

00:19:46.240 it takes these characters

00:19:48.360 who are completely

00:19:49.380 unpalatable

00:19:50.040 to a modern mindset

00:19:51.060 or modern Christian morality

00:19:52.340 and shows them

00:19:53.300 on their own terms.

00:19:54.940 He doesn't necessarily

00:19:56.420 dress up.

00:19:58.140 A lot of portrayals

00:19:59.400 of Vikings

00:19:59.960 are normally

00:20:01.480 trying to make you

00:20:02.680 sympathise with people

00:20:03.580 and take sides.

00:20:04.360 I'm thinking of a lot

00:20:05.000 of the TV series

00:20:06.100 that have been

00:20:07.100 inundating

00:20:07.940 things like that.

00:20:09.300 I've never watched it.

00:20:10.700 Or,

00:20:11.140 what's it called?

00:20:13.020 The one with

00:20:13.700 Uhtred Ragnus

00:20:14.700 and that one.

00:20:15.900 Is that not

00:20:16.960 Kingdom?

00:20:17.500 Oh, I've not watched it.

00:20:18.520 Anyway,

00:20:18.960 all of those,

00:20:20.860 I think,

00:20:21.700 they don't have

00:20:22.660 enough respect

00:20:23.220 for the history of it,

00:20:24.400 whereas one of the

00:20:25.200 first scenes

00:20:26.200 is when they carry out

00:20:27.040 a raid

00:20:27.480 on a Russian village

00:20:29.420 and it portrays

00:20:31.760 the Vikings

00:20:32.340 for what they

00:20:33.200 actually did,

00:20:33.900 the raiding.

00:20:34.940 And it's awful.

00:20:36.100 It's a truly

00:20:36.860 awful thing.

00:20:38.300 And at one point,

00:20:40.240 you know,

00:20:40.460 the character

00:20:40.860 we're following

00:20:41.680 murdering men 0.98

00:20:45.220 like it's nothing. 0.98

00:20:46.680 And at one point,

00:20:48.020 he even

00:20:48.560 hits a man

00:20:50.340 off his horse 1.00

00:20:50.820 with an axe

00:20:51.380 and then while

00:20:51.920 he's on the ground,

00:20:52.760 bites his throat

00:20:53.420 out and howls 0.96

00:20:54.180 like a wolf.

00:20:54.900 And this is the guy

00:20:55.620 you're meant to

00:20:56.080 sympathise with

00:20:56.720 for the rest

00:20:57.100 of the film.

00:20:57.900 Yeah,

00:20:58.200 and also it shows

00:20:59.200 that his fellow

00:21:00.300 raiders

00:21:00.880 herding a load

00:21:02.360 of the women

00:21:02.820 and children

00:21:03.440 and the weak men

00:21:04.760 into a hut 0.97

00:21:05.540 and then burning 0.99

00:21:06.300 it down.

00:21:07.500 So it's uncompromising

00:21:08.840 in its portrayal

00:21:09.580 of what those

00:21:10.180 raids would have

00:21:11.240 looked like

00:21:11.860 and then of course

00:21:12.740 those who survive,

00:21:13.800 they take on

00:21:14.720 a load of the women 1.00

00:21:15.400 as slaves 0.94

00:21:16.580 to be sold off.

00:21:17.700 But what Eggers

00:21:18.520 does here

00:21:19.840 by visualising

00:21:20.880 these things

00:21:21.460 that did happen

00:21:22.340 in history

00:21:22.960 is it gives you

00:21:25.080 a means of thinking

00:21:26.020 about them

00:21:26.500 in a much more

00:21:27.260 human way.

00:21:28.080 It's not just

00:21:28.460 an abstraction

00:21:29.160 that oh this

00:21:29.960 thing happened.

00:21:31.180 Like one of the

00:21:32.500 things that I

00:21:33.420 re-watched that

00:21:34.300 raid scene

00:21:34.880 recently just

00:21:36.220 to sort of

00:21:37.380 prepare for this

00:21:38.160 and one of the

00:21:40.040 things that struck

00:21:40.520 me is that

00:21:41.340 well if you're

00:21:43.240 struggling to

00:21:43.880 survive

00:21:44.360 you're not

00:21:46.000 necessarily thinking

00:21:46.800 about morality

00:21:47.660 you're thinking

00:21:48.340 about how are

00:21:50.080 these things

00:21:50.520 useful to me

00:21:51.680 and so there's

00:21:53.120 a sort of

00:21:53.500 twisted logic to

00:21:54.440 everything the

00:21:54.880 Vikings do 1.00

00:21:55.480 because all

00:21:57.200 of it is

00:21:57.900 sort of

00:21:58.220 optimising

00:21:59.140 what is best

00:22:00.360 for me

00:22:00.880 and this is

00:22:02.840 an entirely

00:22:03.300 different way

00:22:04.020 of looking at

00:22:04.640 things.

00:22:05.200 It's not

00:22:05.480 they're not

00:22:06.420 thinking about

00:22:07.020 morality although

00:22:07.800 you know

00:22:08.440 by their own

00:22:09.260 morality it is

00:22:10.680 moral right.

00:22:11.320 well it's the

00:22:12.800 fact that it

00:22:13.420 can show you

00:22:14.380 scenes like

00:22:14.960 that and by

00:22:15.660 the end of

00:22:16.040 the film still

00:22:16.700 have you

00:22:17.200 rooting for

00:22:18.320 Amleth and

00:22:19.420 sympathising with

00:22:20.560 what he's going

00:22:21.240 through is the

00:22:22.400 sign of a very

00:22:23.000 very impressive

00:22:23.680 filmmaker who

00:22:24.760 really knows how

00:22:25.560 to tell these

00:22:26.180 stories.

00:22:27.340 Although the

00:22:28.480 witch what did

00:22:29.520 you think of

00:22:30.020 the witch? 0.88

00:22:31.060 I think the

00:22:31.520 witch was

00:22:32.040 actually one of

00:22:32.880 my favourites

00:22:33.540 I really liked

00:22:34.420 the whole

00:22:35.960 approach to the

00:22:36.740 film the theme

00:22:37.640 the pacing of

00:22:39.000 it I liked

00:22:40.620 the almost

00:22:43.300 mythological

00:22:44.480 approach to

00:22:45.500 portraying a

00:22:46.540 witch where

00:22:47.060 you don't really

00:22:47.820 see her that

00:22:49.560 much.

00:22:50.360 You see her very

00:22:50.900 early on in the

00:22:51.660 film.

00:22:52.060 You see her early

00:22:52.720 on in the film

00:22:53.360 but she doesn't

00:22:54.520 take up much

00:22:55.360 of the you know

00:22:56.540 many or much

00:22:58.780 of the run time

00:22:59.320 should I say

00:22:59.920 and also she

00:23:01.860 sort of changes

00:23:02.720 form a little

00:23:04.500 bit and it's

00:23:05.040 sort of even

00:23:06.620 though they

00:23:07.420 sort of give

00:23:08.380 you the money

00:23:08.780 shot and you 0.96

00:23:09.260 see the witch 0.63

00:23:10.180 early on

00:23:10.760 it's you

00:23:13.620 kind of don't

00:23:14.840 feel like it's

00:23:15.400 been spoiled

00:23:15.880 because also

00:23:17.100 she's you see

00:23:19.280 this horrible 0.94

00:23:19.680 old woman then 0.92

00:23:20.280 you see this

00:23:20.720 young woman and

00:23:22.060 it's because of

00:23:22.960 the magic she's

00:23:23.700 used.

00:23:24.400 If nothing else

00:23:25.480 the witch is 0.53

00:23:26.100 interesting because

00:23:27.080 it does something

00:23:27.980 that Eggers likes

00:23:29.040 to do I've

00:23:30.580 seen even from

00:23:31.700 this film which

00:23:33.600 is as early as

00:23:34.580 possible let you

00:23:35.440 know that there

00:23:36.020 are dark forces

00:23:37.200 operating in

00:23:38.060 the world and

00:23:39.060 any sort of

00:23:39.720 rationalistic

00:23:40.400 explanations that

00:23:41.320 the characters

00:23:41.740 are giving

00:23:42.200 because in the

00:23:43.620 witch obviously

00:23:44.340 the rationalistic

00:23:46.400 explanation could

00:23:47.420 be that oh

00:23:48.120 well they're all

00:23:48.640 hallucinating because

00:23:50.060 of the fact that

00:23:50.740 they've got mold on

00:23:51.620 their crops.

00:23:52.720 No that's not

00:23:53.460 what's happening

00:23:53.980 there is a witch 0.91

00:23:54.820 playing with forces

00:23:55.800 behind the scenes

00:23:56.680 and everything that

00:23:57.780 they're trying to

00:23:58.540 do to prevent the

00:24:00.080 inevitable from

00:24:00.840 happening is futile

00:24:02.200 which if anything

00:24:03.060 makes the film just

00:24:04.300 that little bit more

00:24:05.200 horrific he doesn't

00:24:06.280 he doesn't play

00:24:07.220 with suspense in

00:24:08.200 the way that you

00:24:08.760 expect some

00:24:09.580 filmmakers to do

00:24:10.680 the suspense is the

00:24:11.940 more Hitchcockian

00:24:14.160 which is that you

00:24:15.380 know that something

00:24:16.260 is you the audience

00:24:17.400 know what's wrong

00:24:18.240 the characters don't

00:24:19.900 yet so you are

00:24:21.660 subject to more

00:24:23.020 knowledge than they

00:24:23.800 are which can add

00:24:24.900 to the suspense.

00:24:26.580 Yeah I do agree.

00:24:28.800 I think the witch was 0.96

00:24:30.660 a really interesting

00:24:31.460 debut for him.

00:24:32.840 he kind of exploded

00:24:33.760 onto the scene

00:24:34.560 with that and it

00:24:36.260 set up his love

00:24:37.960 for the period

00:24:38.820 accurate dialogue

00:24:40.180 because really I'd

00:24:41.440 say it's that and

00:24:42.820 the lighthouse which

00:24:44.480 has the most period

00:24:46.300 accurate dialogue in

00:24:47.160 it and I'd say the

00:24:47.880 witch is the most 0.96

00:24:48.660 impressive because

00:24:49.360 it's going back to

00:24:50.000 the late 17th century

00:24:51.320 and it took me a few

00:24:53.400 watches to really get

00:24:54.860 to grips with what

00:24:55.660 the characters were

00:24:56.280 even saying and to

00:24:57.660 be able to get child

00:24:58.840 actors multiple child

00:25:00.460 actors to convincingly

00:25:02.220 give performances

00:25:03.060 while delivering that

00:25:04.120 dialect is insane.

00:25:06.820 I also thought the

00:25:07.580 attention to detail

00:25:08.440 in that they all have

00:25:09.400 a sort of northern

00:25:10.680 almost Mancunian

00:25:11.820 accent don't they

00:25:12.740 when they're talking

00:25:13.500 but a sort of

00:25:14.800 archaic one and that

00:25:16.160 attention to detail

00:25:17.040 where you know only a

00:25:18.840 handful of English

00:25:20.020 people watching would

00:25:20.980 be like oh that

00:25:22.320 sounds really

00:25:23.160 authentic.

00:25:24.220 Clickety clackety.

00:25:25.800 Mercy.

00:25:26.420 Clickety clackety.

00:25:27.160 Clickety clackety.

00:25:27.840 Quiet for now just to

00:25:29.000 rock.

00:25:29.520 I be washing father's 0.88

00:25:30.540 clothes like a slave

00:25:31.300 and now I'm playing

00:25:32.060 idol.

00:25:32.640 Because mother hates 0.98

00:25:33.560 you. 0.99

00:25:34.020 Spoiled child.

00:25:35.520 Tell mother you have

00:25:36.160 left the farm alone.

00:25:37.380 Blackfield says I can

00:25:38.420 do what I like.

00:25:39.140 Devil take your back 1.00

00:25:40.100 Philip.

00:25:40.880 Sure thought I can't

00:25:41.700 leave the yard.

00:25:43.000 I could go to the

00:25:43.700 brook before you let 0.96

00:25:44.700 the witch take Sam. 0.71

00:25:46.000 But if I had to rank

00:25:47.800 the films I'd probably

00:25:48.880 put Lighthouse number

00:25:50.420 one probably Nosferatu

00:25:53.940 second purely for the

00:25:56.380 visual aspect of it

00:25:58.000 I'll get into why I

00:26:00.620 think there are things

00:26:01.480 that prevent it from

00:26:02.600 being top. 0.68

00:26:03.780 Then the witch and 0.88

00:26:04.820 then finally the 0.66

00:26:05.680 Northman.

00:26:06.640 You'd put the

00:26:07.180 Northman last.

00:26:08.460 It's that lack of

00:26:09.800 lack of Germanic

00:26:11.180 admixture in you

00:26:12.160 clearly.

00:26:13.060 It sets you off.

00:26:14.540 All you see is the

00:26:15.720 Viking raiders

00:26:16.620 assaulting your

00:26:17.980 ancestors where I see

00:26:19.760 my ancestors assaulting

00:26:21.200 your ancestors.

00:26:22.260 I don't know what it

00:26:22.780 was.

00:26:23.080 I think it was more

00:26:24.620 the plot than

00:26:27.000 anything else.

00:26:27.840 I would have thought

00:26:29.740 that a film about

00:26:30.520 Vikings directed by

00:26:31.640 Robert Eggers would be

00:26:32.800 by far my favourite

00:26:34.000 because it would

00:26:34.600 appeal to me the

00:26:35.520 most.

00:26:36.340 However I felt

00:26:38.580 throughout the whole

00:26:39.540 film that things

00:26:41.260 weren't resolving in a

00:26:42.520 way that I found

00:26:43.360 satisfying.

00:26:43.980 That doesn't mean

00:26:44.540 they didn't hold

00:26:45.920 hands and it was

00:26:46.500 happily ever after.

00:26:47.820 It means that I

00:26:49.700 just wasn't as

00:26:51.520 emotionally satisfied

00:26:54.280 by what happened

00:26:56.000 in the film as

00:26:57.540 lots of other

00:26:58.020 things.

00:26:58.600 I had a different

00:26:59.520 experience whereas I

00:27:00.340 found the end of it

00:27:01.940 very very satisfying

00:27:03.560 because Amleth is

00:27:05.300 going out on his

00:27:06.040 own terms.

00:27:06.840 He's sticking to his

00:27:09.080 own code of honour

00:27:10.300 while also ensuring

00:27:11.700 the safety of his

00:27:13.020 descendants where

00:27:14.020 Anya Taylor-Joy is

00:27:14.940 going off because

00:27:15.460 she's pregnant with 1.00

00:27:16.080 his children and he

00:27:17.160 gets to see a little

00:27:17.940 bit of a glimpse of

00:27:18.640 the future where his

00:27:19.480 children will be

00:27:20.400 rulers.

00:27:21.520 going on and him

00:27:23.600 being carried off by

00:27:24.420 the Valkyrie at the

00:27:25.680 end.

00:27:25.900 I found all of that

00:27:26.900 very satisfying.

00:27:28.440 I can understand if

00:27:29.040 it didn't hit you

00:27:29.560 emotionally but maybe

00:27:31.680 it's just because it

00:27:33.020 was so heavy metal

00:27:34.000 there was a kind of

00:27:35.220 fist-pumping

00:27:36.160 awesomeness to it

00:27:37.440 really appealed to me.

00:27:39.480 I don't want people to

00:27:40.440 think that I didn't

00:27:41.140 like the Northmen.

00:27:42.020 The action scenes in

00:27:43.220 it are my favourite

00:27:44.460 out of all of

00:27:45.280 Eggers' sort of more 0.99

00:27:46.760 involved things.

00:27:48.820 It's got, I mean,

00:27:49.940 again, the raid scene

00:27:50.920 alone has some

00:27:51.580 awesome shots in it

00:27:52.440 even if it is brutal.

00:27:53.760 So I would rank them.

00:27:55.320 I'd go Lighthouse

00:27:56.220 number one as well.

00:27:57.280 Number two, I'd go

00:27:58.260 the Northmen.

00:27:59.480 Number three, I'd go

00:28:01.000 Nosferatu.

00:28:02.360 And then number four,

00:28:03.200 I'd go the Witch.

00:28:04.160 I really respect the

00:28:05.800 Witch as a tense,

00:28:07.720 period-accurate experience.

00:28:10.060 It just does not have,

00:28:11.840 maybe it's because of

00:28:13.300 the strange dialect

00:28:14.180 that they're using.

00:28:15.060 the character's dynamics

00:28:18.260 don't have the same

00:28:19.800 emotional impact to me

00:28:21.340 as the other films

00:28:22.400 that he's made.

00:28:22.860 It's still an excellent

00:28:24.040 film, still like an

00:28:24.780 8.5 out of 10 for me,

00:28:26.600 and that's my least

00:28:27.480 favourite of his,

00:28:28.740 but I prefer the other

00:28:30.480 ones that he's done

00:28:31.220 since then.

00:28:31.700 I think because I had

00:28:32.440 no problem understanding

00:28:33.580 the dialogue,

00:28:35.060 because I basically

00:28:36.400 grew up reading old

00:28:37.780 literature, like the

00:28:38.960 19th century is

00:28:39.900 basically modern to me

00:28:40.960 by the time I was a

00:28:44.220 teenager.

00:28:44.440 Where have you put

00:28:44.860 your fedora, Josh?

00:28:46.040 I'm sure you need to

00:28:46.940 tip it somewhere,

00:28:47.720 don't you?

00:28:48.220 It's not a fedora

00:28:49.240 tipping moment.

00:28:50.080 It's credit to my

00:28:50.920 parents.

00:28:51.480 I didn't do this.

00:28:53.100 It was just that they

00:28:54.820 were trying to introduce

00:28:55.600 me to some higher

00:28:57.380 culture.

00:28:58.000 Classics.

00:28:59.220 Yeah.

00:29:00.080 But it's one of those

00:29:01.160 ones that is

00:29:01.860 inaccessible, and I've

00:29:02.840 watched it with people

00:29:03.620 who speak English as a

00:29:05.880 second language, and

00:29:07.100 they really struggled.

00:29:08.060 They had to have

00:29:08.600 subtitles on.

00:29:10.640 Yeah.

00:29:11.340 It also sets up one of

00:29:12.900 my new favourite,

00:29:13.760 Robert Eggers' character

00:29:15.580 trope, which is that in

00:29:17.200 every film of his,

00:29:18.320 except for The

00:29:20.200 Lighthouse, because

00:29:20.980 there are no children

00:29:21.840 in it, there is brutal

00:29:24.120 murdering child scenes.

00:29:27.180 Children die brutally in

00:29:28.860 almost all of his films.

00:29:30.500 There are three things

00:29:31.640 you need to know about

00:29:32.320 Robert Eggers.

00:29:33.160 His films will include

00:29:34.380 almost autistically

00:29:36.840 researched portrayals of

00:29:39.520 history, child murder, 0.97

00:29:41.820 and tits. 1.00

00:29:44.760 And you ask us why he's 0.98

00:29:46.180 our favourite.

00:29:46.680 Also, basically, no

00:29:47.860 diversity.

00:29:48.900 That's true, yeah.

00:29:49.940 Whatsoever.

00:29:50.740 I believe in Nosferatu,

00:29:53.120 there is one diverse man

00:29:55.240 who shows up for a grand

00:29:56.480 total of two shots,

00:29:58.380 lasting in total about

00:30:00.040 15 seconds, which I found

00:30:02.940 weird, but did not take me

00:30:04.280 out of the film at all.

00:30:05.260 And outside of that, the

00:30:06.220 most diversity is there's a 0.99

00:30:07.360 bunch of filthy gypsies in it, 1.00

00:30:09.700 which is accurate to the 0.99

00:30:11.100 original story as well.

00:30:12.720 Although, to be fair,

00:30:13.940 they're actually correct in

00:30:15.660 what they're doing in the

00:30:16.600 film.

00:30:17.020 If you would like to see

00:30:17.800 the full version of this

00:30:18.860 premium video, please head

00:30:20.200 over to lotuseaters.com and

00:30:21.980 subscribe to gain full

00:30:23.060 access to all of our

00:30:24.280 premium content.

00:30:25.160 music

00:30:32.320 music

The Podcast of the Lotus Eaters - January 25, 2025

PREVIEW： An Analysis of Nosferatu (2024)

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