Editor’s note: The following contains spoilers for Nosferatu.
Ideally, a remake should have a creative intent beyond recycling familiar IPs. 2024’sNosferatu, writer-directorRobert Eggers’ passion project, isn’t merelyhis love letterto directorF. W. Murnau’shaunting classic, or him suffusing a 1922 silent movie with all the bells and whistles of modernity’s cinematic advancements. It isn’t even just a decadent waking nightmare dripping withbreathtaking dread. It is all these things, but, taken as a whole,Eggers’ latest work is a transformative reflectionon Murnau’s unauthorized adaptation ofBram Stoker’sDraculanovel, combining a more logistical and malevolent plot, ancient vampire folklore,German Expressionism, and Gothic Romanticism into a cohesive tapestry.
Yet none ofEggers' alterationsare more transcendent than his crucial reframing of Ellen Hutter(Lily-Rose Depp). The Ellen from Murnau’s iteration (Greta Schröder) wields a thousand-yard stare, but she fulfills her socially required role rather than viscerally chafing against it: a wife whose purity makes her the perfect lure by which to defeat Count Orlok (Max Schreck), the grotesque embodiment ofSatanic evil. Enter Eggers' Ellen,Nosferatu’s protagonist and a tragic heroine crushed between the crosshairs of oppression and internalized hatred. This contemporary purpose and its resulting perspective — one as devastatingly keen as a fresh paper cut —revitalizes a familiar tale into a psychological manifesto. ThisNosferatu’s themes emerge even if viewers haven’t seenthe original, but you’re able to’t fully appreciate Eggers' complex web without context.
How Does Focusing on Ellen Improve ‘Nosferatu’s Story?
In the1922Nosferatu, Ellen’s melancholic episodes manifest as concern over her husband Thomas’s (Gustav von Wangenheim) well-being; likewise,her psychic abilities mostly benefit the imperiled Thomas. Neither provides satisfactory insight into Ellen herself. In Eggers’ update, Ellen’s bifurcated existence and her attunement to the supernatural facilitates the entire plot. It feels like a natural choice to make Ellen the protagonist. She possesses the most untapped potential, and the Gothic genre’s classic components — especially the unsettling dichotomy between cultural mores and our repressed shadow selves — naturally complement vampire mythology, whereall-consuming depravityand humanity’s unspoken desires meet.
Leave it to Eggers, however, to unflinchingly go for the throat. No longer does Mrs. Hutter intermittently appear just long enough to remind viewers of the patriarchal virtues threatened by Orlok’s imminent arrival. Instead, Eggers' established penchant for historical accuracy roots Ellen’s personhood andher affinity for the otherworldlywithin the same quasi-Victorian ethos as Stoker’s tale, when punishing women who dared to exhibit their complex psyche was an everyday procedure.Almost every man inflicts violence upon Ellen. According to Dr. Wilhelm Sievers (Ralph Ineson), her distress is womanly hysteria run unchecked and medicinally remediable via an overnight corset. Friedrich Harding (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) detests Ellen for inconveniencing his affluent comfort and shattering the artifice of his cruel masculinity. Even Thomas (Nicholas Hoult), Ellen’s devoted husband, initially sympathizes with his wife’s pain but can’t comprehend its intricacies.
How the Hell Did Nosferatu End Up in ‘SpongeBob SquarePants’?
Who knew Count Orlok was such a prankster?
Everything about Ellen’s differences and her resulting isolation is inseparable fromNosferatu’speriod setting. Before viewers meet Ellen as a profoundly depressed adult, we witness a lonely girl demonized by her father — a teenager desperate enough to beg the darkness for companionship. Orlok (Bill Skarsgård), an eternal predator who recognizes Ellen’s darker intricacies, seduces her with morbid praise and gentle pleasures before becoming yet another perpetrator of her lifelong violation. CountlessDraculaadaptations haveexpanded upon Stoker’s implicit sexuality, but although erotic,Nosferatuisn’t traditionally sexy.Ellen’s bloodcurdling scream for emotional and physical liberation transcendsNosferatu’s creative origins— but a movie of that era could barely suggest such things. Be it the 1830s or the 1920s, religious propaganda depicted women’s sexuality as abhorrent and dangerous. A corset can crush her lungs, but Ellen can’t be squeezed into anyone’s box, and Eggers' progressive tendencies fully realize her complexity.
‘Nosferatu’s Ellen Is a Complex and Relevant Heroine
Ellen’s layered circumstances lend themselves to how Ellen and Orlok’s gravitational pull holds simultaneous truths: namely, Ellen’s repression and the vampire as ametaphor for sexual assault. Orlok can be interpretedboth as Ellen’s self-professed shame and her neglected appetites— a carnal outlet for an aspect of her soul no one else understands, and her childhood abuser who constantly manipulates her agency. However, Ellen’s choices setNosferatuinto motion and carry its action through untilthat final frame. In Murnau’s film, Ellen sacrifices her body toOrlok’s depravity. Although the 2024 Ellen follows a similar trajectory, Eggers’ subversive framing makes all the difference.
Here, the empathetic Professor Von Franz (Willem Dafoe) respects Ellen’s intelligence, power, and right to make an informed choice. Ellen dies to save the man she loves, but she tenderly embraces the manifestation of her ambiguities and finally brings them into the warm light of cathartic acceptance.Nosferatuis always a tragedy, but in this sense,Ellen is both a victim and a victor— and the film itself is a love story between Ellen and herself.Eggers’Nosferatuachieves the potential Murnau’s original always contained, making his version a revelation. What better reason is there for a remake?
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In Nosferatu, a reclusive vampire’s presence disrupts a small European village, drawing an unsuspecting young couple into a battle against an ancient evil. As fear spreads, the villagers must confront the terrifying legend and their own beliefs, leading to suspenseful confrontations and chilling revelations.
