10/30/2006

The Vampire's In Us

Blood-sucking. Lust. Sexual inhibition and frustration. They've been in the movies ever since there were movies to talk about, in the French silents and the like. They're the most primitive, basic reason why we go to them, and the evolution of this exciting perversion is a fascinating thing to follow. For the blog-a-thon, I'd like to write a few sentences about one of my favorite films, one in which the vampiric component of film and audience is most shamelessly in evidence, and one of the most horrific works of art ever made.

Ingmar Bergman's Persona might seem at first like an odd, inadequate choice for a Halloween post, and the educated will tell you how it's one of the most complex works of psychology to be committed to celluloid. There's truth to the claim, to be sure, but ignoring the source of Persona's unabashed, terrible, passionate eroticism is to deny its basic essence.

The movie plays quite like a dream, but its ambiguity threatens to turn into nightmare. The tall, blonde, gorgeous Scandinavian talents Bibi Andersson and Liv Ullmann play the leading roles, a nurse (Alma) and an actress (Elisabeth), and the sensuality in their relationship is made evident from the get-go. Alone in an island, the horror of their isolation and loneliness is evaded by the two souls coming together, forming a strong friendship in which the nurse tells all, and the actress (apparently mute) listens. The two creatures, coming ever closer to each other, begin to look the same, feel the same, become the same.

In the most erotic movie scene ever shot, the nurse lets out all her deepest insecurities, fantasies, and memories. She tells the actress of a past encounter with two underage boys, and as she goes on about them touching her and her letting them touch her and relinquish herself to them, the ecstasy in her voice and intonation reaches an almost unbearable high, and so does our attachment to what happens.

The scene is followed by one just as iconic and memorable, as Elisabeth and Alma wander around a surreally lit bedroom as if they were vampires, and they join and become one before us. In love with the notion of being loved, Alma allows Elisabeth to enter her, and Elisabeth's shown in a vampiric fashion, as if sucking Alma's blood were a symbol of sexual consummation. Everything that follows is frustration, anger and vengeance in a relationship that has gone far too deep, in a desire to love and to be loved that will inevitably lead to character destruction. It's in this masterly sequence that the movie most clearly reveals its roots, and it turns us into vampires; we need the movie to fulfil us even as we recognize the impossibility of the wanted satisfaction: the film will leave us all too soon.

David Lynch would repeat the motions forty years later with Mulholland Drive, in which two actresses are driven to their deaths by success and frustration, following a closeness made up of intense desire and love. In the Lynch masterpiece, the sexual tension is built upon and it's consummated, only to leave us brutally devastated in the scenes that follow. In Bergman's, the act is figurative and brief, but it leaves just as great a mark.

And it's when these films are over, leaving us feeling rejected and in a state of exhilaration, that we get just how much there's to relish in, and lust after, the sinful condition of the deepest of confidantes, cinema.

For more vampires (or actual vampires for a change), go to the blog-a-thon headquarters.

14 Comments:

Jose said...

Hehehehe never thought about any of this before.
Seems like you got your writing gift back, awesome post!

5:52 PM  
JavierAG said...

Thank you! I had this idea and was afraid would be too ridiculous or out there, but it's how my mind works.

Your review of "Devil Wears Prada" = awesome. (And this comes from a total non-fan). You must review "Volver" asap.

6:10 PM  
JavierAG said...

I will be reviewing that soon, btw, I want to get my issues with it out there.

6:12 PM  
NATHANIEL R said...

today you are my hero, it's so fun to shoehorn ones personal obsessions into any given topic :)

me love Persona too.
me love it very much
takk skal du ha

9:39 PM  
Kamikaze Camel said...

How about a HELL YES! Love Persona. THat scene in the bedroom is magic.

Very interesting interpretation Javi!

1:25 AM  
Ali said...

What an exciting, original reading of the film, Javier. I never would have thought of Persona like this, but it makes total sense in your commentary: especially the description of the iconic scene in the bedroom.

I can't wait to see the film again now.

6:51 AM  
Anonymous said...

ACNE MEDICINE ONLINE

order accutane
WHAT IS ANTHELMINTICS
order Albenza
ANTIBACTERIAL MEDICINE & CARE
half-price amoxil
AMPICILLIN ONLINE
BUY AMPICILLIN
BUY CHEAP BACTRIM
order bactrim
NEW DRUGS & PILLS… SUPER-VIAGRA…
BUY CIALIS
BUY CIPRO ONLINE

cipro low-cost
BUY CHEAP DIFLUCAN ONLINE
BUY DIFLUCAN ONLINE

5:33 AM  
Anonymous said...

BUY CIALIS ONLINE
LOW-COST CIALIS & CHEAP VIAGRA
WHAT IS VIAGRA
ORDER VIAGRA ONLINE AND SAVE MORE THEN 60% of your MONEY...!!!

4:37 PM  
Anonymous said...

Hi all!
[url=http://www.gotitans.com/gochat/chat/images/smilies/toyota.html]toyota[/url]
[url=http://www.gotitans.com/gochat/chat/images/smilies/bentley-dierks.html]bentley dierks[/url]
[url=http://www.gotitans.com/gochat/chat/images/smilies/honda.html]honda[/url]
[url=http://www.gotitans.com/gochat/chat/images/smilies/lincoln.html]lincoln[/url]
[url=http://www.gotitans.com/gochat/chat/images/smilies/chrysler.html]chrysler[/url]
[url=http://www.gotitans.com/gochat/chat/images/smilies/chevrolet.html]chevrolet[/url]
[url=http://www.gotitans.com/gochat/chat/images/smilies/buick.html]buick[/url]
[url=http://www.gotitans.com/gochat/chat/images/smilies/mercury.html]mercury[/url]
[url=http://www.gotitans.com/gochat/chat/images/smilies/nissan.html]nissan[/url]
[url=http://www.gotitans.com/gochat/chat/images/smilies/ford.html]ford[/url]

11:37 PM  
Anonymous said...

Good day to everyone
[url=http://www.yagoda.pl/pgp/hotchkiss-co-real-estate.html]hotchkiss co real estate[/url]
[url=http://www.yagoda.pl/pgp/mazda.html]mazda[/url]
[url=http://www.yagoda.pl/pgp/citroen.html]citroen[/url]
[url=http://www.yagoda.pl/pgp/santana.html]santana[/url]
[url=http://www.yagoda.pl/pgp/ultima.html]ultima[/url]
[url=http://www.yagoda.pl/pgp/paige.html]paige[/url]
[url=http://www.yagoda.pl/pgp/humber-college.html]humber college[/url]
[url=http://www.yagoda.pl/pgp/mclaren.html]mclaren[/url]
[url=http://www.yagoda.pl/pgp/estate-real-speedwell-tn.html]estate real speedwell tn[/url]
[url=http://www.yagoda.pl/pgp/jennifer-hudson.html]jennifer hudson[/url]
[url=http://www.yagoda.pl/pgp/apollo.html]apollo[/url]
[url=http://www.yagoda.pl/pgp/climax.html]climax[/url]

6:10 AM  
Anonymous said...

Hi to everyone =)
[url=http://www.yagoda.pl/pgp/herrington-marmon.html]herrington marmon[/url]
[url=http://www.yagoda.pl/pgp/durant-kevin.html]durant kevin[/url]
[url=http://www.yagoda.pl/pgp/lagonda.html]lagonda[/url]
[url=http://www.yagoda.pl/pgp/geo.html]geo[/url]
[url=http://www.yagoda.pl/pgp/barnes-and-noble.html]barnes and noble[/url]
[url=http://www.yagoda.pl/pgp/international-harvester.html]international harvester[/url]
[url=http://www.yagoda.pl/pgp/edsel.html]edsel[/url]
[url=http://www.yagoda.pl/pgp/audi.html]audi[/url]
[url=http://www.yagoda.pl/pgp/abt.html]abt[/url]
[url=http://www.yagoda.pl/pgp/waltham.html]waltham[/url]
[url=http://www.yagoda.pl/pgp/gdt.html]gdt[/url]
[url=http://www.yagoda.pl/pgp/dc-design.html]dc design[/url]
[url=http://www.yagoda.pl/pgp/triumph.html]triumph[/url]
[url=http://www.yagoda.pl/pgp/faw.html]faw[/url]

3:22 PM  
Anonymous said...

Hi folks
[url=http://www.exoticdancewear.co.uk/images/linda/group-sex.html]group sex[/url]
[url=http://www.exoticdancewear.co.uk/images/linda/asian-girl.html]asian girl[/url]
[url=http://www.exoticdancewear.co.uk/images/linda/hardcore.html]hardcore[/url]
[url=http://www.exoticdancewear.co.uk/images/linda/lesbian.html]lesbian[/url]
[url=http://www.exoticdancewear.co.uk/images/linda/big-penis.html]big penis[/url]
[url=http://www.exoticdancewear.co.uk/images/linda/anal-sex.html]anal sex[/url]
[url=http://www.exoticdancewear.co.uk/images/linda/gay.html]gay[/url]
[url=http://www.exoticdancewear.co.uk/images/linda/big-pussy.html]big pussy[/url]
[url=http://www.exoticdancewear.co.uk/images/linda/ebony-porn.html]ebony porn[/url]
[url=http://www.exoticdancewear.co.uk/images/linda/amateur.html]amateur[/url]
[url=http://www.exoticdancewear.co.uk/images/linda/arab-sex.html]arab sex[/url]
[url=http://www.exoticdancewear.co.uk/images/linda/fetish.html]fetish[/url]
[url=http://www.exoticdancewear.co.uk/images/linda/anal.html]anal[/url]
[url=http://www.exoticdancewear.co.uk/images/linda/gay-anal.html]gay anal[/url]

4:11 AM  
Anonymous said...

TREATMENT IMPOTENCE
BUY CHEAP CIALIS & LOW-COST VIAGRA ONLINE...
WOMAN VIAGRA
BUY LOW-COST VIAGRA.DYSFUNCTION ERECTILE NEW MEDS
HALF-PRICE VIAGRA ! CHEAP LEVITRA
BUY CHEAP CIALIS ONLINE. LOW-PRICES ONLINE PHARMACY..!!
WOMAN VIAGRA
IMPOTENCE MEDICINE.BUY CHEAPEST VIAGRA
ACNE MEDICINE ONLINE
buy acctane
WHAT IS ANTHELMINTICS

what is Albenza ?
ANTIBACTERIAL MEDICINE & CARE
buy amoxil online
AMPICILLIN ONLINE
online ampicillin
BUY CHEAP BACTRIM

buy bactrin
NEW DRUGS & PILLS… SUPER-VIAGRA…
online cialis
BUY CIPRO ONLINE
cipo
BUY CHEAP DIFLUCAN ONLINE
BUY LOW-COST DIFLUCAN ONLINE
BUY CHEAP SUPER VIAGRA ONLINE AND SAVE 70 % OF MONEY...
BUY LOW-COST CIALIS ONLINE

DISCOVER CREDIT CARDS

8:08 AM  
Santiago Padilla said...

I have a site prescription acne medication
is new and I'd like recive any kind of comments, is related to prescription acne medication
match with your so any help is welcome. Thanks

6:04 PM  

Post a Comment

<< Home