‘Das Cabinet des Dr. Caligari’ directed by Robert Wiene shows a perfect insight into the birth of modern horror in film. Whilst there had been examples of horror in both literature and film before this, Wiene shifted and moved this genre further into his own vision. The piece is twisted and warped from start to finish making the viewer question reality and sanity. The piece opens with a man called Francis, as he tells the unlikely set of events that took place in the town of Holstenwall during the annual carnival. As Francis begins to explain, the viewers focus is shifted back in time, where they are introduced to Dr. Caligari and the enigmatic somnambulist Cesare, who predicts that Francis’ friend Alan will be dead by the morning. This leads to a murder, kidnapping and a series of strange events that leave the viewer to question if any of these things really happened, or if it was just a figment of Francis’ imagination. As Roger Ebert explains in his review, “Caligari creates a mindscape, a subjective psychological fantasy. In this world, unspeakable horror becomes possible.” (Ebert,2009). The film is very much about a world that looks as if it had been taken from a nightmare.
 |
| Fig. 1. The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari poster. |
There are many different elements and film techniques that have been used throughout The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari to fit to the theme, creating tension and suspense. The heavy makeup to exaggerate the actor’s facial expressions plays a large role as there is no speech due to the film being produced in 1920. Although there is text to inform the audience, their facial expressions are saying what they cannot. For example, Cesare’s makeup elongates and highlights certain parts of his face to emphasise the idea that he is drastically different to the other people around him. As the film is silent, the music creates the mood throughout, building tension. Every character has a distinctive costume to show the viewer exactly who they are without introduction. For example, Cesare wears tight fitting clothes that are all black, which accentuates his long limbs and emphasises the idea that he is strange and un-human like. In contrast, the female lead (Jane) wears mainly white flowing garments through-out which give a soft and ethereal glow around her, representing her purity and femininity. This is typical for female characters of this time, although she is presented in this way, Jane is still an object with no free will of her own. Each character’s costume clearly shows who they are, their status and their physicality.“Cesare is first glimpsed as a life-sized drawing outside Caligari’s tent at the local carnival, which makes a caricature of Veidt’s slender face, to the extent that his cheeks are exaggeratedly shrunken in, perpetuating an effeminate stereotype indicative of photographic, physiognomic depiction. Cesare’s face is feminized because he’s merely a vessel for Caligari’s hegemonic control.” (Dillard, 2014). Clayton Dillard gives a perfect example of how the actors physicality can have an effect on the entire tone of a scene. Fig.1. is of a poster depicting Cesare as he kidnaps Jane. His face is slim and creature like again showing that inhuman aspect to him.
 |
| Fig. 2. Still of Francis and Jane. |
The set is something that plays a key role in making this film look so warped. All of the streets and walls are at angles and create shapes that almost look like shards of glass. Painted lines have also been used to intensify this. The windows and doors are all misshapen and resemble cubist and surrealist paintings of the time. Lines have also been used on the ground and upstairs to establish a longer visual distance, when in fact limited space would have caused set designers to create these optical illusions. This technique was also used when the characters were outside, walking down a long road. However, Wiene has used many of these technical aspects in a non-traditional way to play with the viewers perception. The establishing shot of the town shows the fairground as a backdrop, however they are all jumbled together to create a space with no conventional structure. During the scenes in the asylum, there is a duality, from when Caligari is there, to when Francis is there. There are subtle changes to the set (e.g. the paintings on the walls) which make the viewer question if Francis is the insane one, and not the people around him. He over exaggerates when explaining the asylum, which becomes dull and muted when he is taken there.
The leaning walls are nightmarish and look as if they are being pushed and pulled out of frame. Only someone going insane could make up such place. The streets are also tight and claustrophobic like cell walls. The lighting also creates these long eerie shadows that bring out the sharp distorted edges. However, some characters are an exception to this. In Jane’s room, all of the walls are upright with soft edges and lots of light. Towards the end of the piece, before Francis is taken away, the set is circular, and stripes have been painted on the ground to mimic the circus which was featured at the beginning of the film. This gives a circular motion to the film, reiterating the idea of insanity.“The film draws on the eerie, occult experience of early cinema itself, whose flickering ghostly images – such as Caligari's cabinet, and all kinds of fashionable table-rapping and fortune-telling – were often to be presented in fairground tents...” (Bradshaw, 2014)
 |
| Fig. 3. Still of Dr. Caligari. |
It is clear from the start that The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari has had a major influence on not only horror, but all modern cinema. It challenges many social norms including a focus on a character who is going insane (mental health issues being a taboo subject still to this day), as well as creating characters that an audience of this time would not have been used to, like the somnambulist Cesare. Tim Burton seems to have taken inspiration from Wiene in both his films and animated work, keeping the stylised costumes, makeup and environment. Burton’s film The Nightmare Before Christmas has similar slanted buildings and warped structures throughout. Wiene has used environment to emphasise to the audience the dreamlike/nightmarish state that Francis is in. It demonstrates chaos and insanity through a traditional yet slightly distorted narrative. Michael Borah goes into detail in his review of the film about the many technical aspects used throughout,“The use of grey landscape, distorted set-geometry, chiaroscuro lighting, bizarre set design and obviousartificiality of the environment all reflect the directorvision of expressionism in the movie and it alsocontribute to the story-within-a-story narrative toenhance the overriding theme of The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari.”(Borah, 2018)
Illustration List:
-Wiene, R. (1920). Figure 1. The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari poster. http://www.openculture.com/2013/10/the-cabinet-of-dr-caligari-see-the-restored-version.html
-Wiene, R. (1920). Figure 2. Still of Francis and Jane. https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/the-cabinet-of-dr-caligari-1920-t3ftwlp80
-Wiene, R. (1920). Figure 3. Still of Dr. Caligari. https://www.slantmagazine.com/film/the-cabinet-of-dr-caligari-1920/
Bibliography:
-Borah, M. (2018). Medium.com. https://medium.com/@michael.b_64216/thoughts-on-the-cabinet-of-dr-caligari-3c442e4248db
-Bradshaw, P. (2014). Theguardian.com. https://www.theguardian.com/film/2014/aug/28/the-cabinet-of-dr-caligari-film-review
-Dillard, C. (2014). Slantmagazine.com. https://www.slantmagazine.com/film/the-cabinet-of-dr-caligari-1920/
-Ebert, R. (2009). Rogerebert.com. https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/great-movie-the-cabinet-of-dr-caligari-1920
No comments:
Post a Comment