Bram Stoker's Dracula (1992)

USA
directed by: Francis Ford Coppola
written by: James V. Hart + Bram Stoker (book)
starring: Gary Oldman, Winona Ryder, Sadie Frost, Keanu Reeves
commented on 11th November, 2014

When I was thirteen and under the influence of Agatha Christie's detective story Five Little Pigs (you read that right), I began to write a novella about a vampire girl unable to convince her terminally ill, dying lover to become a vampire as well to share their immortal love forever. I felt I was not mature enough at the time to come up with a satisfying ending and the story remained unfinished. Some years later I read Dracula and realized two things a) life without end lacks sense (and therefore only the weak and cowardly desire immortality) and b) true, fated love (whether as an ideal or an actual relationship) is not possible without fidelity/loyalty.

Francis Ford endowed his adaptation only with a). (But thank the gods for that, because the world becomes more and more flooded with vampire stories that fail to understand even that.) He took fated love as the driving force of his story, but did not hold fidelity/loyalty (I can't decide which word suits my intentions better) closely to his story's heart. The closest he comes to it is when he mocks it sarcastically through Van Helsing. The result is a film about men understanding neither love, nor women. And we will never know if women understand some things, because they live in a world usurped by men. However, Keanu lets Winona leave and act on her own in the very end, suggesting a hope that this might change.

At least the director tackles things with a sense of humor and it is amusing to watch him have the rational and irractional fight in vain. Naturally, the thing I liked the most was Gary and all his incarnations (and the green mist and a bat monster most of all). The fight for Miss Lucy's soul was visually stunning. Mina getting to know The Count has its moments (they caress a wild wolf together, oh my), but I can't watch it without thinking that she's betraying Jonathan and that he is diluting his feelings by pursuing multiple women, which makes the love somewhat invalid in my eyes. I loved the primal animal growling sounds coming from the throats of comely maidens. As The Count says: "There is much to be learned from beasts." But still, my eyes are more intrigued than my heart.

P.S.: And I forgot my ears! Wojciech Kilar!