If I tell you there's a Canadian ballet version of Dracula, you may feel that it's not for you. This, I think, would be a pity. Director Guy Maddin's take on the Royal Winnipeg Ballet's adaptation is not only very entertaining to the non-ballet type (such as me) but also stays remarkably faithful to Stoker's novel. It's not for everyone, but what is? As horror goes this is as un-generic, yet truly Gothic, as you can get.
The story begins with Lucy Westenra (the statuesque Tara Birtwhistle) and her three suitors. Her decision to wed the English milord coincides with the scream of Renfield at the nearby Whitby asylum - the Master is coming! With minimal ado Dracula (Zhang Wei-Quiang) appears and pounces on Lucy. Maddin's monochrome, silent movie approach allows some clever technical tricks, such as highlighting the puncture wounds in red. Lucy's behaviour becomes a bit strange, and Van Helsing is summoned. Cue the garlic and the (amazingly reckless, for the time) blood transfusions.
The story proceeds much as the stage version of Dracula, with Lucy's death, unholy resurrection as the Bloofer Lady, and her destruction by Van Helsing's scratch anti-vampire squad. Because female dancers must be foregrounded (ballet, duh) we get a splendid showdown in the crypt between the men and vampire-Lucy. The actual killing, complete with decapitation, is shockingly effective. I suspect Carmilla was on somebody's bedside table.
Van Helsing and his boys set out to hunt Dracula down, and seek out Mina and Jonathan Harker at the convent near a certain castle. Mina finds her fiance ill but recovering, and reads his diary. Harker has encountered Dracula's brides. The film's frequent and often quirky inter-titles sum this up with the word FLESHPOTS! Mina takes news of her man's antics with aplomb, but he seems to have problems with the whole sex thing. While he is dithering, Dracula strikes, and whisks Mina off to his abode.
The final showdown is well-handled, with nods to various traditions, notably the Hammer 'get him in the sunlight, he won't like it' school. But it is clearly not the menfolk who truly vanquish the count. CindyMarie Small's Mina is the 'good girl', in obvious contrast to Lucy's sensuality, but in the end it is her strength that wins through. Dracula ends up impaled on a spear - a neat reference to old Vlad Tepes, of course.
This is a short film (only 74 mins) and one with a light touch. There are grim gags aplenty, especially from Van Helsing and poor old Renfield. Admittedly it takes a few liberties and shoves all that Victorian subtext about sex and foreigners front and centre as raw text. But the story never flags, and while Maddin's editing is a tad frantic at times, he clearly took pleasure in his work. This is a clever, attractive, good-humoured version of Dracula. It cost a tiny fraction of Coppola's, yet I can't help feeling it drives its stake closer to the heart of the monster.
2 comments:
Excellent review. You couldn't drag me to see a ballet but I purchased this one sight unseen because Guy Maddin had directed it. I was not disappointed. Beautiful filmmaking and with Mahler's music, what's not to love. Not your typical Dracula but infinitely a lot better than what's been coming out of Hollywood lately and far more imaginative.
I forgot to add that, save for a couple of questionable remarks, Guy Maddin's commentary on the dvd is amusing to listen to.
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