Interview with the Vampire: The Vampire Chronicles (1994) Directed
by Neil Jordan (Spoilers)
This film was released nearly two decades after the publication of the novel by Anne Rice during a resurgent interest in the vampire genre was emerging. It became the highest grossing vampire film and it was the highest budgeted vampire film at the time. With a stellar cast of Brad Pitt, Tom Cruise, Antonio Banderas, Christian Slater and Kirtsten Dunst it is an erotic, visually stunning film and still a cult classic.
The vampire Louis (Pitt) narrates his tale
to the journalist (Slater) and the scene immediately changes to the exotic and
gothic setting of Louisiana. Louis, a human who mourns the loss of his family,
is attacked by the vampire Lestat (Cruise) In this scene, the vampire bites and
they fly up into the rigging of a ship, the events become fantastic and the
underscore Wagnerian.
The transformation scene of Louis is
almost dreamlike, as the audience is able to see what Louis can see with
his 'vampire eyes'. The colors are different, statues seem to move.
Now in a complicated relationship with a
companion Louis dislikes, he must feed on blood. Louis refuses to drink human
blood and drinks from rats instead. Lestat tries his best to convince Louis to
drink from humans but allows his friend to drink rats instead of letting him
starve.
Lestat transforms the little Claudia
(Dunst) into a vampire daughter for them, he did it so that Louis wouldn't
leave. Claudia connects more with Louis and sleeps in his coffin: 'she slept in
my coffin at first, curling her little fingers around my hair.' The scene shows
them nestled together.
Lestat enjoys feeding and killing men,
women and even children, Claudia shares the same hunger. She rejects her
'father' Lestat, she is so infuriated by her unending childhood that she kills
him.
Claudia loves Louis like a father and also
like a lover: 'Louis, my love, I was mortal till you gave me your immortal
kiss'. She whispers this to Louis.
Louis and Claudia flee to Paris where they
meet the Parisian coven of 'vampires pretending to be humans pretending to be
vampires.' This coven owns a 'Grand Gignol' like theatre called Le Theatre des
Vampires where they perform shows almost like a snuff movie today. Their leader
is Armand (Banderas).
Louis and Claudia watch a
performance where a young helpless woman is tormented and attacked despite her
pleading to an audience who think they are only actors. The woman is stripped,
Armand appears on stage and in a comforting mesmerizing tone says 'No pain'.
The woman surrenders and is somewhat 'devoured' by a horde of animalistic vampires.
The scene is pitiful but clearly portrays the activities of the Parisian coven.
The rest of the film becomes more dramatic
as Armand falls in love with Louis and Claudia senses it, she is ready to let
her 'father/lover' go if he makes a 'mother' for her, the doll shop owner
Madeleine. Unfortunately They are abducted by the coven and in a very
tragic scene, Claudia and Madeleine are executed, as they are burnt by the sun,
they embrace like a mother and daughter. Louis who was locked in a coffin and
freed by Armand, finds them as ash statues frozen in agony, as he touches them
they crumble to the floor like dust. This scene is quite shocking and it's
almost impossible to not feel the sorrow Louis feels.
The next scene is violent and gory as
Louis burns down the Theatre and cuts off any attacking vampires with a scythe,
ironically the scythe that the vampire actor Santiago was using in a previous
performance while portraying the angel of death.
Time goes on and Louis travels back to
America where he assimilates with 20th century life, seeing his first sunrise
on a big screen in a cinema.
I have watched this film countless times
and still love it, it's got gore, blood, violence and tragic moments. It is a a
good adaptation of Anne Rice's novel. Jordan incorporates the ideal elements to
a stunning Gothic film.
One happy vampire family
A 'performance' at the Theatre des Vampires in Paris
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