Isabelle Adjani, Klaus Kinski
SEASON OF STARS: ISABELLE ADJANI
This screening is part of ’Season of Stars’ which aims to showcase and propel into the spotlight those unique actors/actresses that have graced our screens over the past century.
Jonathan Harker (Bruno Ganz), a real state agent, goes to Transylvania to visit the mysterious Count Dracula (Klaus Kinski) and formalize the purchase of a property in Wismar. Once Jonathan is caught under his evil spell, Dracula travels to Wismar where he meets the beautiful Lucy (Isabelle Adjani), Jonathan’s wife, while a plague spreads through the town, now ruled by death.
Herzog follows the structure of F. W. Murnau's famous Nosferatu (1922), one of the greatest of all silent films. That was based on Bram Stoker's 1897 novel Dracula.
ISABELLE ADJANI
Isabelle Adjani is one of the most prolific French actresses of all time. In a career that has spanned 45 years, Adjani is the only actress to have won five César Awards. As a young woman Adjani was chosen to play the lead role in Francois Truffaut's film The Story of Adela H. which brought her the recognition of critics and a nomination for an Oscar in 1976. She was lauded by the press who called her the greatest film personality since Jeanne Moreau, describing her acting talents as “prodigious”. She went on to become one of the most popular actresses in France. Werner Herzog’s 1979 remake of Nosferatu was similarly adored, with Roger Ebert’s describing the casting of Adjani one of his “masterstrokes” in the film. In 1981, Adjani won Best Actress for her unique performance in the cult horror film Possession by Andrzej Zulawski at Cannes Film Festival, which propelled her to international stardom in the realm of arthouse cinema.
During her film career, she would work with some of the most revered filmmakers including: Francois Truffaut, Roman Polanski, Andrzej Zulawski, Patrice Chereau, Andre Techine, Werner Herzog, James Ivory, Carlos Saura.
DIRECTOR: WERNER HERZOG
Starring: Isabelle Adjani, Klaus Kinski, Bruno Ganz
Music: Popol Vuh
Cinematograhy: Jörg Schmidt-Reitwein
Germany
1979
107 MINS
RATING – 18
Doors 7.00 PM
Film 7.30 PM
Incredible talented French actress Isabelle Adjani
“Nosferatu the Vampyre is at once a tribute to Murnau’s original and the golden age of German filmmaking and a musing on the vampire myth and the gothic tradition.”
“This is a pinnacle of horror cinema: atmospheric, rhapsodic and—especially in the slow-burn confrontations between Lucy and her otherworldly inamorato—achingly transcendent.”
“This is Herzog’s journey to the heart of darkness, a film that specifically echoes his earlier offerings The Enigma of Kaspar Hauser and his South American odyssey Aguirre, Wrath of God. ”
