Directed by Kevin Kopacka and released in 2021, this film is a little bit special. German language it has a feel (in photography) of something from the seventies and, indeed, so does the poster I have put with this article. By that I mean in a wonderfully nostalgic way and this was clearly the aim.
A castle opens the film and we hear a woman speaking asking how long (the man she’s speaking to) thinks they’ve been there. The scene cuts to a car driven by Dieter (Frederik von Lüttichau) with his wife Margot (Luisa Taraz) as the passenger. They are going to the castle, which Margot has inherited. From the get go we feel Dieter is awful, arrogant and misogynistic, with Margot long suffering. She comes from money, we later hear, and part of his behaviour might be ego compensating for relying on her for handouts – though he still takes them, of course.
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| Dieter and Margot |
He insists at looking at the castle in the dark, before they go to the hotel and it is not long before the film develops an uncanny atmosphere with figures half seen (the woman who spoke at the head of the film and her companion) and strangeness occurring. They become stuck at the castle and the relationship devolves, with moments of physical abuse (he finds a whip) but with her discovering an inner assertiveness. Then, just under half way through, the film changes entirely – and I won’t spoil that.
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| fangs |
However, we do get, just before the change, a sexual reconciliation that turns into her deliberately physically injuring him. As she does that, we also see that she has developed vampire fangs – it is a moment of symbolism (so, at best, acting as a vampire) and very fleeting but she is definitely meant to be portrayed as a vampire in that moment. However, for the rest of the film... well no further spoilers but it is recommended for those who like a slice of arthouse with their genre films. The film is, I feel, a love letter to Bava with a strong psychosexual element.
Dawn Breaks Behind the Eyes is on UK cinema release from 2nd December 2022 and for home purchase in February 2023.
The imdb page is here.
On Demand @ Amazon US
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