‘The vampire lovers” does escape its own banality. Once. And it’s a scene not in the story. Carmilla is trying to escape with a dying Laura. The Governess, previously vampirsed, crawls to the top of the stairs and begs Carmilla not to leave her. Carefully putting Emma (Laura) out of sight she rushes up stairs and finishes off the Governess. Enter the (handsome?)sword waving (hero?) as she descends.
Laura has seen her eating habits and is obviously disgusted and terrified. Carmilla is stranded, literally and figuratively between the satisfaction of her desire, the fact that she is disgusting to the person she loves, and the immanence of her own death.
Oh where was Lacan when we needed him. If desire can truly only be the desire for the desire of the other, then Carmilla is the loneliest person on the planet.
But that moment is brief and it soon passes.
I’m not sure if it’s Carmilla or Le Fanu who gets staked and beheaded in the film. He deserves so much better.
Herzog? Of course. (See previous Herzog post re “The definitive love scene”.)
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