Film Review - The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari

Robert Wiene’s The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari has very distinctive appearances compared to the other contemporary films. The distinctive style of the film was mostly influenced by the German expressionist movement. The look of each scene describes the character by using various visual elements such as movements and lightings.


Firstly, the environment is noticeably unnatural, for example, the building in the town where the entire story takes place makes no sense. They are weirdly twisted or distorted which can be accepted as abnormal by audiences. Not only the buildings or artificial structures but the natural sets such as trees are also depicted in the same way.  However, the distorted and unrealistic surroundings in the film actually deliver the protagonists’ inner mind rather than disturbing performances. The way surroundings are depicted changes depending on situations or the main figure in the scene which emphasizes the characteristics and the character’s intention. Kolokoz(2009) points out that ‘Its complex and stylized visualization exactly represents the emotional disharmony of the characters, as well as human beings in general, and deliver the emphasized thematic message to the audience at the end of the film’ and ‘No matter how weird they and their world really are, we will keep following the story and getting ourselves involved into the film without tuning out.’ It means that the specific style of this film implies that people may never realize whether a person is truly normal or not.

Another distinctive characteristic of this film is the performance of the actors. As with most German expressionist films, the movement of the characters is extremely exaggerated. Lau, Y. (2017) explains that those jerky, dancelike way of movements makes characters seem more psychotic. Moreover, the grotesque, miserable facial expression which is the element can also be seen in expressionist paintings appears on face close-up scenes. This element plays a similar role as the motion of characters which emphasizes the characteristics and behaviors.

Finally, the lighting of the scenes also reflects the inner mind of protagonists. ‘Chiaroscuro technique’ which is a technique that projects low-key and sharp tone lights that create a huge contrast between light and shadow. In most scenes in the film, the dark identity of the protagonists including Dr Caligari and Cesare are represented by very sharp shadows on their face. This type of technique also functions as an indirect description of the characters, as well as other visual elements, mentioned earlier. Kolokoz(2009) wrote in his visual analysis that ‘Weine intended to signify literally these visual presentations to the anxiety, emotional disharmony or uncertainly terror of protagonists or those characters who take the role in the scene which were set in every scene symbolically to stream the expression of inner unstated mind of protagonists and other characters in film, and also to tell the message of story to the audience indirectly.’

Apparently, there are lots of expressionist techniques are used in this film such as distorted environments, exaggerated movements, and facial expressions, and unnatural lightings. All of these three elements play a huge role in delivering the mood of the scene and what the character is doing and its intention. Furthermore, they may deliver the main theme or message to audiences. Overall, the indirect visual narrativity of the scenes is very well presented utilizing various visual elements.







-References-

Kolokoz. (2009). The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari: German Expressionism – Visually and Thematically. [online] Available at: https://kolokoz.wordpress.com/2009/11/11/the-cabinet-of-dr-caligari-german-expressionism-visually-and-thematically/ [Accessed 6 Oct. 2019].

Lau, Y. (2017). Group A – German Expressionism elements seen in a The Cabinet Caligari sequence | Doing Film History. [online] Blogs.exeter.ac.uk. Available at: http://blogs.exeter.ac.uk/doingfilmhistory/2017/10/24/group-a-german-expressionism-elements-seen-in-a-the-cabinet-caligari-sequence/ [Accessed 8 Oct. 2019].

Kryah, K. (2015). The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari: Dark Relationship With Postwar Germany | The Artifice. [online] The artifice. Available at: https://the-artifice.com/the-cabinet-of-dr-caligari-dark-relationship-with-postwar-germany/ [Accessed 8 Oct. 2019].