Dracula: Pages from a Virgin's Diary
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| Dracula: Pages from a Virgin's Diary | |
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 Region 1 DVD Cover |
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| Directed by | Guy Maddin |
| Produced by | Vonnie Von Helmolt |
| Written by | Original Novel: Bram Stoker Ballet: Mark Godden |
| Starring | Zhang Wei-Qiang Tara Birtwhistle David Moroni CindyMarie Small Johnny Wright |
| Music by | Original by: Gustav Mahler Arranged by: Russ Dyck Bruce Little |
| Cinematography | Paul Suderman |
| Editing by | Deco Dawson |
| Release date(s) |  February 28, 2002 May 14, 2003 |
| Running time | 75 min. |
| Country | Canada |
| Language | Silent |
| Budget | CAD $1.6 million[1] |
| Official website | |
| Allmovie profile | |
| IMDb profile | |
Dracula: Pages from a Virgin's Diary is a 2002 horror film directed by Guy Maddin. It is a silent interpretation of the Royal Winnipeg Ballet's take of Bram Stoker's Dracula. It was originally filmed as a telefilm for CBC Television in Canada, but critical and popular acclaim brought it to a United States theatrical release. [2]
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[edit] Plot
In 1897, a visitor from the East, Dracula, arrives in London and is inadvertently invited into the home of Lucy. She is bitten by Dracula, and taken by his vampiric curse. Lucy's behavior becomes progressively more erratic which becomes apparent to her three suitors and her house maids when she bites her fiancée. Lucy is immediately put under the care of Dr. Van Helsing. Van Helsing does blood tests on Lucy and eventually declares "Vampyre!" as the source of the problem, and puts Lucy to bed adorned with garlic.
That very night, Renfield, a mental patient who lives in the asylum next to Lucy's home, escapes from confinement. This leads to Lucy's house being broken into by demons in the night. Woken the commotion, Lucy's mother rises from her bed to stop them. Panicked by the demons, she opens the door and inadvertently re-invites Dracula into the house. Both Lucy and her mother are killed in this incident and a funeral procession takes place. The next day, Renfield is recaptured and placed back into the mental hospital. Bizarre incidents begin to occur around the city and are reported in newspapers. Headlines speak of a supposed "Bloofer Lady" who has been murdering infants. Renfield is interrogated and confesses that Dracula has brought Lucy back from the dead. It is she committing these deeds and the solution to the problem lies in the graveyard. Van Helsing and Lucy's suitors go there on foot and spy Dracula and the undead Lucy in a full romantic embrace. Dracula eventually settles Lucy back into her coffin and vanishes. Van Helsing declares "We must destroy the false Lucy so the real one may live forever"; however, when Van Helsing opens the coffin Lucy rises out of and attacks the men. Lucy is eventually subdued by a piercing stab from Jonathan via long wooden stakes the man are carrying. This forces Lucy back into her coffin where she is decapitated with a shovel by Van Helsing. Van Helsing declares they must find and defeat the Vampyre.
Van Helsing and his men go to Renfield and torture out of him Dracula's next plan, which is to attack Lucy's best friend Mina. Mina has gone to a convent to help her injured fiancée Harker. Renfield reveals Harker's diary entry to Van Helsing. The diary details Harker's journey to Castle Dracula to finalize a land sale. However, upon arriving Harker is ravaged by three Brides of Dracula who overpower him. Harker eventually finalizes the land deal for Dracula but is then kept captive in a room with the voracious "Vampyr Harem". He eventually escapes Castle Dracula and finds himself under the care of the convent's inhabitants. Renfield then explains that Van Helsing should seek past the Convent and towards Castle Dracula. With a final breath, Renfield passes away and Van Helsing and his men proceed on to Castle Dracula.
In the convent, Mina arrives to greet Harker. Mina grabs his jacket and pulls out the diary which is immediately retrieved by Harker. Harker's conscience troubles him and he allows Mina to read his diary to let his guilty pleasures with the Brides of Dracula be known to her. Mina forgives Harker and they embrace but it becomes progressively more intimate as Mina tries to be more sexually aggressive, Harker becomes nervous and flees with the diary. Mina attempts to follow Harker but comes face to face with Dracula, who kidnaps her and takes her to Castle Dracula.
Mina finds herself trapped in Castle Dracula. Dracula woos Mina, tempting her with offers of riches and eventually biting her on the neck, solidifying the curse on her. At this moment, Harker, Van Helsing, and his men break into Dracula's castle dispatch the attacking Brides of Dracula with long wooden stakes. The men eventually stumble upon Mina and find the mark of Dracula's bite upon her, even though the curse isn't in full effect yet. In an attempt to root out Dracula, the men smash coffins and place Christian crosses in them. Van Helsing discovers one full of money and declares "Money stolen from England!". Eventually, Dracula attacks the men. After a long battle, Dracula and Mina are the only two left conscious. Dracula begins to embrace Mina, making a cut on his chest for Mina to take blood from as a romantic gesture. Mina scurries to the floor, picks up a cross, and pulls a window open which stuns Dracula. At this point the men regain consciousness, surround Dracula, and stab him with their stakes. The castle is demolished by Van Helsing's men and everyone departs. Dracula is left hanging motionless, impaled on a giant stake.
[edit] Deviations From The Novel
[edit] Style
Like most of Maddin's films which are filmed in a style that imitates early talkie films, Dracula, Pages from a Virgin's Diary is shot in silent film tradition complete with title cards and some mimicked special effects of the time such as tinted screen color, shadow play, and vaseline on the camera lens to create a blurry effect. The film is not entirely monochrome, often computer generated special effects are used to allow bright, acidic colours to be seen in normally black and white scenes, such as golden coins, green bank notes and red blood in an otherwise monochrome shot.
Unique to this film stylistically is that Dracula has an abundance of ballet with nearly its entire cast being part of the Royal Winnipeg Ballet. Large portions of this film are expressed through the medium.
The film also gently mocks or plays with some conventions of the "Dracula" story. For example, Jonathan Harker's account of his imprisonment in Dracula's castle, which takes up the whole first section of Bram Stoker's novel, is relegated to a single brief scene midway through the film. Presented at an accelerated speed, as if shot with an old under-cranked camera, the scene is punctuated with suggestive and humorous title cards. Most notable is "Infants for supper?" a mild, if incredulous inquiry which stands in for the horror Jonathan usually expresses when Dracula presents his brides with a baby to eat.
[edit] Cast
- Zhang Wei-Qiang – Dracula
- Tara Birtwhistle – Lucy Westernra
- David Moroni – Dr. Van Helsing
- CindyMarie Small – Mina
- Johnny Wright – Jonathon Harker
[edit] Reception
The film had a limited release to the general public on its theatrical release, but came to popular critical acclaim with an 84% average[3] on Metacritic and an 85% Fresh rating with an average of 74% based on 54 reviews on the critical reception website Rotten Tomatoes.[4].
[edit] Awards and nominations
- Win: Best Film - Guy Maddin
- Win: Best Performing Arts Program - Canada
- Nominated: DGC Craft Award - Guy Maddin
Blizzard Awards
- Win: Best Art Direction - Deanne Rohde, Ricardo Alms
[edit] External links
- Dracula: Pages from a Virgin's Diary at Allmovie
- Dracula: Pages from a Virgin's Diary at the Internet Movie Database
- Dracula: Pages from a Virgin's Diary at Metacritic
- Dracula: Pages from a Virgin's Diary at Rotten Tomatoes
- Dracula: Pages from a Virgin's Diary at the TCM Movie Database
- Official Site
- Royal Winnipeg Ballet Site
[edit] Notes
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