Visual Storytelling in “Nosferatu” (2024): Lilacs and Windows

In “Nosferatu” (2024), lilacs are seen throughout the film, and they are associated with Ellen Hutter psychosexual connection to Count Orlok. This is clear in the film itself, but was also confirmed by Linda Muir, the costume designer, in one interview:

“Ellen’s most prominent evening dress is indigo with lilacs embroidered and beaded on the front and on the sleeves. This lavender hue subliminally underscores the connection between Ellen and Orlok, who remembers lilacs from when he was alive.”

“Visual storytelling” is when filmmakers use visual devices and symbolism to convey ideas and emotions without need for dialogue. It’s a “show, not tell” tool, to avoid exposition in the narrative, and invites the audience to interpret the imagery. In the case of “Nosferatu”, since Ellen and Count Orlok are physically separated throughout the film, but they had a backstory (briefly showed in the prologue, when Ellen awakes Orlok from the dead); the lilacs and Ellen's window are meant to represent the yearning between these two characters. 

The Lilac shrub (Syringa vulgaris) is native to the Balkan Peninsula, and journeyed from the mountains of Eastern Europe to the garden courts of Turkey, Austria and France. And it was in Paris that the Lilac was wildly cultivated and hybridized, creating the many contemporary varieties of the flower. 

This flower is rich in symbolism, and it’s meaning interchanges depending on its color. While white lilacs symbolize purity and innocence, purple signifies remembrance, and first love. In the Victorian era, lilacs were a reminder of first love, indeed. They were also used by widows, because they were considered mementos of an deceased lover, which is very fitting for Ellen and Orlok love story, which is based on Catherine and Heathcliff from "Wuthering Heights" by Emily Brontë.

“[Nosferatu is] a very heightened fairy tale/dark story, but also it's two people potentially falling in love. It isn't love, it's something else, but love is maybe the closest thing to it that you can kind of relate to. If it's not love, it's a craving and it's an appetite and it's lust and desire to devour. [Orlok is] seeing the sun for the first time in hundreds of years. So he's mesmerized by it and fear and all of these different things. And in a way, maybe that is what Orlok wanted all along.”

The first time, lilacs are introduced in “Nosferatu” is at the prologue; when Orlok reveals himself to Ellen, and they are under lilac trees. From then on, almost every costume Ellen wears either has lilac motifs or color, which are meant to represent her yearning for Orlok, even though she ended that connection when she met and married Thomas Hutter (it was not "his love", but her who withdraw her invitation and stopped summoning him).  

Before departing for Transylvania, Thomas gifts Ellen, a bouquet of lilacs, which was a popular choice because it evokes feelings of young love and innocence; however, lilacs remind Ellen of Orlok, not of Thomas; as we see her connecting these flowers with archetypal Death (Orlok), and not with her marriage to Thomas. Here, Robert Eggers is reshaping a cult horror classic to his own vision, because in the 1922 “Nosferatu”, Ellen’s character also asks Thomas “why did you kill them... the lovely flowers...?”. But in the 2024 adaptation, this scene has an entirely different meaning.  

 “It was our wedding. Yet not in chapel walls. Above was a impenetrable thundercloud outstretched beyond the hills. The scent of the lilacs was strong in the rain… and when I reached the altar, you weren’t there. Standing before me, all in black, was… Death. But I was so happy, so very happy. We exchanged vows, we embraced, and when we turned round, everyone was dead. Father… and… everyone. The stench of their bodies was horrible. And- But I’ve had never been so happy as that moment… as I held hands with Death.”

Lilacs have a sweet and intoxicating fragrance, and Ellen appears to wear it as her perfume. Before Thomas' departure, Ellen cuts a lock of her hair, and places it inside of her heart-shaped silver locket. She then gives it to her husband, apparently for good fortune on his travel, a “maiden’s token”. These sorts of gifts were considered a sign of love and devotion. However, during the Victorian era, it was also common to keep locks of hair from deceased loved ones in pieces of jewellery, especially lockets, which is another symbolic connection with Death (Orlok). 

This scene is particularly eerie: the original soundtrack (OST) sets the mood, and there appears to be something else at play here. And that’s illustrated by the window. The next scene after this is also Herr Knock conjuring Orlok. 

Windows are symbolically seen as a veil between life and death, a portal between the known and the unknown, and a barrier to the supernatural. Windows also represent liberation, freedom and escapism from real life. Windows also serve as a mirror of our true selves, as they encourage self-awareness. The first time Orlok appears to Ellen is also at her bedroom window, in the prologue, asking for entrance.

Windows are connected to strigoi myths from Balkan folklore; where it’s said when strigoi rise from their graves for the first time, they return to those they have loved the most, because they wish to relive their lives together. The strigoi is said to appear at their loved one’s windows, asking for entrance (probably the origin of “vampires need to be invited in” lore). The strigoi usually torments them until they are dead, too (which is also what we see with Orlok and Ellen’s characters in this film). This is a visual confirmation that Olrok was nothing more than a shadow at Ellen's window during her teenage years.

Ellen’s window in “Nosferatu” also has another reference: the “Wuthering Heights” inspiration, with the theme of “Catherine’s window”. In this novel, windows (and doors, too) are usually connected with Catherine and Heathcliff’s separation, and his inability to reach her. In “Nosferatu”, we also see this with Ellen and Orlok: in the prologue, Ellen’s window is wide open (when she meets and develops a relationship with him), then it’s shut (separation) until the second and third act, when she asks him to come to her (reunion). It’s Ellen who grants or denies Orlok access to places, including to herself.  

“You are fortunate in your love.”

When Thomas is already in Orlok’s castle in Transylvania, the count notices his “maiden token”, and asks to see it. As he opens it, and smells it, he immediately notices the scent of lilacs on Ellen’s hair. To Orlok, this is a confirmation that Ellen remembers their past life together (reincarnation theme). This is also the only “Dracula/Nosferatu” adaptation that skipped the female protagonist portrait as the vampire acknowledgement of her. Instead, Robert Eggers went with his monster recognizing his female lead because of a scent which links the two of them and is reminiscent of their backstory together; a far more intimate, and even romantic, approach. 

Orlok keeps the locket for himself, because he knows it’s meant for him. And this interpretation is also supported by the “Wuthering Heights” inspiration behind this story: after Catherine’s premature death, Heathcliff goes to the chapel to see her coffin. He places a strand of his hair inside of her necklace-locket, for her ghost to haunt him. 

"Your husband is lost to you. Dream of me... Only me."

More than the covenant papers that Orlok makes Thomas sign in exchange for a sack of gold, it’s Ellen’s locket which allows him to have access to her, once again, because it represents Ellen renewing her invitation of him.

And, indeed, there’s more to this story, because Robert Eggers and Lily-Rose Depp (Ellen Hutter) describe it as a love triangle between Ellen, Thomas and Count Orlok: "It was clear to me from the beginning, and from what Rob [Eggers] was saying to me, it’s a love story with Count Orlok as much as it is with her husband.There’s a real love triangle there. And, especially my scenes with Bill [Skarsgård], Rob wanted there to be a palpable sensuality between the two characters [...] there’s a yearning going from, you know, really, between the two of them, rather than just this woman who’s kind of chased down by this scary demon that she, like, hates. She carries so much darkness within her, and that he, in a way, is a manifestation of that darkness. And so she’s pulled towards him for a reason. and she calls out to him […] there’s a mutual yearning there, and I think it makes the story so much more engaging, and so much scarier.”

"Soon I will be no more a shadow to you. Your spirit was never enough. Soon our flesh shall embrace and we shall be as one."

As Orlok is on his way to Wisburg, we, the audience, also see Ellen standing by her window, as he's talking with her, telepathically. And her standing by the window, represents her yearning for him, as well. And, indeed, in this adaptation of “Nosferatu”, Count Orlok’s motivations revolve completely around Ellen, getting her soul and fulfil their covenant (“you are not for the living. You are not for human kind. And you shall be one with me ever-eternally"), which taps into the “Dracula” inspiration behind this story: the “bride of Dracula” theme (which was something that was missing from the 1922 “Nosferatu”).

 "Daybreak draws near. Anon the bells of dawn shall toll in despair of my coming. And I shall taste of you."

In this scene, Orlok smells Ellen’s hair while saying “I shall taste of you”, in a clear indication the “you” in this sentence it’s Ellen, and not the townsfolk, because that’s his whole motivation in this film, and why he's there at Wisburg. And this is made clear when he goes to the Harding household, and Ellen, herself, grants him entrance into the house (dooming everyone there, as a result).

"Your passion is bound to me."

The dialogue in this scene (“You cannot love”) is a direct reference to the “Dracula” novel by Bram Stoker, where one of Dracula’s brides accuses him of the same: “You yourself never loved! You never love.” To which Dracula replies: “Yes, I too can love. You yourselves can tell it from the past. Is it not so?” In “Nosferatu” (2024), Robert Eggers wanted to established “love” and “passion” as opposite concepts (as they were seen during the Victorian era).  Nevertheless, he speaks about the past: "Remember how once we were? A moment. Remember?” (reincarnation theme).

Ellen says she “abhors him” Wuthering Heights-style, and Orlok accuses her of being false. He then gives her three nights, which are in fact, two, for her to re-pledge herself to him, otherwise he’ll kill Thomas. This threat is rendered impossible the next day, when Friedrich Harding tells Ellen and Thomas to return home (unawarely saving Thomas). And now, Orlok can't possibly kill him because he's not invited into their house. 

The human characters are safe from Orlok if they remain indoors, and he can only attack those in the streets at night, or if he gets invited in (like with the Hardings). And this is confirmed by the narrative: not only visually (with Ellen opening windows to grant Orlok entrance), but the Orthodox Nuns tell Thomas Orlok can’t enter the monastery (which has nothing to do with God), and when Dr. Sievers suggests to Thomas and Von Franz they should return to their houses because Orlok has surely risen from his sarcophagus (they are not safe on the streets). Still, Ellen will go on tell Thomas about Orlok's threat, during the "possession scene" even though he's completly safe now. 

"I bid you. Come to me."

On the third night, Ellen is willing to accept Orlok's covenant. We, then, see her opening the window of the apartment she shares with Thomas, granting him entrance into the house, which he didn’t had until now. Ellen was perfectly aware her husband wasn't in no danger, and that Orlok has to be given invitation, otherwise he can't enter.

So Ellen's "willingly sacrifice" has nothing to do with saving Thomas, and everything to do with the instructions on the Solomanari codex of secrets (or "Șolomonari" from Romanian folklore) which Professor Von Franz discovers in Herr Knock’s office (which belongs to Orlok, the confirmed Solomonar by the narrative).

"As our spirits are one, so too shall be our flesh. You are mine."

Ellen is wearing her wedding dress, fully embodying the “bride of Dracula theme”. And there are lilacs on her hair, and embroidered everywhere on her bride gown, which tells us that, even thought, she married Thomas, Orlok never left her mind (even though he was but a shadow to her during her teenage years), or perhaps she did had memories of their past life together. Like Robert Eggers tells us: “the only person she really finds a connection with is this monster”, and Orlok is "the only person who can understand and fulfill a part of Ellen."

In this scene, we see the visual narrative of the lilacs and the window connecting Ellen and Orlok coming full circle in “Nosferatu” (2024). They first met at the window of her house, and they both die at the window of her apartament; first in the moonlight, now in the sunlight. Teenage Ellen experienced sexual awakening because of him (masturbation); and now she experiences an orgasm with him, for the first time. Professor Von Franz places their lilacs around them, as they lie together and embraced in death, both finally free from Nosferatu’s curse. Like Catherine and Heathcliff return to their spiritual Wuthering Heights, Ellen and Orlok return to their lilac garden, where they are united, forever. 

“And so the maiden fair did offer up her love unto the beast, and with him lay in close embrace until first cock crow, her willing sacrifice thus broke the curse and freed them from the plague of Nosferatu.”