Le Vampire

Jean Painlevé | France | 1939-45 | Short, 9 min

October 20, 2012

Directed by Jean Painlevé (1902-1989). Cinematography by André Raymond. Music by Duke Ellington ("Echoes of the Jungle").

The doyen of French scientific filmmakers, Painlevé was a specialist in scientific documentaries which became popular with experimental filmmakers and surrealists, who were taken with their wit and the director's eye for mysterious and bizarre details, bringing his own form of poetry and fantasy to his films. An active militant during the Occupation, he fought against the Nazis as a member of the Underground.

Le Vampire begins with clips of animals known for sucking or squeezing their prey dry. After a few shots from Murnau's 1921 Nosferatu, the first significant vampire film, Painlevé introduces his film's star, the South American vampire bat. The bat approaches a guinea pig, seems to kiss it, numbing it, and then begins sucking on its cheek. The guinea pig sits calmly while its blood is drained by the bat. At the end, the bat extends one of his wings in what looks like the Nazi "Heil Hitler" salute. The blood-sucking bat is clearly a metaphor for Nazism.