Strasek, der Vampir

Odd, strange and yet fascinating little film, about the destiny of a boy called Stefan Strasek, the product of an ill-fated marriage that ended with the separation of his parents. When dying, the mother asks little Stefan not to allow his father to take him with him, and the boy keeps his promise, to the most drastic consequences.

Dedicated to Carl Th. Dreyer, it has the eerie tone of the maestro's "Vampyr", but also of Herzog's "Nosferatu, Phantom der Nacht", without entering the mythical world of vampires, which operates more as a metaphor. However, the film does not give up creating atmospheres, sonorities and visual compositions typical of horror films.

Directed, photographed and edited with a disarming parsimony, this early example of what we would later call the observational film, looks but does not judge, shows but does not emphasize, and leaves the reading open to the multiple gazes of the spectators.