If Lily-Rose Depp is nominated for a Satellite Award in the new year for her acting performance in the remake of “Nosferatu,” then the way she played the sexual awakening of her delicate, pale, near-mad character could also be honored.
The daughter of Johnny Depp and Vanessa Paradis plays the young Ellen Hutter in the film, who single-handedly takes on head vampire Count Orlok erotically in 19th century Germany. Not an easy task for the 25-year-old. Also because there are already powerful originals with the horror film masterpiece from 1922 and the original variation from 1979.
In order to prepare for the extraordinary sex scene with “Nosferatu” actor Bill Skarsgård and some scenes of ecstasy, director Robert Eggers not only gave Depp erotic visual material to prepare for, but also some reading material. This went back well over 100 years.
Attracted to a mysterious being
She told the film website IndieWire in an interview that Eggers recommended the 1894 short story by French author Remy de Gourmont to her in order to understand the sexual awakening experience of a strictly religious woman. It is also about the complicated relationship between a young woman and a mysterious figure named Péhor.
The literary mood helped. Ellen Hutter’s passionate performance is one of the highlights in the remake, which is not entirely easy to grasp and is a little too numbed by its cinematic atmosphere. The audience is nevertheless impressed: In the first few days after its theatrical release, “Nosferatu” grossed $40 million.