F. W. Murnau's Faust - Sample German expressionism film paper

Who will rule the earth - God or Satan? The answer depends upon who can win the soul of Dr. Faust. This sample film analysis essay looks at F.W. Murnau's 1926 film, Faust - Eine deutsche Volkssage, which is considered one of cinema's greatest horror masterpieces. The sample essay examines Murnau's depiction of the forces of light and darkness, as well as his use of shadow to illustrate the further corruption of the characters. This example movie analysis paper would be a good reference for a student who wants to examine the use of lighting in a film.

The Faust and the Furious: Good and Evil in F. W. Murnau's Faust

In Weimar Germany in 1926, F. W. Murnau created what is considered among cinema's greatest masterpieces of horror. Faust - Eine deutsche Volkssage (1926) stands testament to the innovation and artistry extant in early German productions, embodying many elements of the expressionist movement. Based on the text by Goethe, the film tells of the aging alchemist Dr. Faust and his corruption by the demon Mephisto, the incarnation of Satan, who seeks dominion over earth. A wager is made between heaven and hell-if the devil "canst destroy what is divine in Faust," the earth belongs to him. This conflict between good and evil takes center stage in Murnau's telling, manifesting most powerfully in the dramatic interplay of light and shadow.

While not particularly subtle, Murnau's depiction of the forces of light in opposition to the forces of darkness is an effective one. In Senses of Cinema, Michael Koller notes Murnau's creation of "a perfect visual metaphor in his use of expressionist lighting and ubiquitous mists."1 The film's opening sequence, for instance, shows the four horsemen of the apocalypse, shrouded in darkness, galloping through a dense black mist, beams of light lancing towards them through gaps in the clouds. The ominous, black form of Mephistopheles then consumes the frame and continues to command the foreground, a silhouette, as the archangel appears in brilliant, shining white. This establishes, in very basic terms, the dynamic contrast between good and evil and light and dark that will pervade the rest of the film. Soon after, the scene shifts to the city where Faust lives, and as the camera pans over a crowd of street performers, Murnau calls attention to a shadow play, where the two hands in silhouette seem to emphasize the manipulation and puppetry that play such a central role to the story. Several other times during the film, Murnau uses hands for symbolic effect-the dark stain of blood appearing on Faust's hand as he prepares to sign the pact with Mephisto and the hands of the townsfolk reaching out of darkness into the light, imploring Faust to aid them, for example.

Other sequences make use of the onset of darkness and the deepening of shadows to sig-nify the entrance and pervasion of evil. Perhaps most visually impressive of these is the appear-ance of Mephisto's towering form over the city, his monstrous wings spreading wide to eclipse the sun and cast the city before him in shadow. At the same time, the plague spreads through the streets joined by a dense, obscuring fog, leaving chaos, fear, and destruction in its wake. Once again, while Murnau's symbolism is not very subtle, his striking imagery fosters a deep sense of foreboding and dread. Through the play of light and dark, he manages to convey a feeling of en-croaching blackness, of a world being consumed by darkness. This idea of encroachment is par-ticularly evident in the conjuration scene, as Inez Hedges notes in his book Framing Faust:

"As in so many other scenes of Faust, the foreground, where the devil makes his first appearance, is dark. Faust's figure, in the middle ground, serves as the focus of lighting. As Faust flees, the cuts anticipate the place towards which he runs-in each case, toward the darkness in the foreground, where the devil already awaits him. With each cut, the frame becomes more and more crowded…" (Hedges 39).

Murnau frames many of his scenes in this way-with a central, lit subject surrounded by dark shadows. In this particular scene, Faust's inability to escape the enveloping darkness carries with it a sense of claustrophobia and entrapment, emphasizing the imminence of evil.

Murnau uses similar lighting effects to draw attention to the corruption of the story's central characters. In the same conjuration scene, for example, Faust is lit from above, as if from heaven, but in the face of the devil he steps away from the light and into shadow, a gesture symbolic of his surrender to temptation. Michael Koller notes that "Murnau borrows Rembrandt's highly expressive use of light and shadow to manifest the struggle being waged for Faust's soul."1 Similarly, in a scene leading up to the summoning of Mephisto, a priest falls victim to the plague in front of Faust, and perhaps at the thought that God would abandon one of his own servants, a smoky shadow comes over Faust, casting him into obscurity. Such imagery suggests an external manifestation of a darkness growing within Faust, a concept-the outward expression of internal emotion-at the heart of the expressionist movement.

As the film progresses, darkness-as a symbol of corruption-extends its reach beyond Faust. After succumbing to the temptation of eternal youth, the alchemist falls in love with a beautiful, young maiden named Gretchen. According to Inez Hedges, "the most brightly lit scene is the happy meeting of Gretchen and Faust in the garden" (Hedges 39),2 which is perhaps symbolic of her purity. Yet as Faust seduces her, the shadows grow, her innocence tainted, and she too be-comes shrouded in darkness. In a scene towards the end of the film, she lies in a prison cell in near complete darkness, the shadows of the prison bars cast upon her face, reflecting the blackness that enveloped her soul with the murder of her child. It is only at the end of the film, at the final confrontation between Mephisto and the archangel, that the darkness retreats, repelled by the redemptive power of love-a sentimental note that stands in stark contrast to the general darkness that preceded it.

While Faust is often criticized for its lack of adherence to Goethe's original text, the film remains a visual spectacle, characteristic of Murnau's unique vision. As Roger Ebert put it, "Murnau had a bold visual imagination, distinctive even during the era of German Expression-ism with its skewed perspectives and twisted rooms and stairs. He painted with light and shadow, sometimes complaining to his loyal cameraman, Carl Hoffmann, that he could see too much-that all should be obscured except the focus of a scene."3 Through his careful and deliberate use of light and shadow, Murnau crafted a cinematic masterpiece that is at once aesthetically magnificent and intellectually stimulating.

Works Cited