Film | The Hunger, 1983

The Hunger | 1983

Some stories have an unexpected  impact on you… The Hunger (1983) was precisely this kind of film. 

I was not expecting much of the movie at all. I wanted to watch it because it was a vampire movie I had never seen, and because it featured David Bowie. That was all. 

 The plot was very original… I generally prefer classic vampire stories, in which vampires have fangs and are wounded by sunlight, but I really, really enjoyed this one, even though it was anything but traditional. Miriam (Catherine Deneuve) is the vampire. She turned her husband, John (David Bowie) over 100 years ago, and they have been together ever since. The movie begins with the two of them feeding on the “young and beautiful of New York City”, at the sound of "Bella Lugosi is dead", in a wonderful sequence that ended with a beautiful shower scene between the two main characters. They don`t have fangs, none that we are able to see, at least. Instead they use a piece of jewellery shaped like an Egyptian ankh to pierce the victim's necks and drain them of their blood. Blood flows from the wounds, mixed with water, down the drains… It is a beautiful opening scene. 

In spite of the originality of the plot - and the disregard for common vampire elements such as the deadly power of the sun -  The Hunger preserves the feeling of a vampire story, and the emotional content of one... In particular the weightiness of forever, and the promise of everlasting love. 

"Forever and ever"

It doesn't take long, however, for it to become clear that John is aging, and aging fast. He is losing his hair… There are wrinkles around his eyes… And as it turns out, he is expecting this to happen… There have been others. It`s Miriam's gift, and her curse, that she can give others the gift of immortality, but it never lasts… After a hundred years or so, they start to age and decay… 

When that happens she looks for another companion… There have been so many up until John… She hopes and wishes that this time it will be different, that she will never have to loose him… but wishing for a thing does not make it so. And with John fading fast she is going to need a new companion… That’s where Sarah (Susan Sarandon) comes in.

The cinematography is beautiful and it is filled with scenes that rely on silhouettes against closed curtains, which I think really works for the movie. The way the characters interact, the way the camera captures them, in front of each other or moving around one another… It is beautifully done…

The music is fantastic. John is a cellist (yes, David Bowie's character is a cellist… It's like they made the movie with me in mind :P), and the movie features the first suite for cello solo (how could it not?) and the Flower duet from Lakmé (the perfect soundtrack for Miriam and Sara) 

The Hunger is a story about loneliness and isolation… It really spoke to me, and it transported me in an afternoon in which my mind needed to be taken elsewhere… I loved the aesthetics, and the story, and I didn`t even mind the ending… I will definitely watch to this one again… 

The beautiful shower scene, right at the beginning...

I love the way the movie plays with light and color and silhouettes

Bowie at the cello... And to think I was practicing this morning...

This movie has a beautiful relationship with music... Like in this scene in which Miriam is at the piano, playing the flower duet... Sarah also has a wonderful moment, figuring our her place in the room, throwing one leg over the arm of the chair, listening the music that Miriam plays...

Sarah spilled some cherry on her white t-shirt... I love the way the camera captures the movements of these characters around one another, the way Mirian moves, almost as if she was courting Sarah in a dance floor.

The Hunger, 1983 | Directed by Tony Scott | Written by Ivan Davis and Michael Thomas | Based on The Hunger, by Whitley Strieber | Catherine Deneuve, David Bowie, Susan Sarandon