# POLISH PREMIERE | fear and terror | vampires | horror | nightmare | retro | marquis | classism | aristocracy | folklore | dead grandpa | hospitality | head of the family | France | Tolstoy | occultism | gothic | anxiety | satire | fear | gloom | amazing vibe
THE VOURDALAK
horror | France | 2023
World premiere: Venice Film Festival 2023
Polish premiere: Splat!FilmFest
AMAZING VIBE OF THE EUROPEAN FOLK HORRORS FROM THE ‘70S
When you see the name Marquis d’Urfé and the information that he’s a special
correspondent of the King of France, you probably can’t imagine him as a character in a spine-chilling story. But far from the King’s court he feels rather confused, he misses buzzing balls and conventions. He will be even more confused when he gets lost in the woods. On his way, in the forest, he meets a beautiful girl, who may not be impressed by his manners, but her family will surely make a hell of a good impression on a pale and rickety marquis.
„Le Vourdalak” is an adaptation of Aleksey Tolstoy’s story, who was a fascinated with occultism and magic cousin of the author of „War and Peace”. He wrote „The Family of the Vourdalak” in 1839, during his trip from France to Frankfurt. This gothic short story is seen as one of the first ones that featured vampirism (it was written a long time before „Dracula” by Bram Stoker). It’s a debut as a director of a feature film for Adrien Beau. He also appears in the movie as a titular monster, which was created like in the good old days: he is a string puppet with Beau’s voice, moved by him.
„Le Vourdalak” borrows something from retro cinema. Thanks to the way of shooting and colors, it reminds the viewers of the European folk horrors from the ‘70s. But it doesn’t only cause
anxiety, but also sometimes brings smile on viewers’ faces. Tolstoy was famous for using satire and laughing courtly connections and classism off. Marquis d’Urfé is a representative of a society that is helpless when it comes to beliefs, superstition and primal fear. Apart from this, a titular Vourdalak is a really hilarious character: he is a family-minded patriarch who, from time to time, forgets that he is dead and sometimes wants to amuse his grandson like in the good old days. On another day, as a sign of hospitality, he takes care of the music, so that his daughter and marquis can dance.
In his interviews about the premiere of his debut during the Venice Critics’ Week Beau stressed that vampires are treated as aristocracy members in pop culture, but according to folk beliefs they derived from rural areas. But „Le Vourdalak” isn’t the first adaptation of Tolstoy’s short story. As far back as in the ’60, a legendary Mario Bava worked on it, a decade later it was Giorgio Ferroni and in the 21st century it was as an inspiration for authors of a horror „Werewolf: The Beast Among Us”.
director: Adrien Beau
screenwriter: Adrien Beau, Hadrien Bouvier, on the basis of Aleksey Tolstoy’s short story
cast: Ariane Labed, Kacey Mottet-Klein, Grégoire Colin, Vassili Schneider
photography: David Chizallet
language: French
subtitles: English, Polish
duration: 1h 31min
recommended age: 16+
