The pioneering work of German expressionism. Different from the films of the same period that focused on realistic themes, this film mainly depicts the inner world and his imagination of a mental patient. Therefore, most of the sets in this film have a strong sense of psychedelic and absurdity. , curved lines, triangular windows, all kinds of irregular geometry. Not only that, but the narrative style of this film is also different from the mainstream cross-cutting at that time. Compared with cross-cutting, I think the film uses the same space but different time. The way of transition is very suitable for the content setting of this film. This can very naturally transition from the story of a mental patient to the inner world he thinks. The ending of this film is also very interesting. From the beginning of the film, we have been this spirit. The patient's audience is preconceived that the culprit in this story is Dr. Caligri. But at the end we find out that all this is a mental patient's fantasy, this is the earliest film I have seen that can have a reversal at the end. In the film, the image of the chair appears a lot, and I think it's a mesmerizing element, that is, the director invites the audience into the film, sits in the film's scene and becomes a part of it.
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