The Cabinet of Dr Caligari Themes: Madness, authority, reality, duality Director: Robert Wiene Actors: Werner Krauss, Conrad Veidt, Friedrich Fehér, Lil Dagover Language: Silent film with German intertitles Movement: German Expressionism Genre: Horror, mystery, thriller
Written by two pacifists - one who was disenchanted by war; and another who feigned being mad
Characters
Francis
narrator, unreliable narrator
Cesare
somnambulist apparently a sleepwalker with superpowers; he is
Dr Caligari
An insane hypnotist who uses a somnambulist named Cesare to commit murders
Jane
Francis’s fiancée who is kidnapped by Cesare but later rescued
Alan
Friend of Francis, shares the same love interest, Jane asks Cesare “How long will I live?” dies
Themes
Reality Vs Perception
Authoritarianism
Ideological Brainwashing
Madness of Storytellers
Sleep and Dreaming
Identity
Synopsis
Symbols
The Cabinet
Staircases
they’re weird, off-kilter, always showed before a person goes to an authority figure