The gothic novel ” Interview with the Vampire ” by Anne Rice from 1976 marked the history of a literary genre that in recent years, thanks to the sagas dedicated to young readers complete with film adaptations, is becoming popular. We are talking about those books whose protagonists, vampires precisely, have always fascinated the general public and fueled the fantasies of the collective imagination for their sensuality, immorality and immortality.
Not only the novel, but also its 1994 film version of Neil Jordan was the progenitor of a genre that is now very popular on the big screen.
Interview with the vampire is the first of a series of novels that make up the Chronicles of vampires: in fact, they follow Chosen from the darkness (1985), The queen of the damned (1988), The thief of bodies (1992), Memnoch the devil (1995), Armand the Vampire (1998), Merrick the Witch (2000), The Vampire Marius (2001), The Vampire of Blackwood (2002), Blood (2003) and Prince Lestat (2014).
Anne Rice tells the story of a multitude of vampires through a highly descriptive and suggestive style, which focuses a lot on the environments and emotions of the characters. These vampires, in fact, unlike the stereotype fueled by cult novels such as Bram Stoker’s Dracula (1897), are not impassive to inner feelings and torments and even cry (blood) tears. Not only that, but they are also beautiful – smooth alabaster skin, fine and delicate features, long hair – and casually love their fellow men, both men and women, feeling very similar passions to human ones. However, unlike humans, they have the gift of eternal life and special dark powers that they acquire when transformed into vampires with a bite on their neck.
The protagonist of Interview with the Vampire and the young landowner Louis de Pointe du Lac (played by Brad Pitt in the film), who lives with his family on a New Orleans estate in the late eighteenth century. He finds himself, transformed into a vampire, in the 90s of the twentieth century to tell the story of him to journalist Daniel Molly (Christian Slater in the film, although initially the role belonged to River Phoenix, who died shortly before filming).
Louis tells Daniel that it all began with the death of his brother, a religious fanatic. Louis believes he is responsible for the tragedy and loses the will to live, but not enough to attempt suicide. He is approached by Lestat de Lioncourt (Tom Cruise in the film), one of the most powerful and elderly vampires on Earth, although his likeness is that of a charming young man. Louis agrees to be transformed into a vampire by Lestat, but immediately regrets it: not only does he still feel the same torments as when he was human, but now he is doomed to be immortal and to kill people to feed on their blood. He tries to repress this instinct by feeding on the blood of animals, but one night his desire takes over and he feeds on the blood of Claudia (a very young Kristen Dunst in the film).
Before the child dies, Lestat makes her drink his blood to transform her into a vampire and force Louis, who had expressed his intention to leave New Orleans alone, to stay with him and take care of Claudia together and raise her as if he were. their daughter. Many decades pass and the idyllic family picture cracks when Claudia understands that her body will always remain that of a child and will never become like that of a woman. Blinded by anger, she kills Lestat and, together with Louis, flees to Europe in search of others like him.
In Paris, Claudia and Louis meet the enigmatic Armand (Antonio Banderas in the film), who is part of a shady vampire theater company. Louis is fascinated by Armad, who returns his attentions. Claudia, moved by jealousy, tries in vain to remove them, until the tragic epilogue reserved for her. Shocked by the loss of his child, Louis returns to America, where he is surprised to find an old acquaintance and will be condemned to wander desolate and lonely for eternity.
Thus ends Louis’s story, but the saga of the other vampires continues in subsequent novels: Lestat’s tormented story is told in Chosen from Darkness and his true soul will be revealed; Armand’s story also develops in Armand the vampire, in which there is also the story of the journalist Daniel Molly, who will become his slave-lover.
Compared to the novel, the film is very synthetic in fact: much of the story is cut and modified and the protagonists are not very detailed. The film, which especially enhances the lustful aspect of vampire life, arouses conflicting opinions: on the one hand it has received many awards (Oscar and Golden Globe nominations), but also won the award for “worst couple” Brad Pitt – Tom Cruise at the 1995 Razzie Awards.Valentina Morlacchi
