Everything can become fascinating when you have all of the time of eternity. But when does that fascination lead to other things? Such as thoughts of one’s own lost mortality, morality and that certain fragile beauty of being a human?
It seems we all want things we cannot have; whether that be to join with the ones you love, in this life or the next; to enjoy a moment in history forevermore; to wonder what it is like to grow up; or to even shed the skin of one’s own regret. We have far too little time to consider the bigger picture. But for a vampire, this is all they have; this time, this bittersweet remembrance or ignorance of one’s own fragility. We marvel vampires as this certain romanticized breed of predators that can be somewhat tamed and loved, or even, a monster only thinking about its next meal. But in this adaptation, vampires are us, just with more time on their hands. And what better way to understand the vampire than in Anne Rice’s adaptation?
This is Two Takes and this is One Shot. An analysis of Interview With The Vampire.
Spoilers are ahead.
The Choice
“Don’t be afraid. I’m going to give you the choice I never had.“
Lestat
It’s interesting to realise that this type of life, this immortality, might not have been taken willingly. Like a catchphrase, Lestat says this to Louis and then again with the interviewer at the end of the film. A cycle of the loss of choices if one thinks about it. Dreaming of something else might be enough to entice a vampire for your companionship, but the comparison of eternal life versus what you have right now might seem a little steep. To let go of everything you hold dear, even your own humanity…And in this instance, the choice is death or half a life in the shadows. Lestat and Claudia were not given the choice, and in the way, the interviewer Daniel Molloy as well. Louis was given the choice, which is what I find fascinating. The choice of death or immortality; a divide between two extremes. But why choose this?
The mystery might lie in the impression we get when Louis first describes his life to the interviewer; he describes his wife and child being dead less than half a year and how he longed to join them because he couldn’t bear the pain of their loss. And yet. And yet. When trying to squander his wealth, his estate and even his sanity, a vampire answered his calling of something else. And so, when given the choice, Louis chose the darker path instead of the longing of the death he described. It wasn’t the act of dying that he longed for, it was the release of what he was going through. Choosing the path of becoming a vampire could potentially take away the suffering of his mortal life, and introduce new emotions and sensations. A new identity of sorts. And it does for a little while. Until the drinking of blood and where it came from comes into the picture.
Blood and Creatures Under God
“Evil is a point of view. God kills indiscriminately and so shall we. For no creatures under God are as we are, none so like him as ourselves.”
Lestat
A vampire feasting on this particular chosen part of a person, rather than their flesh, might stem deeper into their essence, their soul. It rejuvenates a vampire, much like a meal to a predator, or someone’s faith in a divine meaning or idol. Blood and the act of taking it can be seen as something not good or evil but rather a necessity, as Louis describes it. The characteristics of a vampire, in various sources, can be described as a kind of ‘blood-drunkenness’.
Referencing this feeling to when Louis takes Claudia’s blood when she is still human and his chaotic thoughts of what he has done versus how he feels, shows that the peace he was searching for, was indeed in this act of taking. Louis thinks in the way of a moral human, that there is a line that cannot be crossed, wherein, with Lestat being older and more experienced, has decided to embrace the act of taking because the chase, the ‘meal’, is what gives him what he wants. Whether that’s peace, like Louis, or something else, perhaps something closer to feeling invincible, much like a god.
Lestat does compares himself to God, a creature that is somewhere closer to God and further away from where it came from, a human. To indiscriminately kill because one can, and one will, to sustain themselves. Its the cycle of life and death; with the predator being the vampire and the unfortunate prey being a human. This can be said for the slaughtering of cattle, or chickens or whatever other animal a human can make a meal out of. It’s a natural part of evolution, with the only thing out of place, is the vampire. A parasite of sorts trying to make itself part of the food chain.
Definitions of evil and good become warped in the shadows, it seems.
In a way, Lestat has this power because he feels closer to something uncanny. Not a monster, per say. But rather something close to godliness, as he has this power to morph his abilities, to create or to kill. Much like God does in their acts of taking or receiving life. And then to go one step further, to give eternal life to a mortal, stems this dark ability; even if the gift was given through Lestat’s own loneliness to Louis, a soul all too willing to surrender to the unknown, whether that be death or something darker. And the uncanny won, because it mirrors the known mortal world, with the only difference is oneself, frozen in time, stuck eternally. And if you think about it, the term of a vampire, even though it has evolved throughout the decades, still has this esteemed quality of drinking blood as that that gives them life. And so, even though many things change, some things still stay the same. And this can be said for many things, like religion and the teachings of Christ and God. Their teachings, like the Bible, or this impression of this creature of the night, has evolved with us, is still around, and for the most part, the ‘evil’ that happens around them, or by their own doing, is explained away. But be be aware, this is just a theory, and a small comparison as to why Lestat might have thought himself godlike at the beginning.
The Girl That Never Grew Up
“But the world was a tomb to me, a graveyard of broken statues, and each of those statues resembled her face.”
Louis
Claudia, the child feasted upon by one and given life by the other, is the epitome of what it would look and perhaps feel like to be a child and to never grow up. We see all three enjoying themselves in various cities, of Claudia learning the ways of a vampire however constantly disobeying, with Lestat telling her off with an exasperated ‘never in the house’ remark. This quick montage of their equilibrium, of some sort of happiness as this peculiar family, could relate to Peter Pan and the Lost Boys who never grow up. The fun, the games, and the going to bed when you wish, is somewhat a fantasy dream of many children; the freedom to do what you want, when you want with whomever you want. A childlike dream without danger or fear. However Claudia’s childhood quickly fades, as Louis describes how her eyes could only tell how old she is. She grows up, but her body stays the same, and we, the audience, can only sympathise with her, as she screams at them to tell her why she does not grow up. Her tale becomes darker, much like Let The Right One In, wherein Claudia is stuck in this pre-teen age, but with the viewpoint of someone much older and wiser. Her world, which it used to be broad and magnificent, becomes smaller and smaller, the more she tries to venture out. Like a child outside without supervision that always leads questions.
Her death and her creation, even, has consequences on both accounts within the laws of nature. Claudia was made too young, with selfish intent by Lestat to keep Louis as his companion. And then Claudia was killed too young in her vampire form by Armand’s order through selfish intent, once more wanting Louis to stay as an companion. She never got to grow up in either worlds, with her time stolen forever.
What Lestat and Armand could never anticipate was Louis’ reactions to their intentions. Louis loved Claudia more than anything. And Armand’s enticing comments on learning to leave regret behind, has Louis politely declining his invitation to be his companion. To leave regret behind, to leave the pain behind, is what Louis wanted to do at the very beginning, has him wanting to stay. He keeps his humanity because that is all that is left to remember her by. But her death was also his undoing. For someone so willing to love, Louis has had his share of love and loss. And so, with Claudia, his hopelessness has rendered its ugly head; he cannot love anyone else, already suffering too many deaths of his love in his lifetime. And the killing he does do, whether that is for feasting upon to sustain his existence, or for revenge, Louis shows us that vampires are the representations of death itself. A god, perhaps, in its own right, like Lestat proudly hints at.
Set Out To Become What I Became
“That morning I was not yet a vampire, and I saw my last sunrise. I remember it completely, and yet I can’t recall any sunrise before it. I watched the whole magnificence of the dawn for the last time as if it were the first. And then I said farewell to sunlight, and set out to become what I became.”
Louis
There can be some form of peace in death for a mortal, a chance to let go of all of the pain and suffering that their lives have afforded them with. And for a vampire, for Louis perhaps, there lies the peace in the making of a death to sustain one’s own suffering from taking over. The power of blood can change many things it seems. But there lies the cycle of destruction; Louis, with all of his humanity, finds his merciful deaths to be riddled with guilt. But that might also be the key to Louis maintaining his human morals. Sustenance for the vampiric body, as well as the human soul.
Louis, in so many words, retains his humanity; and that is his beauty, his power. Lestat, early on in the film, expresses his joys of reading the thoughts of those around him, presenting his power to play with the lives and to choose his prey. Claudia, on the other hand, hints at her power, expressing what Armand’s soul said to her in the theatre. A quiet but constant ‘let him go’ towards her companionship with Louis.
All in all, the dark gift is different for everyone. Lestat can read thoughts, Claudia can read souls, perhaps desires, and Louis can read emotions, maintaining morality in his immortal shell.
All Passion Went With Her Golden Hair
“Whatever happened to Lestat I do not know. I go on, night after night. I feed on those who cross my path. But all my passion went with her golden hair. I’m a spirit of preternatural flesh. Detached. Unchangeable. Empty.”
Louis
Everlasting life can perhaps take a burden on one’s own soul of sorts. We see Louis struggling with taking life at the beginning, deciding on eating rats and living in the cemetery until Lestat finds him to somewhat comfort him. And at the end, they find themselves together again, in an abandoned house, with the roles reversed. Lestat, barely able to move, has Louis following the trail of dead rats and birds to Lestat. The power dynamic has changed, presenting the problem of immortality; that the person can only do so much with it, can only learn so much or go forward in time. Louis moved on and advanced, bringing with him his morals, his regret and grief, moving onwards. Lestat had none of these things to keep him grounded, and therefore, has become lost in this new decade, revelling in the by-gone era of New Orleans at the beginning of the film. The immortal has become stuck in a lost time. Whilst the vampire than maintained his humanity has the edge to keep moving forward. This can be said for Armand, when he, too, also wanted Louis by his side. But like Lestat, Armand wishes to let go of the things keeping him human, even the aspect of regret; the one thing Louis needs to remain where he is, on the pinnacle of his suffering that had haunted him throughout this film and onwards into the future.
It seems these emotions that a vampire heeds as unworthy and unwanted are the only things that keep them from being truly free without consequence,
However, there is also this feeling that keeping these emotions that they hinder unnecessary, is the one thing that can sustain them as their true selves. A vampire life can be like a new life, a new identity like I have said before. But a new identity and life does not mean a rejection of who you are. A rejection of what you have been through. Without the regret and grief and suffering that Louis carries throughout the film, at the beginning, for his dead wife and child, and then later on, for Claudia, Louis becomes lost in his suffering, warning others of the destruction of being a vampire. A destruction of life and blood, but also a destruction of one’s own identity, their essence, their soul. A destruction of never really knowing why a vampire exists, much like humans question their meaning of their lives on a daily basis.
It might be an exchange, thinking about it. The giving and taking. When a vampire takes the essence of a mortal, the vampire has their mortal identity stripped from them, ever so slowly. With Louis becoming this being in the middle, perfectly balanced within his world of suffering and torment. From the beginning to the ending of this film, Louis has not changed in the slightest. Everything moves at lighting speed, with Louis only idly watching the world go by within his new identity, with his old wounds still making him bleed like a mortal.
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