Rob Munday
The Witch, The Lighthouse, The Northman – Robert Eggers’ trio of distinct features has seen the director rapidly rise to auteur status over recent years. With those first two titles, he made a name for himself as a filmmaker who didn’t need huge budgets to create immersive worlds of demonic goats and bewitching mermaids – something a lot of emerging filmmakers will surely be inspired by. And like a lot of directors, before he got to work in features he made a series of shorts to showcase his talent, including this Edgar Allan Poe adaptation The Tell-Tale Heart.
With Poe’s original short story detailing how its unnamed narrator is driven to murder after becoming convinced that the man he cares for has developed an evil eye, Eggers’ storyline sticks faithfully to the original. Introducing us to its characters, as we witness a dishevelled butler called upon by his master in the dark of night, we soon come to learn of the old man’s fragility and his servant’s troubling thoughts towards him. Convinced that he must take his life and rid himself of the eye forever, The Tell-Tale Heart follows his meticulous plans and his unshakable guilt afterwards.
Carrington Vilmont plays the role of a servant haunted by his master’s evil eye.
With its period detail and its unnerving atmosphere, it’s easy to see similarities to The Witch here, while the story of a man, in an isolated scenario, losing his sanity will feel familiar to those who have seen The Lighthouse. It’s not just the narrative that show signs of the blossoming talent of Eggers though, there’s some interesting production choices throughout the film, evidence of a filmmaker willing to take a few risks. None standout more so than his choice to employ a puppet in the role of old man (a move which has its positives and negatives), something he discusses in this directors statement:
“Originally, I wanted an incredibly frail actor, on death’s door, to play The Old Man, and realised the shooting conditions would not be able to accommodate that fragility (We shot the film in an abandoned 19th century house in New Hampshire, in February. It was filthy and cold – to put it mildly). I said to myself, “I’d rather have a doll play The Old Man than a slightly younger actor in makeup.” That stuck. This idea of an unliving doll or puppet as the antagonist was a strange choice, but for better or worse, one that certainly makes the film unique. I am also particularly proud of the performance by Carrinton Vilmont. I hope that audiences take note of him.”
Although he describes the film as “uneven”, Eggers explains that its was an important film in his career, revealing that it was the first time he collaborated with DP Jarin Blaschke, editor Louise Ford and sound designer Damian Volpe – all of whom have continued to work with the director throughout his career. With his latest release, The Northman, set to be one of the most talked about films of 2022, if you’re a fan of Eggers and want to see more of his early work, his 2015 short Brothers in also available to watch on the MEMORY Vimeo channel.