A Film Critique Of Fritz Lang’S Destiny
Fritz Lang’s 1921 film Destiny is an expressionist tale of life and death featuring a woman on a desperate quest to reunite with her dead lover. While trying to save her beloved, she finds herself witnessing three other tragic romances in the Middle East, Venice, and the Chinese Empire. Lang emphasizes the notion of grim fate through spectacular visual effects, expressionist sets, and intricate costumes.
Destiny plays with the idea that “love is stronger than death” as this woman attempts to prevent death for the return of her spouse. In the end, the woman refuses to trade the life of a child for the return of her lover and instead sacrifices herself. Death, perhaps taking pity on her, reunites the lovers in the realm of death maintaining Lang’s fatalistic, pessimistic vision. The dark theme reflects the turbulence and trauma coming from the aftermath of World War I, where death was a common occurrence. Lang’s thematic interest in death is evident in his personification of Death and depiction of humans as machines. Characters like Death "take on the quality of symbols, become archetypes of sub-human forces who embody the concept of Destiny, or the threat to the German nation in the years immediately after the first World War. " (Titford 19). The spectral appearance of Death is a recurring feature in Lang's films. Moreover, there are the symbols of candle and fire, which Death compares to the way passion flares and burns up to the burning and extinguishing of mortal life (Image 1). Furthermore, imagery of staircases, clocks, and bridges are all elements Lang uses to indicate a character’s passage or journey (Image 2). Not only do the arched doorways, walls, and bridges indicate a journey, but their immenseness suggests the enormous task the woman is undergoing to save her love.
Throughout the film, few characters stand out as much as Death himself, played by Bernhard Goetzke. Goetzke’s gaunt features, his thinning, scraggy dull hair, his pale, sallow face, and sunken cheeks, and his fatigued, sinister stare make him perfect as Death. He is an iconic figure of Death, with his striking black silhouette and hollow features, but he has an almost fatigued aura. It seems that the melancholic Reaper has grown tired of endlessly performing his thankless task. His performance contrasts greatly from that of the two lovers, who almost become forgettable in the background. It is Goetzke’s calm presence and deathly features which enhance the somber atmosphere of the film (Image 3). On various occasions, Death stares blankly at the camera, eerily breaking the fourth wall. It seems like Death is looking at the audience, composing a sense of eternal dread and doom. The wife also stares into the camera; however, her reactions tend to be full of horror at what she sees (Image 4). Unlike the woman, Death is isolated and continually represents the ever-approaching abyss of death and loneliness. Death’s solitude is only heightened by the couple who are always near each other, the camera mirroring their intimacy with close-ups showing the way in which their love envelops their worlds. Only when the two are separate is any tension felt akin to Death’s empty gaze. Lang further explores the path of an innocent individual’s rebellion against Fate with the help of special effects.
The visual effects in Destiny echo heavily of Melies style of camera work, evident in the use of multiple, in-camera exposures. Nonetheless, the special effects work in favor of depicting the scenes, inspiring wonder in the audience. For example, when Death explains the significance of the burning candles to the young woman he raises a flame off its candle, the flame dissolves into the body of a naked baby which then vanishes, indicating that the child has died (Image 5). Another moment, shown in Image 6, depicts a magician riding a magic carpet to the Chinese Emperor’s palace. Here, audiences would be enthralled by the intriguing visuals which help encapsulate a sense of mystique and wonder throughout the film. The special effects team used traveling mattes and superposition to conjure these feats, which for the time, were astonishing. Along with the effects, Lang highlights aspects of mise-en-scene through light and shadow which adds a dynamic edge to the film. The images show a substantial contrast between the dark and the light with certain parts of the image blocked off in part of the frame. This great use of light and color can be seen in the impressive shot of the fiery destruction of the poorhouse at night that conflicts with the twilight scene of the townsfolk gathering water to fight the fire (Image 7 and 8). The townspeople try to drench the flames, but the building is quickly enveloped in raging flames, perhaps yet again representing the inevitable effects and overwhelming power of death and destruction.
Many of the sets in the film are simple yet contribute effectively to creating a sense of time. The imaginative expressionist sets feed off of the ominous tone generated by the dark-post World War I era. There was a sense that “The Weary Death,” which also serves as an alternative title to the film, was lurking and looming about. The atmospheric cemetery set, seen in Image 9 and Image 10, reflects this idea as the dark land harbors the souls of the undead and Death himself. In general, all the areas Death occupies tend to be intimidating and ghostly. Another example being Death’s lair consisting of a forest of tall candles, each one representing a human life (Image 11). Here the forlorn wife begs Death for her lover’s life (Image 12). The bleak and daunting scenes overwhelm the screen and provide contrast to the wife’s persistent fight with unappeasable death. Death’s height makes him appear larger than the mundane life outside of his cavernous hall of candles. The discomfort of other characters at his mere presence is evident almost as if his burden carries on to all those around him. Lang does detach from the gloomy atmosphere slightly in his dazzling and magical depiction of various exotic locations. When the woman’s journey begins, the audience is taken to a middle-eastern enclave where she attempts to protect her secret lover from a barbarous king (Image 13). The people of the Middle East are stereotypically depicted as cruel brutes, mimicking the social climate of the time. Regardless, the expansive set provides a jumping point for storytelling as it encapsulates the grief and the lovers’ dreamlike reality as it degrades into a nightmare. From there, she is transported to a Venetian court where there is a fight to the death. The clean geometric structure of Venice is accentuated by the beautiful imagery that creates a distinct Renaissance painting composition (Image 14). The overall look helps to support the narrative of the film. Lastly, the woman arrives at an ornate, fantastic vision of Imperial China where the Emperor demands to be entertained, threatening a beheading to any who fail (Image 15). Similar to the Middle-Eastern characterization, the Chinese are all depicted in extreme stereotypes, seen in Image 16, with claw-like nails and long white beards and eyebrows. Of course, the film was made in a time of ignorance to design and representation of other cultures. Unfortunately, the wife does not succeed in her mission. The tragedy and fate she has been attempting to avoid quickly approach as she is left with one option: a soul for a soul, in exchange for her fiancé.
In short, there is a palpable sense of melancholy to Destiny emphasized by the innovative special effects, remarkable expressionist sets, and stylistic costumes. Even among the magic and the theatrics you can see Lang reflecting on death, questioning the coexistence of two powerful forces such as love and death, and why death must inevitably conquer love. In many ways, the colliding force of these concepts is the central thesis for Lang’s hauntingly poetic fantasy film. His expressionistic film went on to inspire countless other filmmakers, like Alfred Hitchcock and Luis Bunuel (Bunuel, Mantgani). Overall, the combination of distinctive stylization, complex narrative structure, and a morbid mix of death and romance all add to the enduring appeal of the film.
