Caligari Scene Analysis

Das Kabinet Des Doktor Caligari-Kidnap & chases scene analysis

The kidnap & chase scene of Das Kabinet Des Doktor Caligari is set at night, suggested by the inter-title “Night Again” & the blue tint. The night-time setting ups the sense of danger for me, as I know that a convention of the horror genre is that bad things happen in the dark. Being a low-budget German Expressionist horror film, the entire film was filmed in a studio on simplistic painted black & white sets, which give an interesting mise-en-scene full of hidden meanings & a startling contrast between black & white with little grey in between. The low budget, & subsequently poor quality of equipment, meant that the filmmakers had little access to lighting equipment. They made do with putting their expressionist artistry to good use by painting the shadows required onto the sets in thick black paint. The contrast between black & white symbolizes the stark space between ‘good’ & ‘evil’ in this allegorical world.

The first shot in this scene is a long shot where the mise-en-scene is showing Francis (Friedrich Feher), the protagonist, climbing down a staircase or walkway with the fictional town of Holstenwall in the background. His performance is tentative; he keeps looking from side to side as he walks. There have been so many murders in the narrative lately so he has to watch his back.  Watching, I also know of the imminent danger awaiting the main characters, which causes feelings of dread. He looks round the corner, is satisfied that coast is clear & he disappears around the corner.

We then cut to a long shot of the fairground, as Francis appears round the corner, still apprehensive. The circus tents create a distorted mise-en-scene & disorienting backdrop that echoes both the insanity of the situation that poor Francis is finding himself in & also the real insanity creating the entire delusion in his mind.

Francis becomes a dark shape against the angular background as he scuttles tentatively from one tent to another, checking each time to ensure no assailants lie behind any corners. He is paranoid & I sympathize with this paranoia & this is reflected in the bizarrely leaning buildings around him show that his life & mind are dangerously close to falling apart around him.

Throughout the film, stark contrast between black & white are drawn up to show otherness & the lack of middle ground in the old-fashioned town of Holstenwall, in the insular mind of Francis himself & in the wider world of post-war Germany. Francis is being proactive; he is actually trying to solve the crimes committed by Cesare by investigating. He is acting to affect the situation, he is trying to change his situation, and thus he wears black.

In the next shot, we see the caravan Dr. Caligari shares with his beloved sleeping slave. The caravan is leaning sharply to the side, almost as if it could tip over at any moment (like Francis’ mind) & the white façade cocoons the evil within.

Francis sneaks up to the window (which we subsequently cut to a close up shot of) as Francis gingerly looks inside. We then get to see what Francis sees (eye-line shot) inside. We are shown the dozing Dr. Caligari as he guards what Francis thinks is a sleeping Cesare (but is actually a dummy as the real Cesare is creeping into Jane’s room). The bars of the window frame the faces of the Doctor & his slave-dummy. The centre bar separates the two faces, showing the mounting separation between the two characters; Caligari thinks he is still totally in control of his beloved slave, but in reality his hold is more easily broken than he’d like to think. As is a convention of horror films, the obsessive love of a beautiful woman is the downfall of man; Caligari loses his dearest servant to a woman & Cesare loses his life to her.  This symbolism dates back to time immemorial, when early tales such as the tale of The Fall in Judaeo-Christian mythology, where the first woman cause the first man to lose paradise.

The window bars also show dominance in the relationship between Caligari & Cesare as Caligari is placed above Cesare. He is in control but the separation down the middle shows that his slave is beginning to develop his own autonomy, albeit a distorted view of freedom that is tragically cut short. It is also interesting to note that the camera is looking down through the window (a high angle), perhaps showing the power Francis feels as he takes the investigation into his own hands & takes control of his own destiny. The next shot comes from behind Francis as he looks through the window into the darkness. He gasps & we can feel his relief, which, in the next shot, we find out to be badly judged, as all is not well. As he feels relief at Cesare’s supposed stillness, the real Cesare is outside his girlfriend’s house, about to make every boyfriend’s worst nightmare a reality (at least in the world of the flashback/delusion in Francis’ head). 

The next shot is mostly black, showing only the pretty, delicate head of the sleeping Jane, but then we iris-out to see her full bedroom in all its Expressionistic glory. The mise-en-scene screams of secret danger & the false security provided by wealth & social normality. There are sharp points hanging over the window where Cesare will soon be standing & huge, dark spaces either side of Jane’s bed, which highlight her angelic sleeping appearance. She lies as if she is a young teenage girl who is lost in romantic infatuation with the man she loves. Whether the man in her dreams is Cesare or Francis is never quite revealed. I personally prefer to think that she is dreaming of Cesare as her reaction to him earlier in the film betrayed her confusion. Caligari presents Cesare to her in his cabinet & he turns slowly to lock eyes with her. She stares into his eyes then suddenly looks very shocked & runs away. As Cesare was not doing anything scary or dangerous at this point, I can only speculate that Jane’s reaction of fear was down to a fear of her own attraction to the somnambulist, as opposed to the somnambulist himself.