3.5 Bohemian-hipster-vampires out of 4
Slow, deliberate, and methodical, Jim Jarmush’s Only Lovers Left Alive is a romantic drama that touches upon the very human fears of abandonment, loneliness, and insignificance. Fans of the genre will note that Tom Hiddleston and Tilda Swinton play a pair of inexorably entwined vampires, but this information isn’t immediately relevant to the audience. That Hiddleston and Swinton are undead is information revealed gradually and at a steady pace, and much like the rest of the film, this information showcases Jarmusch’s dedication to subtlety and pacing.
Only Lovers Left Alive tells the story of centuries-old polymath Adam (Middleston) and his pale-haired paramour Eve (Swinton). Over generations, Adam has allowed himself to interact with the human world, influencing famous musicians, artists, and scientists all while distancing himself from the humans he ironically calls “zombies.” Adam’s messy apartment is littered with ancient recording equipment, analogue television sets, and inventions inspired by no-less than the likes of Nikola Tesla.
Eve is not just Adam’s opposite, she’s his complete antithesis. As he skulks about his messy Detroit mansion, she spends time in Tangiers with Christopher Marlowe. A particular scene in which the pair video chats caught my attention. To connect with each other, Eve uses a shiny smartphone to interact with Adam. Answering her call, Adam picks up a receiver for a rotary telephone, and using unknown scientific alchemy, he flips a switch that enables an analogue television to receive Eve’s wireless signal. In all, the two complete one other, and it’s Adam’s growing isolation that finally reconnects him with Eve.
Jarmusch’s film is largely character-driven, and it is through scenes like the one mentioned that he is able to advance the audience’s emotional connection to his characters without condescending tablespoons of exposition.
It is important to mention that not much happens in this film’s 123 minutes. Certainly, the film’s plot – written by Jarmusch himself – follows the traditional structural of a narrative film. There is, without a doubt, a beginning, middle, and end to the film; however, not a lot happens on-screen. Equally important to mention is that the film’s plot is set entirely at night, which not only obscures the audience’s acuity of space and setting, but also allows Jarmusch to focus his camera on exactly what he wants the viewer to notice. A scene in Adam’s car obscures the characters’ faces, and it’s only thanks to streetlights that the audience is able to make out the features of Adam and Eve.
However, Jarmusch undeniably crafts an immersive universe that not only touches on the audience’s cultural understanding of the vampire, but subverts our expectations of what vampiric immortality is really like. Our monsters speak volumes about us, and the vampire connects us to the dark side of sensuality and sin. That being said, when Jarmusch isn’t directing a story about a lonely man aching for something beyond his reach, he’s truly directing a “day-in-the-life” story. Ultimately, Jarmusch asks the question, “If you’ve been alive for so long, how would you keep yourself entertained?”
I don’t often talk about casting, but in this case I feel it would be criminal to not commend casting director Ellen Lewis. Hiddleston and Swinton – whose demeanours have often drawn comparisons to actual vampires – are frosty in their portrayals. Simultaneously nervous, bored, worried, and empowered, Swinton’s Eve completely understands Adam. Simultaneously self-destructive and disinterested, Hiddleston plays Adam like he knows what it’s like to have lived for countless millennia.
I mentioned earlier that not much happens on-screen. On this point, I must mention that Only Lovers Left Alive is a rare film in that it allows much of the exposition and character development to occur in the minds of its audience. We’re not explicitly told much more than the bare minimum required to move things forward. It’s through atmosphere and mood created by Jarmusch’s direction, Yorck Le Saux’s cinematography, and Jozef van Wissem’s music, that the film perpetuates any form of momentum.
In a phrase, Only Lovers Left Alive is cinematic minimalism. However, it’s also hypnotic, mesmerizing, and poetic in its storytelling.