German Expressionism - Dark City

German Expressionism is an art movement that started in 1905 by architecture students at Dresden. It started by affecting mainly painting and poetry and later theatre, dance, architecture and film. It was heavily influenced by experience of war and its consequences like unemployment, inflation and difficult political situation. Expressionists were focused on feelings and expressing them, not necessarily in a realistic way. Their work has simplified or distorted forms it is often dark and dream-like. Artists wanted to show their emotions through their art in a subjective way. 

Synagogue Frankfurt Am Main, 1919, Max Beckmann

After the war expressionism found its way into the cinema. Filmmakers were heavily influenced by art, what can be seen in set designs and overall dark atmosphere of their films. Movies made in that style have very specific characteristics. One which is probably the most noticeable is high contrast and use of shadows and light.  

Nosferatu (1922)

To have full control of the lighting directors needed to use sets. Detailed set design is an important feature of expressionist films. It was used as an way of expressing emotions, to get into the audience’s mind. In The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari much of the background was painted by the set designer which gives the film bizarre, unnatural feeling.

Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1920)

 Actors use exaggerated gestures, they performance is very theatrical, they often wear dark makeup which emphasise it even more. Full control over the mise-en-scene and all the artistic moves give expressionist films a surreal, unrealistic feel. As a result of the times at which these movement evolved, expressionist film involve themes which are frequently dystopian in relation to the future, nostalgic about the great past of Germany and often on the edge of madness and sanity as well as reality and dreams. 

Artistic choices made by expressionist filmmakers inspired  others which can be seen in film noir and horror films, but also in works of particular filmmakers, for example Tim Burton. One of the films in which the audience can notice expressionist influences is Dark City by Alex Proyas.

Dark City (1998)

The whole action of the film is set in a city, which looks like a flat planet, alone in a middle of the universe. There is no sunlight, plan of the city as well as personalities of residents are changed by Strangers every night. Use of the light is very theatrical, illuminating only the most important parts of the image, for example faces. The overall atmosphere of the film is dark, threatening and dystopian. No one can stop Strangers, because no one knows about them and what they are doing. Gothic architecture and its constant modifications are giving a distorted image of the city, similar to an expressionist painting or set design. Strangers are obsessed with finding a way to become like humans which brings back the theme important for expressionists, madness. Dark City is a film that draws inspiration from German expressionisms in many ways and uses it in a modern cinema.

Dark City (1998)

German Expressionism is a movement that influence many forms of art at the times it evolved but its impact can be still seen today. Films created in that style can be called art films, because of how different they were to the mainstream cinema at that time, as well as the new, artistic techniques used by filmmakers in a process of creating them and the expressive value of those movies.