Selected Press for Nosferatu
The Times: INTERVIEW:
How I taught Lily-Rose Depp to act posessed in Nosferatu.
December 31st, Blanca Schofield.
MARIE-CLAIRE.COM: How Lily-Rose Depp Worked with the 'Nosferatu' Movement Coach to Craft Ellen’s Sexual Awakening, Sadie Bell. December 2024.
Screen Rant interview with Lily Rose Depp and Emma Corrin
Lily-Rose Depp: We worked with an amazing movement coach who helped me so much. Her name's Maria-Gabrielle Rotie. She helped me tremendously to choreograph all of those moments and also make sure that we were reading them in a part of her artwork, because it's the external manifestation of the internal war and pain that she's going through.
So we wanted to make sure that all of those moments not only looked how they should on camera, but also that they were giving the viewer a part of her storytelling. That they were telling the viewer something about what she's going through in that moment. That was really important.
Vanity Fair
Canfield, David. ''Lily-Rose Depp’s Road to Nosferatu: “People Have Been Ready to See Me Fail”,
Vanity Fair ,November 21st, 2024
VF
Once you land the part, obviously a lot of physical training goes into it. Walk me through that work—you trained in butoh, is that right?
Lily Rose Depp
''Yeah. Butoh is this Japanese dance discipline, it’s fascinating. Rob was most inspired by the total abandonment of the self so that you can let something else enter your body, like another spirit. If you watch videos of it, you’ll see these people with the most blank stare—it really feels as though they are not there anymore. There is room for something else to come into them. That was a really important aspect of it. Then we worked with an amazing movement coach, Marie-Gabrielle Rotie. She is phenomenal, really helped me map it all out. Going into it I had thought that it was going to be maybe more improvisational; the physical parts were more vague to me in my head. I didn’t realize how choreographed it was going to be, but that helped infuse every moment with an intention. Physical work lends itself to emotional work. They kind of go hand-in-hand: I guarantee if you start shaking your body like crazy, you’ll kind of want to cry.''
VF: Did you feel that way?
Lily Rose Depp
''For sure. It’s very vulnerable. I was trying to make myself be there as little as possible and let whatever I was trying to summon overtake me completely. It’s a destabilizing place to be emotionally. That brings up a lot. It was definitely very physically and emotionally draining. Even just breathing really heavily, you’ll exhaust yourself. It was important for me to care for myself.''
Depp, the daughter of fellow actors Vanessa Paradis and Johnny Depp, has taken on her most physically demanding role to date. Speaking to RTÉ Entertainment, director Egger was keen to highlight that the scenes have not been enhanced by CGI. Instead, Depp worked closely with a movement coach in preparation for the part.
"That was definitely a huge part of the work for me," she said of mastering the possession scenes. "I couldn't have imagined how much work was going to go into it. I'm so grateful that the process was what it was because I was lucky enough to work with an amazing movement coach, Marie-Gabrielle Rotie.
"She is so talented and she really helped me not only to get the physicality of it but also to map it out so that each of the physical moments in the film had their own clear intention and a place that they were coming from so that they tell a story, in a way. She brought so much expertise to that whole aspect of the shoot."
''Depp threw herself into rehearsals, training with movement coach Marie-Gabrielle Rotie to nail several episodes of “hysterical” possession. “People are going to be shocked by how incredible she is and how powerful her performance is,” said Eggers.
yahoo.com entertainment
transcript from interview between Lily Rose Depp and Kelsey Weekman
How did you get ready to do those really intense scenes?
LILY: well, thank you. there was, yeah, that there was a good amount of preparation that that went into it.
I had an amazing movement coach Marie Gabriel Rotie who she kind of worked with all of us on set, and she was, she's incredibly talented and she really helped me to you know, not only find those movements, but make sure that they were all telling a story, you know, like as the story progresses, so too does Ellen's situation and what she's going through her kind of like internal internal war, if you will.
And so we wanted to make sure that those physical movement movements not only looked right physically on camera, but that they were also contributing to the storytelling and and and telling the viewer something about what she's going through in that moment.
And so in a way that the physicality and the emotion kind of went hand in hand, which was cool.
DEADLINE - ANTONIA BLYTH, DECEMBER 2ND 2024
In training for that body work, Eggers brought in Marie-Gabrielle Rotie, a choreographer who specializes in Japanese butoh (originally named ankoku butoh, which translates as “dance of utter darkness.” “Butoh was something that I was familiar with,” Eggers says. “I had worked with Marie-Gabrielle and [choreographer] Denise Fujiwara on The Witch, and so I had a basic understanding of it, and knew that it would have many of the tools to do this stuff. So, some things became more demonic possession, but the starting place was with Marie-Gabrielle Rotie.”
Tyler Dane Wingco, Esquire, Australia. December 4th 2024
Depp is otherworldly, glowing in the moonlight like an Anna Weyant heroine before cracking a demonic smile; she worked with movement coach Marie-Gabrielle Rotie to nail several hysterical possessions that could be interpretive dance if you haphazardly walked into the cinema. During these sequences, I wondered who else would’ve been game enough for a retelling of Nosferatu from Ellen’s perspective, and none came to mind. Pouty and head-strong, in one instance, her own tongue threatens to rip itself out of her mouth by sheer will of feeling foreign in her own subconscious. Exorcisms take on a visceral physicality that makes a show of muscles and contortion that’s more abstract than brutish.
Pema Bakshi, The Dark Arts: Lily-Rose Depp Trained In Japanese Absurdist Dance for ‘Nosferatu’,
To capture Orlok’s intensifying possession, Depp was required to embody his demonic thrall over her, which physically called for the actress to arch and contort her body most unnaturally without any cinematic effects. For this, the director enlisted the expertise of Marie-Gabrielle Rotie, a choreographer known for her work in Japanese Butoh, an avant-garde form of theatre that translates to “dance of utter darkness”——an art form that is about as unconventional as it sounds.
“Butoh was something that I was familiar with,” Eggers says. “I had worked with Marie-Gabrielle and [choreographer] Denise Fujiwara on The Witch, and so I had a basic understanding of it and knew that it would have many of the tools to do this stuff. So, some things became more demonic possession, but the starting place was with Marie-Gabrielle Rotie.”
Godfrey, Alex. In the Blood with Robert Eggers Nosferatu, Empire, January 2025 edition. pp90-95
‘’ (Robert) had Lily work with movement choreographer Marie-Gabrielle Rotie, who as she states on her website, has researched ‘’possession, hysteria, human and animal hybrids and associated research into the occult and witchcraft’’. Rotie worked with Depp for months, significantly on Butoh, a form of Japanese dance theatre; ‘’butoh’’ means ‘dance of darkness’’. ‘’I used butoh with Marie-Gabrielle in the Northman, on the Berserker transformations, an a little bit at the end of The Witch,’’ says Eggers. ‘’ Also Marie-Gabrielle and I looked at [neurologist Jean-martin] Charcot’s study of, quote unquote, ‘hysterical’ poses, ‘hysterical’’ attitudes’’. They gave Depp drawings of them, ‘’ to see what would work in scenes when she’s doing things that the contemporary docs of the day would call hysteria. ’’
Depps work in this sequence, says Eggers, was all performed there and then in camera. ‘’ It was one of the hardest things for Lily to do and she does it wonderfully, without any CG. It’s all just Lily’.
Davidson, Adam, 'Robert Eggers on Directing ‘Nosferatu,’ One of the Year’s Most Anticipated Films', Sharp magazine, November 28th, 2024.
https://sharpmagazine.com/2024/11/28/robert-eggers-interview-nosferatu-2024/
AD: I was really impressed by Lily-Rose Depp as Ellen Hutter. What made it such a great physical performance?
Eggers:'' I’m excited for people to see how raw, brave, and sophisticated her performance is. Everything she is doing physically is all real; nothing has been sped up or manipulated. That’s the work she did with the choreographer, Marie-Gabrielle Rotie, to do all of that hysteria and possession stuff. I have not worked with an actor who is as easily emotionally available as Lily. She just goes there without a lot of effort.''
Natalie Portman interview with Lily Rose Depp
“I’m a Sucker for a Crazy Love Story”: Lily-Rose Depp, by Natalie Portman
https://www.interviewmagazine.com/, December 3rd 2024
DEPP: Yeah. You watch the movies and you prep the lines and you think about the character, but I don’t really know if I’m doing it right until I get there, and you start having conversations with the director. There was a lot that I learned once I actually got to Prague. That’s when things got really fleshed out. Because, for example, for the movement, I thought I was just going to go and freak out and we’ll improvise. And then I got there and it was very much choreographed.
PORTMAN: I was wondering about that, because both you and Emma [Corrin] in those moments are extraordinary with your physicality.
DEPP: Thank you. I was grateful not to have to shape it on my own. I couldn’t have guessed how helpful it would be to have Marie-Gabrielle [Rotie], our movement coach, there to help me. We also rehearsed the movement with the corset on.
PORTMAN: Oh, smart.
I
How Robert Eggers Turned ‘Nosferatu’ Into a Psychosexual Nightmare
Siddhant AdlakhaDecember 9, 2024, Film Freeway.com
Question:
Lily-Rose Depp is firing on all cylinders, with work that’s raw and unhinged, but at the same time, she’s constantly vulnerable. What was the process of capturing a performance that oscillates between these rhythms?
Robert Eggers:
With the way Jarin and I work, the actors have to fold into the rhythm of the camera, which is kind of backward. But when we’re designing shots, the idea is to tell the story and to support the emotion of the character. Lily-Rose is a phenomenally brave and incredibly hardworking performer, and I think so much is appropriately being applauded about the physical stuff she’s doing. She worked tirelessly with Marie-Gabrielle Rotie, the [movement] choreographer, on doing all the body work, which is both physically and emotionally exhausting—because she’s not just moving around; she’s being possessed or being tormented.
Visarg, FandomWire: November 8th 2024
Yeah [we had] Marie Gabrielle Rotie, a Butoh choreographer who I worked with also with on The Northman. Lily did tons and tons and tons of body work with her. (Eggers)
A lot of people have wondered if some of that stuff is CGI enhanced, but she [Lily-Rose Depp]did all of that stuff physically. (Eggers)
Directors Guild Theatre of America
Guillermo del Toro and Robert Eggers Q & A at post-screening Directors Guild Theatre of America, Los Angeles Thursday 7th November 2024 published in Variety.com 2024 author Clayton Davis.
Time code 13.25 to 14.20
During the Q&A, Del Toro said he had used a Butoh dance teacher on the set of his upcoming film Frankenstein, and asked if Eggers had done the same for Depp’s choreography. “Yeah [we had] Marie Gabrielle Rotie, a Butoh choreographer who I worked with also with on The Northman,” Eggers said. “Lily did tons and tons and tons of body work with her.” The results were so impressive Eggers said, “A lot of people have wondered if some of that stuff is CGI enhanced, but she did all of that stuff physically.”
Guillermo del Toro responded that the movement is ''REMARKABLE''.
RE: I remember you worked with Ása [Júníusdóttir] on lowering your voice and Marie-Gabrielle [Rotie], the movement choreographer who is instrumental in Lily [-Rose Depp]’s performance and your death scene together. But in the beginning I thought she was going to have a lot more to do with your physicality. And there was a point where both of us felt you were doing too much stuff. Once you were in all the make-up, the costume, you just needed to be. You had the full make-up on for one of the first times and you were like, “Yeah, I don’t really need to do much. I just went to pee in the make-up, saw myself in the mirror and it was the scariest experience of my life.”
Breznica, Anthony, 'Bill Skarsgård on Remaking Nosferatu and the Pressure of “F--king With a Masterpiece, Vanity Fair.com, November 13, 2024.
Bill Skarsgard (BS)
Before putting on the prosthetics, we explored so many weird things and looked into butoh, this sort of Japanese corpse dancing.
Did you say “corpse dancing”?
BS
Yeah, butoh is this Japanese corpse dance. It’s all these, kind of, mummified movement patterns. It’s spectacular. It brought this much more precise and much more rigid and slow movement.
.......................................................
Dance of Darkness: Lily-Rose Depp and Robert Eggers reveal the gothic influences of their vampiric horror Nosferatu Mia Lee Vicino 26 Dec 2024 Letterboxd
Give Your Soul to the Dance
Although Nosferatu is a thoroughly European tale, it’s infused with a tasteful smattering of Japanese influence. “I’m a massive fan of Japanese cinema. With The Witch, I was thinking about Onibaba,” Eggers enthuses, adding that there are potentially similarities between Kuroneko and Nosferatu as well. “There’s a film, 964 Pinocchio, that was influential with some of the sound design, actually.”
The Northman 2022 Directed by Robert Eggers
But the most prominent Japanese inspiration was the dance theatre of Butoh. “It’s called the ‘Dance of Darkness’, and it’s about emptying yourself and letting something else in,” the director explains. “Żuławski was interested in Butoh and [Jerzy] Grotowski and voodoo in the work that he was doing to get some of those performances. I worked with a Butoh choreographer on The Witch, Denise Fujiwara, on some of the movements that the witches were doing. And Marie-Gabrielle Rotie, whom I worked with on The Northman, I knew was going to be perfect to work with Lily.”
“It was fascinating to watch because it’s very entrancing,” Depp enthuses of Butoh. “It’s an art form that I was really excited to discover because it’s so beautiful and so specific, and it happened to be extremely pertinent to what we were doing. This idea of letting your consciousness slip away as much as humanly possible in order to make room for something else to take over you was perfect for what we were aiming for.”
She continues, “I feel like that inspired me, doubly in the sense that, from a character standpoint, I wanted Ellen to be as empty as possible so that Orlok or the darker forces could take over her completely. Also, for me as an actor, in order to do this kind of work, it is imperative for your own consciousness to slip away, because you can’t be thinking about all of the normal things that you think about: ‘How is this looking?’ and ‘Am I looking silly? Is this weird?’ Ironically, in order to project the illusion that you have no control over your body, you must have complete control over your mind.”
“All of these things that we think about as conscious beings, I tried to remove that as much as possible,” Depp muses. “In general with acting, you have to do that because it’s the most serious form of play. You have to go back to a childlike imagination where you’re not thinking about those things and you’re just so dead serious about what you’re doing in that moment.”
Are Hot Vampires Out?, Lily Ford, December 13th, 2024. The Hollywood Reporter
“It was physically and emotionally demanding,” Depp says about the astonishing physical performance she displays, bending her body out of shape, convulsing while her eyes roll back into her head and tears flood her cheeks. Marie-Gabrielle Rotie, a choreographer specializing in Japanese butoh (“dance of utter darkness”), was brought in to help. “The torment that she’s going through is the meat of the movie,” Depp continues. “The darkness she’s carried within her since she was younger is now coming to a head. She found a husband that has been able to anchor her to the world, the light, and then he goes away and leaves her vulnerable to the forces who want to claim her.”
https://offscreencentral.com/2024/12/02/nosferatu-2024-review/
The physicality of her performance, with the help of movement coach Marie-Gabrielle Rotie, is honestly unbelievable. For Depp to not only be able to physically pull off the body contortions that plague Ellen but also remain emotionally grounded in the scenes is the true marking of a high caliber actress. Depp is raw, brave, and otherworldly in a performance that reckons with the high emotional beats of the story that are both relatable to the audience and supernatural at its core.
THE POSSESSION
Robert Eggers: The big confrontation scene towards the end of the film is, to me, the possession that I’m the most proud of. We rehearsed that and blocked her movements very differently. When we finally were shooting it, Lily was overwhelmed by the dress, and it did not read on camera what she was doing. Marie-Gabrielle Rotie, the choreographer who worked with Lily, and I went home that night and both of us were trying to think of something different to do. We came in onstage the next day and rehearsed with Lily. And we did have to change the camera movement to accommodate this. It became more about the face, because the movement was lost in the dress.
I was losing sleep over this confrontation scene because a little after halfway through the film, we have a competent version of the kind of possession scene we see in a lot of other movies. But then we need to top that somehow, visually and/or emotionally. According to my taste, we did. I can’t speak for audience members.
To prepare for Ellen’s gripping possession scenes, Depp worked closely with movement coach Marie-Gabrielle Rotie, an expert in Japanese Butoh. “We started very simply,” Depp explains, emphasizing the importance of even the smallest details in her character's movement. “Because Ellen has this connection to another realm, and there’s something paranormal about her, I wanted that to carry through to all of her movement.”
The 25-year-old Lily-Rose Depp has a star-making turn in Nosferatu. Scenes in which a demon possesses Ellen are particularly mind-blowing; as Depp contorts her body in a way that defies comprehension.
Eggers said it was "inspiring" to witness her performance.
"That body work is very difficult and I often do a whole lot of takes, but at times I knew there was only a certain amount of takes I could get because it's so physically exhausting to do what she did," he explained.
"It was marvellous to watch her work with the choreographer Marie-Gabrielle Rotie and get better and better and better and better at this stuff. It's probably in the press notes, but I just want to point out that it's not [CGI] enhanced and that is really her."
Making Nosferatu Sounds Even More Cursed Than Watching It
Deep thought went into its possessions and exorcisms too
Eggers: [French neurologist Jean-Martin] Charcot made etchings of every hysterical pose that his patients did. Those were a bit of a menu for us to go through. When you read the script, [Lily’ character Ellen is] doing this thing. Now she’s doing this thing. Now it’s really crazy. Now it’s really, really crazy! [Movement director Marie-Gabrielle Rotie, Depp and I had to ask ourselves:] how do we actually do that? When is it sinister? When is it sensual? When is it childlike? When is it demonic? The more The Exorcist-like stuff is not, for me, the most powerful. I think that the [demonic sex] scene with her and Nick, even though it’s in some ways less flashy, is more unique and disturbing.
https://southpawfilmworks.net/?p=5640
Anya Taylor-Joy was the original choice to star as Ellen, and she would have no doubt been excellent. Scheduling conflicts necessitated a different casting configuration, however, and the change clearly benefited Depp, who manages the impossible by commanding a level of viewer attention that somehow surpasses Skarsgård’s bold rendering of Orlok. Press materials have touted the extent of Depp’s preparation. Ryan Lattanzio’s Indiewire summary of a recent NYC screening mentions the performer’s training with “interdisciplinary movement artist” and butoh specialist Marie-Gabrielle Rotie, who worked with the actor on the movie’s incredibly physical (and CGI-free) choreography.
Goldsmiths Press Office/News
https://www.gold.ac.uk/news/nosferatu/
Den of Geek, October 15th, 2024
https://www.cbr.com/nosferatu-review/
That said, Rose-Depp delivers what will surely be hailed as a career high for the actor. In one scene, she performs a breakdancer's chest pop while recalling both The Exorcist's Linda Blair and Possession's Isabelle Adjani. With strange ululations and gyrations, Rose-Depp brings something crucial to Nosferatu's heady mix of restraint and unyielding desire, namely, risk-taking. Here is a performance that is as erratic and unholy as it is utterly hypnotizing. Eggers films Ellen with a mix of fascination and repulsion, sometimes admiring her moon-like visage, other times with pity, and always with some emphasis on her neckline. At moments, audiences will be disgusted with themselves for considering just what will happen when Orlok snatches a glance of that welcoming neck.
https://www.avclub.com/nosferatu-lily-rose-depp-practical-posession
https://www.buzzfeed.com/crystalro/nosferatu-facts
Lily-Rose Depp's 'phenomenal' Nosferatu coach from Haverfordwest, December 3rd, 20204.
Elizabeth Birt.
Terry Zeller, Nosferatu's first reviews in as critics are all saying the same thing about Lily-Rose Depp's performance, Daily Mail, 3rd December 2024.
Depp gives Ellen’s delirium a tragic gravity, deepening once she acknowledges the mystical forces within her that sparked the vampire’s obsession.
'She can switch in an instant from weak and vulnerable to demonic, and the stylized physicality of her seizures is breathtaking.'
David Rooney, Hollywood Reporter, December 3rd 2024
Nosferatu’ Review: Bill Skarsgard and Lily-Rose Depp Are Riveting, but Director Robert Eggers Rules This Haute-Horror Feast
Depp gives Ellen’s delirium a tragic gravity, deepening once she acknowledges the mystical forces within her that sparked the vampire’s obsession. She can switch in an instant from weak and vulnerable to demonic, and the stylized physicality of her seizures is breathtaking.
Jordan Raup, December 2nd 20204
Nosferatu Review: Robert Eggers’ Haunting Vampire Tale is a Feast for the Senses
Depp’s physicality in portraying these fits and spasms––as eyes roll into the back of her head, limbs contort, and Orlok’s menacing voice pours through her mouth––is otherworldly in execution. In a film meant to exude a cold, chilling effect, Depp brings the most entrancing sensations of doom across the impressive ensemble.
Dan Bayer, December 2nd, 2024. https://nextbestpicture.com/nosferatu-2024/
Ellen feels so constricted by expectations, even from the one person supposed to love her beyond anything in this world, that she has a full-body freakout, ripping her bodice in frustration. Depp gives a knockout performance, gyrating and contorting her body with fearsome commitment. Channeling generations of female rage, loneliness, and longing, Depp fully gives herself over to the material, at times genuinely feeling like a woman possessed – by a demon, sexual desire, and the righteous fury of someone who knows the source of their pain and terror even when everyone around is telling them that they know nothing. Horror usually gets shunned at the Oscars, but Depp is the latest in a string of horror leads that deserves the recognition, and very well could get it.
Nick Shager, ‘Nosferatu’ Is the Best Film of the Year—and I’ve Seen All of Them,The Daily Beast, December 2nd 20204.
Madness infects everything and everyone, be it Dafoe’s zealous proselytizer of the otherworldly or Depp’s besieged heroine, who spends much of the film with her eyes in the back of her head and her body convulsing in spasms that recall the freak-outs of Isabelle Adjani (star of Herzog’s Nosferatu adaptation) in Possession. Depp’s performance is a thing of gloriously unhinged beauty. Yet what truly enlivens it is the actress’ evocation of Ellen’s inner struggle between that which is craved by her heart and her loins—a battle that casts Orlok as not just a ravenous diabolical fiend but a manifestation of her profound loneliness and attendant (carnal) yearning.
Matt Donato, Daily Dead, December 2nd 2024 Robert Eggers’ NOSFERATU is a Ferocious and Emotional Gothic Vampire Tale
Quite surprisingly, Lily-Rose Depp steals Nosferatu. Ellen's recurring fits mimic contortions seen in exorcism movies as Orlok torments the woman of his dreams from afar. Depp writhes wildly, throwing her body into uncomfortable configurations while exerting immense physical strains to depict her character's imprisonment. Ellen's pandamonium is both sensual and scary, as she lustily moans about Orlok's impending visitations, themselves warnings about the pox upon Germany that's to come. Depp plays two roles as Thomas' depressed and lonesome partner, then Orlok's The Exorcist-lite nympho, the gyrating fever-dream iteration of an aristocratic vampire's beloved.
David Erlich, Nosferatu’ Review: Lily-Rose Depp Succumbs to the Darkness in a Psychosexual Fairy Tale That Breathes Fresh Life Into Cinema’s Most Famous Vampire, Indiewire, December 2nd 2024
Pouty but headstrong, possessed but clinging to what’s left of her power, Depp plays Ellen as a young woman so at war with the foreignness of her own unconscious that at one point her tongue threatens to detach itself from the rest of her face, as though the muscles of her body were attempting to escape through her mouth. Orlok’s influence overcomes Ellen in a series of Butoh-inspired seizures equal parts Linda Blair and Kazuo Ôhno, and there’s no small irony to the remarkable self-control Depp has to display in order to so convincingly wrestle with her character’s darkness, which concentrates inside of the poor newlywed like a blood clot.
Dance of Darkness: Lily-Rose Depp and Robert Eggers reveal the gothic influences of their vampiric horror Nosferatu Mia Lee Vicino 26 December 2024 Letterboxd.
Buzz Pulse: Inside Lily-Rose Depp's Mesmerizing Transformation for Nosferatu: Movement, Passion, and Feminist Power
Lily-Rose Depp's Transformative Preparation for 'Nosferatu'
In Robert Eggers' reimagining of the classic horror film Nosferatu, Lily-Rose Depp delivers a compelling portrayal of Ellen Hutter, a 19th-century woman entangled in a haunting narrative of possession and self-discovery. Depp's commitment to authentically embodying Ellen's physical and emotional journey involved intensive collaboration with movement coach Marie-Gabrielle Rotie, whose expertise in Japanese butoh dance significantly influenced the film's depiction of possession and eroticism
Immersive Movement Training
To accurately represent Ellen's experiences, Depp engaged in rigorous physical training, focusing on butoh—a Japanese dance form known as the "dance of darkness." This discipline emphasizes the abandonment of self to allow another spirit to inhabit the body, aligning seamlessly with the film's themes of possession. Rotie, a visual artist with a background in dance, guided Depp through this transformative process, choreographing movements that conveyed the character's internal struggles and desires
Historical Inspirations
The creative team drew inspiration from historical images of 19th-century hysteria patients, whose expressions and postures informed the portrayal of Ellen's possession scenes. Director Robert Eggers and Rotie provided Depp with these visual references during rehearsals, enabling her to internalize and replicate the intense physicality required for the role.
Choreographing Possession and Intimacy
Rotie meticulously choreographed the possession sequences, ensuring each movement reflected Ellen's psychological state. The collaboration extended to the film's climactic intimate scene between Ellen and Count Orlock, where Rotie's guidance was instrumental in crafting a performance that balanced vulnerability and empowerment.
Feminist Perspective
Rotie viewed her contribution as enhancing the film's feminist lens, exploring themes of female desire, eroticism, and the medicalization of the female body. Ellen's journey toward self-realization and autonomy is depicted through her physical transformation, challenging societal constraints imposed on women during the era.
Conclusion
Lily-Rose Depp's portrayal of Ellen Hutter in Nosferatu is a testament to her dedication and the collaborative efforts of movement coach Marie-Gabrielle Rotie. Through immersive training in butoh and a deep exploration of historical and feminist themes, Depp brings a nuanced and powerful performance to the screen, redefining the classic narrative for contemporary audiences.