Noferatu 24: I guess if I was to look at tarot depictions, Anna's the Empress while Ellen is the High Priestess. Anna has tamed her world and lives in the light of a loving god. She's got Friedrich enraptured, and from a 'rutting goat' as Thomas described him, has helped him become a doting father to their daughters. Anna can adapt to the world or gently make the world adapt to her and be happy. She's so kind and compassionate (prerequisites for traditional heroines, it seems; they must nurture and they must care.) Ellen... Ellen is something else. What is highlighted about her is her sensitivity to other 'lower' powers. Both of these women are connected to sex, Anna as a life-giving joyful force, Ellen as a vessel for hunger and satiety. Carnality and spirituality are locked together in each.

The 'new woman' is lost in all this. In the book, Mina is smart; she's the one who puts together clippings, news reports etc. In FFC's version, Mina is still crisply curious. Nosferatu 24 has nothing to do with woman as intellect. In the end, this is all about feelings, a reality in which the rational simply means nothing. The nearest we have to scientific involvement is Von Franz, a genius maverick. He's very kind and knowledgeable but given his moment in the burning crypt, it could be argued that he's a bit nuts himself. So it may not be a case of intellect free women, more that of intellect free people when faced with the unfathomable. But I don't know.