The subtle twist in Tomas Alfredson movie ‘Let the Right One In’
Let the Right One In, the stunning horror drama released in 2009, which tells the story of the romance between a bullied schoolboy named Oskar and a 12-year-old female vampire, Eli, is what you could call a cinematic onion.
The film has layers and layers of depth, symbolism and many brilliant little details that might only be noticed in subsequent viewings. Alongside the mesmerising lead performances, stunning visuals, masterful storytelling and chilling scares, this is one of the many things that makes this Swedish vampire love story one of the foremost horror films of the 21st century.
One little detail, in particular, could’ve easily flown right over many viewers’ heads: Eli is actually male, or so it is implied. In one scene, Oskar watches Eli changing, and, just for a second, Eli’s scarred crotch is seen. This is never explicitly referred to again, but the implication is there, and in the original novel, written by John Ajvide Lindqvist, it is made clear that Eli was born a boy but was castrated and now presents as female.
Tomas Alfredson later opened up on this, revealing that he was initially going to address this more directly and include a flashback showing the castration but eventually chose not to. This wasn’t due to the graphic nature of such a scene, as one might assume, but it was because a shot of flesh being cut would’ve involved using a pig to substitute for the actor. Alfredson wasn’t willing to hurt an animal in this way.
While Alfredson is on record as a huge fan of the original novel, he made many differences when adapting the story. As such, the movie is not necessarily the most faithful of adaptations. To give another example, a very dark element of the novel was completely omitted from the film; in the book, Eli’s caretaker, Hakan, is a paedophile who takes care of Eli because he desires her.
At one point in the film, as Hakan sacrifices himself and allows Eli to drink his blood, in the book, he is reanimated as a vampire driven by his mindless desire for Eli. He is eventually destroyed by another character named Tommy, who isn’t included in the film. In the movie, Hakan is never hinted to be a paedophile, and he dies at the hospital at Eli’s hand.
Let the Right One In‘s surprisingly excellent (if unnecessary) American remake, Let Me In, in contrast to its predecessor, completely removes the question of the vampire’s gender. This incarnation of the character, named Abby and played by Chloë Grace Moretz, is presumably fully female.
As a result, both the Swedish and American versions might annoy fans of the book with their partial and complete omission of Eli’s real gender, but, taken on their own terms, both versions of the story still work really, really well. In particular, Let the Right One In is probably Nosferatu‘s only genuine rival to the claim of cinema’s greatest vampire flick.
