Vampires, Sex and Power

The Sinema of Matthew Saliba

Vampyros Lesbos

The Sinema Collection of Matthew Sailba

Web: http://www.myspace.com/vampyros_lesbos

Matthew Saliba is a challenging filmmaker exploring the world of sexuality and symbolism. His work is highly stylized and includes many different levels of possible meaning and interpretation. The first thing one notices about all his works is the innovative use of colour, music and texture with a carefully chosen soundtrack without the intrusion of dialogue. Having watched all of this four short films I would consider his work to be primarily that of a “sexual symbolist” .He explores all manner of themes related to male-female power relationships, conflict between the sexes and eroticism in a surreal and symbolic manner. He does so in an extremely creative and sophisticated manner. His latest film, Vampyros Lesbos (2008) is his most accomplished production and is an excellent way to introduce the themes which seem to occupy all of his films since within the Vampire legend are the key motifs which seem to saturate his films.

Within the Vampire mythos is a key dichotomy between male and female sexual power. In the earliest vampire stories and films, the master vampire is male, bites and controls the females and creates a controlled menagerie of female vampires. While these women clearly have their own sexual prowess, it is at the males prerogative and under his control. At the same time there is the motif of the independent female vampire, she represents an intrusion against male sexuality, in most cases there is inferred even blatant lesbianism and she is seen as a threat against the male order. This conflict between male and female sexual power is really seen throughout the various vampire films. Even the death of the vampires via the steak through the heart (or a single beam of light) has a strong phallic emphasis. This seems especially emphasized with the death of female vampires where the crucifix and steak, wielded by men, kill their independent sexual expression as representatives of the Church, the State and the male.

In the earlier Hammer horror films the motifs of both female and male vampire sexuality became more and more obvious, especially with the evolution of films such as the Vampire Lovers with their overt lesbian scenes. It is however with the work of Jess Franco with Vampyros Lesbos that the themes became more explicitly explored. While Franco has been a prodigious filmmaker producing with wild abandon many different genres of films (most could be seen primarily within exploitation, horror and eroticism), Vampyros Lesbos is still remembered as one of his most accomplished and grounding breaking products.

Matthew Saliba’s homage to Vampyros Lesbos is an exploration of the same themes in a uniquely stylized and one could nearly say minimalist way. There is no dialogue, only carefully constructed images and set pieces presented with impeccable use of colour and light and music which creates the momentum of the film. Vampyros Lesbos is only twenty minutes long but is a very expressive short. It documents the various stages of the male-female power conflict. The male is allured by the sight of the two females (with seductive alluring music) and aroused. He is seduced by the sight and excited yet somewhat challenged by the slow menacing vampire presence emerging into the eroticism. Yet as his female partner responds, he is challenged by the sign of her independent sexuality and threatened. His male “power” does not satisfy her and she goes to the female vampires for satisfaction. He is “disempowered” and dominated through various forms of female domination. All of these stages are carefully presented with expressive images, very selectively chosen songs and music and postures and gestures which stylish what is being expressed. The use of bondage and sad- masochistic imagery is erotic and beautifully presented.

In many ways the way the film has been presented “compresses” the drama and symbolism into a short and intense form. It seems to communicate directly to the unconscious without the use of words avoiding conscious inference and hence is a powerfully expressive work.

As he escapes he is rescued by a man of the cloth and together they work to re-establish the phallic power of the male and the cross. This is symbolized by the powerful series of scenes at the climax of the film, after he has slaughtered most of the vampires he saves the last one with a giant crucifix phallus which we see enter her from the inside !

These themes of male and female power, sex and domination, conflict and violence are developed throughout all his work. In his earlier film “The Manipulator and the Subservient” 2003, (a 10 minute short) we have an early exploration of the same themes but through standard cinematic techniques. It is still without dialogue and has the same superior use of colour, mood and music, but the stylized use of still images doesn’t not enter his work under his “She was Asking for It” in 2007. The Manipulator and the Subservient explores the roles of submission and domination in more obvious and less obvious domains. It begins with an obvious domination submission scene with a husband, wife and submissive. However, this moves into more surreal domains exploring domination and submission in what looks like a “normal suburban” environment. The undercurrent being obviously that all sex is power and that all relationships are power relationships.

This is further explored in the truly taboo breaking “Pandora’s Paradox”, a 24 minute short from 2004. It would be difficult to summarize this surreal, Freudian exploration of polymorphous perversity. The myth of Pandora’s Box comes from Hesiod and she was created as a punishment for mankind. The box she held contained all the evils of humanity, which all escapes into the world when it was opened, she was only able to save one item, hope. Traditionally the Box is seen to represent the power of female sexuality and certainly in this short this is what is explored. It opens with a bizarre and violent scene of childbirth, which is rather surreal and shows the birth of a deformed child, which looks like a large thumb. The film explores all manner of Freudian sexual symbolism. Just some of the references which I saw as pertinent were the exploration of the relationship between being consumed and being the consumer, power and submission as expressed in conflict and power and, of course, the power of the Oedipal.

Over and over again we see reference to the primal sex scene where the “child” sees the parents sexuality and hence is imprinted with certain tendencies which are again replicated in their own sexual persona. Trauma on Trauma. There are so many levels of interpretation in this short you need to watch it many times over. The literal “returning to the womb scene” and the polymorphous perversity of the parents sex scene using all manner of medical and sexual instruments are superb.

Again the emphasis is on the use of images, colour, sound and light. There is no real dialogue and the momentum is created by the music. Many of themes in the work seem to replicate themselves in different forms so rather than a lineal piece it needs to be explored and considered.

“She was Asking for it” is a 10 minute short from 2007 and is the first use by Saliba of still images as the primary form of cinematic expression. In many ways it is a precursor of Vampyros Lesbos. It explores the themes of male and female sexual power with very explicit and powerful imagery. It uses images of bondage, submission and violation of the male by female (using various implements) resulting in his “phallic” revenge against the female involved. It is very powerful, brutal and yet beautifully filmed.

All of his works are challenging, intelligent and intriguing. They represent extremely innovative independent filmmaking which communicates in a surprising and unusual manner. His use of colour, texture, sound and light is both beautiful and delicate and he uses it to explore significantly transgressive territory. I found Vampyros Lesbos to be the best representation of the themes present throughout his work, but that being said cannot wait to see what he produces next !