De grafbewaker

Bizarrely structured yet compelling short film based on the writings of Franz Kafka and directed by the Belgian filmmaker Harry Kümel. It's especially interesting to see Kümel's smaller TV-work before he went on directing some of our country's ONLY great horror films like "Malpertuis" and "Daughters of Darkness" in the 1970's. The story revolves on a royal who's making some sort of inventory of all the employees working on his domain when he makes acquaintance with the guard of his family vault (= grafbewaker). The elderly and fatigue man claims to battle the restless spirits of the Lord's ancestors every night since more than 30 years. Initially, the guard seems crazy but he sounds really convinced and determined to continue his duty for several years more. There's a minimum on sets and no real action sequences, only dialogs and really good acting performances. The camera-work is also very stylish, with inventive angles and classy black & white filming. Julien Schoenaerts and Jeff Demedts are very adequate actors and they're still working now – 40 years later – for Belgian television.

Having been overwhelmed by my positive reaction to Harry Kumel's lesbian vampire cult classic DAUGHTERS OF DARKNESS (1971) and, to a lesser degree, the enigmatic haunted mansion tale MALPERTUIS (1971; which I have so far watched only in its shorter English-language version) some years ago, I have always been keen on catching up with the Belgian director's other work. In fact, in the interim, I have managed to acquire MONSIEUR HAWARDEN (1969; his first feature film), the TV mini-series THE ARRIVAL OF JOACHIM STILLER (1976) and, just recently, this brief (and, to me, unknown) Franz Kafka adaptation. Being on a short films kick of late, I have decided to start with the latter and leave the other two to savor at a later date. I have to admit that the allure of Kumel doing Kafka was too hard to resist and, for the record, I have also obtained another well-regarded movie inspired by the celebrated author's literary works – THE CASTLE (1968) – at around the same time I got the film under review. THE WARDEN OF THE TOMB is very stylishly filmed in black-and-white with exemplary sinewy camera-work around the décor of a castle hall in which most of the action (or rather story) takes place. A young and benign ruler meets for the first time the aged and practically forgotten titular figure while taking stock of his employees; their conversation reveals that the old man has been having ghostly visitations in the crypt by the ruler's ancestors every night for the last 30 years and, even more distressingly, that they have lately taken to calling for the young king to come join them. When the latter absents himself for a little while, the warden is joined by an arrogant and bullying member of the Royal family (the king's brother-in-law?) who, with the sinister court adviser (having been witness to the previous encounter), conspires against the throne. He mentions in passing the doppelganger nature of the regent but, just then, the latter returns to find the old man almost on the point of dying. As the warden is carried out by the royal attendants with the ruler following them, the latter's consort enters the room herself but, while she appears to be talking to her 'brother', the camera's tracking back reveals the room to be quite empty but for herself! I do not really know what to make of this mysterious ending except to say that I love open-ended stuff that gives way to multiple interpretations; in fact, my twin brother (with whom I watched the short) and I had completely different opinions on what had just happened! While I maintained that the arrogant brother was one of the ghostly ancestors hounding the warden, he thought of that same character as being the manifestation of the sovereign's alternative personality!!