From what I've seen, it seems that director Yevgeni Bauer's best films are his tragedies obsessed with death, which include this film "Daydreams", as well as "After Death" (1915) and "The Dying Swan" (1917). Perhaps it has something to do with the interest of macabre subject matter, or maybe they provide opportunities for the best in Bauer's film-making, as well as Boris Savelyev's cinematography. The opening scene with the protagonist beside the coffin with his dead wife features a black background similar to those visible in Cecil B. DeMille's "The Cheat". Additionally, there's a trucking shot when he sees a woman resembling his wife (it does remind one of Hitchcock's "Vertigo").
Those are two advanced film techniques; even more impressive are those that Bauer uses to advance or annotate the narrative. Mise-en-scène was always one of Bauer's foremost concerns, and here there is a great opera scene on stage, which is about death. Besides being a detailed and lovely composition, it is also self-referential. In general, scenes are filled with props, decorations and adornments. The main room of the protagonist's home, where he keeps his wife's hair, seems to become more cluttered with objects as the story progresses, as he becomes madder.
Another interesting thing is how Bauer represents memory. The story is about a man who is tormented by the memory of his late wife. He often looks at photographs of her, which only keep his memory afresh. There's a scene of painting in this film, which seems to serve little of function for the story. For centuries, painting was the medium for mankind to document an event, or remember it. Photography has replaced it. Theatre, too, has seen cinema not only represent a story and life, but to remember it.
When the protagonist first kisses the woman who looks like his wife, the shot fades away into the likeness of a still photograph, as though a passing memory. The superimposed memory of his wife, or double expose effect, leads to a moving montage of his memories of scenes with his late wife. This is an impressive film, with much in its short runtime. To be critical, I think it's too short; the extra ten or so minutes in "After Death" or "The Dying Swan" made quite a difference, although their narratives were also more complex. Moreover, there are jump cuts in the finale; plus, you can see her breathing. Nevertheless, I consider "Daydreams" among Bauer's best work.
Those are two advanced film techniques; even more impressive are those that Bauer uses to advance or annotate the narrative. Mise-en-scène was always one of Bauer's foremost concerns, and here there is a great opera scene on stage, which is about death. Besides being a detailed and lovely composition, it is also self-referential. In general, scenes are filled with props, decorations and adornments. The main room of the protagonist's home, where he keeps his wife's hair, seems to become more cluttered with objects as the story progresses, as he becomes madder.
Another interesting thing is how Bauer represents memory. The story is about a man who is tormented by the memory of his late wife. He often looks at photographs of her, which only keep his memory afresh. There's a scene of painting in this film, which seems to serve little of function for the story. For centuries, painting was the medium for mankind to document an event, or remember it. Photography has replaced it. Theatre, too, has seen cinema not only represent a story and life, but to remember it.
When the protagonist first kisses the woman who looks like his wife, the shot fades away into the likeness of a still photograph, as though a passing memory. The superimposed memory of his wife, or double expose effect, leads to a moving montage of his memories of scenes with his late wife. This is an impressive film, with much in its short runtime. To be critical, I think it's too short; the extra ten or so minutes in "After Death" or "The Dying Swan" made quite a difference, although their narratives were also more complex. Moreover, there are jump cuts in the finale; plus, you can see her breathing. Nevertheless, I consider "Daydreams" among Bauer's best work.