“Yesterday upon the stair I met a man…” and he was me. Doppelgänger – mysterious doubles – have a long history in folklore around the world, but the word we use was coined as recently as 1796, by a German novelist. In our film for October, a lively student named Baldwin has run through all his money, and is at his wits end. He is inveigled by a sharp and diabolical-looking fellow student, a jokester named Scapinelli, to exchange for a fortune in gold — not his soul, oh no! Merely, “anything I may choose in your room.” Baldwin, who sees nothing of value in the room, happily agrees – and is astonished when Scapinelli chooses his image in the mirror, and it obediently follows the jokester out of the room.
He soon learns how complicated and downright spooky life becomes when your mirror image belongs to someone else. Especially because he has fallen in love with a baroness whom, with his newfound wealth, he is now empowered to court – except for the fact that she is already promised to her cousin, whom she dislikes but has agreed to marry to keep the baronial inheritance in the family. The trap for all of them is thus set, to be sprung by the being who looks so like – but is not – Baldwin himself.
The horrific atmosphere of the film is intensified by the interpolation of lines adapted from a poem, La nuit de décembre, by Alfred de Musset. The original poem is quite long and describes many visitations to the author, in moments of sorrow or pain, by “a young man dressed in black, who resembled me like a brother.” Finally, during such a visitation on a December night when he is bitterly mourning a love who has left him, he confronts the apparition, and receives an answer.
“Friend, our father is yours. I am neither the guardian angel, Nor the evil destiny of men. Those I love, I do not know Which way their steps go, On this little bit of mud where we are. I am neither god nor demon, And you named me by my name When you called me your brother; Where you go, I will always be there, Until the last of your days, When I will go and sit on your stone. Heaven has entrusted your heart to me. When you are in pain, Come to me without worry. I will follow you on the path; But I cannot touch your hand, Friend; I am Solitude.“
In The Student of Prague there is a sinister alteration in the stanza quoted, and the visitor, while he may be “neither god nor demon,” is anything but Solitude. Born out of a rash contract, denying Baldwin control over his destiny, and tied to him by an unbreakable tether, this doppelgänger is more active, and more malign.
The final character in the drama is actually much more like Musset’s visitant: described as a Gypsy woman who loves Baldwin, is jealous of his attraction to the baroness, and is certain that his contract with Scapinelli will cause him harm, she slinks, crawls and climbs over the sets, adding through her own contortions the sense of doppelgänger stalking that Baldwin’s mirror image disdains. And like Musset’s “Friend,” she is helpless to alter the course of his downfall, but can only shadow him and watch.
For a link to the livestream and recording, please subscribe ($5 ticket/$10 subscription with access to all of our films). This is what sustains our series of fascinating silent films with Dr. Carli’s wonderful improvised accompaniments and commentary. I will make a final check at noon on Sunday 10/27 for new subscribers and ticket holders who wish to join us live at 2 pm; after the livestream the recording will remain available at the same link.