Knock Knock : Let The Right One In (2008)

*SPOILERS ALERT

Some people are spectres.  They exist in a liminal state, occupying that thin grey area that separates the light from the dark, their presence felt rather than acknowledged, and who you never quite know whether they turned up for the party, or if you’ve invited them in the first place, and you’d have to check the clips or the pictures on your camera in order to confirm.  Oskar (Kåre Hedebrant) is that kind of person.

Director Tomas Alfredson introduces us to Oskar in such a form, a transparent reflection in the bedroom window.  He looks pale and emaciated, sickly even, a ghost rather than a human being, which standpoint is reinforced several times throughout the film by having the boy shot out of focus or partly hidden by another actor in the foreground.  Oskar seems to be dissolving right in front of our eyes as he tries to make the step from childhood to adulthood.

This passage, although daunting for many, is not a bad thing.  You are entrusted with an increasing number of responsibilities, which means that the opportunities at your disposal to contribute something meaningful for you personally and society in general, multiply.  You get to do things.  However, when all you have to aspire to is an arid and bleak landscape, empty streets and adults who are either incapable of managing their own lives or prefer to vegetate in a state of minimal existence, just like cattle (which is why the victims are drained in a manner that recalls livestock), in such conditions the heart falters.  This is what’s happening to Oskar.  He has nothing and no one to look up to except maybe for the murderers and serial killers with whom he is obsessed.  These people kill, they spill blood, and in order to do so they must seek life first, sort of like vampires do.

Eli (Lina Leandersson) is a vampire and, in a splendid reversal of roles, is the one who injects life in the moribund suburb of Blackeberg.  Just like Oskar, Eli occupies a liminal space: she looks like a girl but she’s not*, she looks twelve but she’s much older, she acts like an animal but she’s much more than that.  Her very existence creates a tension that goes against the ennui that pervades the landscape; it animates the endless sea of white with splashes of red.

Despite stating that she does not want to become friends with Oskar, Eli yearns for companionship.  Håkan (Per Ragnar), her manservant, is too old and inefficient (he botches up the only two kills we see him do); she needs somebody new, someone younger.  Oskar is in her same predicament, as besides adults and the school bullies, we do not see him interact with anyone else.  They are made for each other.

The relationship between Oskar and Eli is by far the most interesting aspect of the film.  It functions on a symbiotic level whereby Eli helps Oskar become more assertive and stand up to the bullies, augmenting his visibility.  He is cockier and willing to test his boundaries, sometimes with potentially brutal consequences, like the scene where he dares Eli to come inside his house without inviting her in.  Oskar, on the other hand, injects some much needed humanity in Eli.  She rediscovers the joy of having a friend, of sharing her life with someone.  Irrespective of her true age, Eli still inhabits the body of a twelve year-old and Mr Alfredson seems to suggest that the girl’s physiology impinges on her psyche – she is an eternal old girl rather than a woman trapped in a girl’s body.

The ending is just as ambiguous.  There is hope as the sun is out and we see Oskar moving away from the city in a train.  Eli is inside a box next to his feet and they are happily communicating in Morse code.  This could be the beginning of a new life for Oskar, or else, the start of yet another cycle for Eli.

*For the sake of clarity I’ll be referring to Eli as a female.

Related Articles

• Let the Right One In: No 8 best horror film of all time (guardian.co.uk)
• Fantastic Fest ’10: Devin Faraci Wrestles With The Mimicry Of Matt Reeves’s LET ME IN! (aintitcool.com)
• The 5 Biggest Diferences Between Let Me In And Let The Right One In (cinemablend.com)