The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari Study Questions

 

The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari Study Questions

1. What is the essential story?

- The story is told by a man in an insane asylum who describes a fair that him and his friend attended in the past. At the fair there is a man named Dr. Caligari, who has a somnambulist on display. During the fair there is a string of murders and it is revealed that Dr. Caligari is controlling the somnambulist to commit the murders. However, at the end of the film we discover that the man in the insane asylum imagined the entire thing and that “Dr. Caligari” is just the director of the asylum.

2. How does the film tell its story?

- The film tells its story through flashbacks to the story the narrator is telling. The film is also split into a number of different acts, each of which have their own sort of climax.

3. What conventions of cinematic storytelling does it use?

- The film uses close up shots to display the emotions of characters in certain moments. The film also uses the same transition of a circle closing on the screen throughout the entirety.

4. Explain the final "plot twist." 

- The final plot twist shows us that the entire story was made up and that the narrator and main character was actually insane. He had made up the story using other people from the asylum in the story and the villain of his story, “Dr. Caligari”, was the director of the asylum.

5. How does the final plot twist comment upon cinematic storytelling?

- It shows that the entire story can be revealed to be made up or imagined. 

6. What do the set designs say about early filmmaking?

- The set designs reminded me of sets from plays. The sets were not super realistic and they were designed in a way where the camera did not need to be moved at all.

7. What do the set designs imply about stories and storytelling?

- The set designs imply that stories and storytelling is about fantasy and surrealism. The sets look fake and I think this was an intentional decision to add to the story.

8. How do the answers to questions 6 and 7 move us to contemplate the cultural relevance of this film?

-  This film could have been one of the first films to tell a story in this particular style.

9. If you had to think about a more modern, 20th century film with traces to Caligari, what would they be? Why?

- Although the stories are very different, I recently watched Fight Club and the feeling that I got from the plot twist in Dr. Caligari was the same feeling I got from watching Fight Club. The films are very similar in the way that you end up question the reliability of the narrator.