In "The Mephisto Waltz", an ageing master pianist of international repute becomes remarkably pally with a young pianist (now turned writer/reporter) of inferior talent. The wife of the writer/reporter looks upon this development with worry and suspicion, especially because the old man strikes her as sinister. The old man's daughter, an intoxicating and exotic beauty, also makes the wrong impression. The poor wife is right to worry, now that her unsuspecting husband has become the target of a pair of cruel and incestuous devil-worshippers...
As a horror movie, "The Mephisto Waltz" owes much of its force to the fact that it plays its premise - the actual existence of an actual devil who likes to be worshipped, appeased and flattered - absolutely straight. In the movie, objects such as a grimoire or a sacrilegous ointment actually work ; they are terrible instruments of mischief and death, as fearsome as a gangster's machine gun or an arsonist's torch. Clever visual touches add to the growing sense of fear and dread : for instance, the coffin of a recently deceased man is crowned with peacock feathers, while a series of white death masks testifies to a long history of protean evil. The movie also contains one of the most trippy, disconcerting parties ever filmed, what with humans wearing animal masks and at least one animal, a large dog, wearing a human mask.
The movie can also be read as a sly satire on the subject of class differences, with a pair of hard-working middle-class people discovering the world of the very very rich, where people throw naughty parties (gasp !), take expensive drugs (unbelievable !), travel all over the world (but what about the drinking water ?), accumulate louche friends (just look at that Eurotrash ! I bet they all speak French !) and lead idle and licentious lives (a bunch of sex maniacs, that's who they are !).
Sadly the movie is also beset by a number of shortcomings, possibly related to unfortunate editing. For instance, the pair consisting of the writer/reporter and his wife are supposed to be tenderly devoted parents. The wife, especially, is supposed to be an exemplary mother. Yet the sudden death of the daughter does not seem to cause a long period of mourning and depression ; the story moves along briskly in order to tackle other developments. There's also a nightmare sequence that, frankly, isn't all that well executed.
You'll notice that, according to "The Mephisto Waltz", it's relatively easy to contact the Prince of Darkness himself. And to think that, here in Belgium, I've just spent sixteen full weeks trying to contact a certain government agency - the offices were closed, my letters went unread, my mails went unanswered, and each attempt at a telephone call ended in gibbering failure. ("If you want to discuss an individual file, press 1 / If you want to obtain general information about legislation or changes in legislation, press 2 / .... / If you want to start an archaeological dig in the middle of Our Lady Cathedral of Antwerp, press 744 / If you want to marry a near-sighted robber baron with four hands, press 745 / If you want to emigrate to Bolivia - well, by now that's sounding like a grand idea, isn't it ?")
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