“Let The Right One In” is a 2008 Swedish film directed by Tomas Alfredson and based on a popular novel of the same name. Narrated as a coming-of-age story about a twelve-year old boy’s friendship with his unusual neighbour, at the same time it explores controversial themes, such as vampirism, pedophilia, school bullying, and violence. These themes become intricately connected, making the plot twists unexpected for the viewer. It can be said that the success of the film is not only based on a popularity of the urban legend about vampires, but on the way in which it reverses age and gender roles and challenges the audience’s assumptions about victims and abusers.
The story focuses on the relationship between a lonely and bullied child Oskar and his new neighbour, a mysterious girl named Eli. Initially Eli’s s wish to befriend Oskar does not look suspicious. At this stage of the action, she looks as an average child, whose father Hakan is depicted as a serial killer and a pedophile, very likely to be involved with his daughter. However, the perception of the situation changes completely when one realizes that Eli is a vampire and is much older than Hakan who serves her by killing people and collecting their blood for her. In addition, she is not even a girl but a castrated boy. Thus, her image of a victim is based on lies, and she manipulates Oskar into believing it. It is easy to suggest that many years ago Eli did the same thing to Hakan, and that some day Oskar can end up the way Hakan did.
Both Eli and Oskar have complicated gender images. Eli, who pretends to be a girl, has androgynous looks and a low voice. In turn, Oskar is a boy, but his appearance and initial behaviour are rather feminine – he is blond, pale and apparently physically weak. He is bullied by his classmates, but does not protect himself and only imagines violent ways to have revenge. The events of the film allow suggesting that Oskar may be latently homosexual. His relations with Eli support this idea – whe she states that she is not a girl, he replies that it changes nothing. While at this point Oskar probably does not realize what Eli means, later on, when he accidentally sees the scars left by the castration, he does not react at all. It implies that Oskar does not oppose the idea of being romantically involved with another boy.
The movie does not only present age and gender reversal, but also the shift between the victim and the abuser. As it was already said, while initially Eli looks like a victim of Hakan, in reality he is victimized and ultimately killed by her thirst for blood. Also, she may be perceived as a victim of her vampirism. She bitterly tells Oskar that he can become a killer if he wants to, but she simply does not have a choice. However, …