What do the lilacs in Nosferatu signify? Details explored

Nosferatu is a film by Robert Eggers and stars Nicholas Hoult, Bill Skarsgard, Lily-Rose Depp, Willem Dafoe, and Aaron Taylor-Johnson among others. The film is a remake of the 1922 film Nosferatu: A Symphony of Horror which was adapted from Dracula authored by Bram Stoker in 1897.

The gothic horror film is about a young girl and a vampire who is obsessed with her. It was released on December 25, 2024, by Focus Features. The official synopsis of Nosferatu reads,

A gothic tale of obsession between a haunted young woman and the terrifying vampire infatuated with her, causing untold horror in its wake.

The lilac is featured multiple times throughout the movie. Each appearance holds a significant meaning, however, the flower is majorly associated with Death in the movie.

Ellen's connection with lilacs in Nosferatu

A still from Nosferatu | Image via Focus Features YouTube

Ellen Hutter (played by Lily Rose-Depp) receives a bunch of Lilacs from her husband Thomas Hutter (Nicholas Hoult) before he leaves for more than a month for his real estate work. He has to sell a piece of land to Count Orlok (Bill Skarsgard). However, Ellen tells him to throw away those flowers as they won't last for more than a few days.

This might have been a foreshadowing of Ellen's own fate as Orlok haunts her later in the film. Later, we see Ellen recounting a nightmare to her husband and telling him that she was marrying death and could smell lilacs amid the heavy rain.

She then tells him that the audience of her marriage was dead and they were smelling bad. There is a hint that an unwell lilac smells almost similar to a dead body. The makers make a clear and strong connection between death and lilacs.

Towards the end of the film, Ellen is on her deathbed with lilacs put in her hair, similar to the one she wore on her wedding day. The nightmare eventually becomes the truth as she is surrounded by lilacs. She is killed by Count Orlok who sucks the blood out of her. But her blood also ends up killing him.

Subsequently, Albin Eberhart Von Franz (played by Willem Dafoe) shows up and puts lilacs on her dead body along with Orlok. This might have been done to mask the stench of death. There is also a scientific explanation for the connection as lilacs have indole which is basically the chemical compound that is found in dead bodies and is also associated with sensual scents.

More about Nosferatu

Nosferatu is written and directed by Robert Eggers who is known for his period genre films like The Witch, The Lighthouse, and The Northman. The film takes a page from the classic black-and-white namesake horror film and gives it a different spin.

It was released on December 25, 2024, and was loved by critics and audiences. It has also received several nominations at the Academy Awards in categories like Best Production Design, Best Cinematography, and Best Costume Design among others.

In an interview with Vulture, Eggers spoke about casting Bill as the vampire. He said he had Bill in The Northman but it didn't materialize due to the pandemic.

"Bill wrote me a letter saying that he, like, really wanted to be in Nosferatu. I didn’t respond to it because I didn’t really know what to say or what to do. And then I happened to see It Chapter Two, and there’s a scene where he plays Pennywise as a middle-aged man, and it had a lot of weight and a lot of darkness and believability, and I emailed or texted Bill and said, “Let’s work on an audition for you as Count Orlok, because I think you can do this.”