"Only Lovers Left Alive" Jim Jarmusch and his world depicted through vampires

Settings in the cities of Detroit and Tangier

The lovers in this movie live in different places. Adam is in Detroit and Eve is in Tangier, Africa. Regarding the setting of the city, Jarmusch says in the aforementioned magazine, ``Detroit is a deserted ghost town. Tangier is not a pretty place, but it's full of life.'' The mansion that was used as Adam's room in Detroit is a historical building that actually existed and was built in 1893, making it more than 130 years old at the time the photo was taken.

Detroit, once known as an industrial area for manufacturing cars, fell into disrepair and became a desolate place known as the "Rust Belt." The desolate atmosphere suits Adam, who feels bitter about the current era. Detroit is the mecca of soul music and the birthplace of Motown, and when Adam says to Eve, "There's also a Motown museum," she replies, "I'm a Stax fan," which becomes a conversation typical of a Jarmusch movie. (Motown, which produced artists such as Stevie Wonder, was the soul of Detroit and was called ``northern soul,'' while Stax Records was born in Memphis, Tennessee and was called ``southern soul.'')

In the second half, the setting shifts to Tangier, Africa, and an unexpected tragedy surrounding Marlowe is depicted. Until then, lovers had been able to survive by procuring high-quality blood from special places and drinking it like red wine. However, when faced with an unexpected crisis, he has to make a big decision to survive. They have no intention of pandering to the current times and want to protect the heritage of an older era, but first they must survive. The story ends in a heart-wrenching way with the lovers' ultimate determination (could this also be a reflection of Jarmusch's relationship with his long-time partner Sarah Driver?)

"Only Lovers Left Alive" (c)Photofest / Getty Images

Anyway, why is Tangier the setting? This is only my speculation, but the first person that comes to mind as a literary figure who left his hometown to live in Tangier is Paul Bowles, author of the novel `` The Sheltering Sky, '' which was also made into a movie. He wrote this masterpiece based on his experiences with his wife, Jane, whose name was changed to "Kit" in the book. In this Jarmusch film, the writer Marlowe calls the heroine "Kit," so maybe he was thinking about Bowles as well?

While Bowles was in New York, he was considered one of the Beat group writers, including William Burroughs, but Jarmusch himself was in contact with Beat writers. In this vein, the town of Tangier may have been included in the film as a sign of respect for Bowles.

Jarmusch previously adapted Bowles' novel You Are Not I (1980, released on video, directed by Sarah Driver). Film prints of the film went missing for many years, but were discovered in Tangier in 2011. Surprisingly, Bowles' butler discovered the film (Bowles had already passed away). Knowing this story, it seems like Bowles is also in the character of Marlowe played by Hart (Marlowe and Bowles also have gay tendencies in common).

``Only Lovers Left Alive'' is a simple story, but it has many different elements that make it thrilling to decipher its mysterious setting.

Text: Sawako Omori 

Movie journalist. His books include "Lost Cinema" (Kawade Shobo Shinsha) and other books, and his translations include "Woody" (by D. Evanier, Kinema Junposha). Contributes to magazines such as ``Weekly Women'', ``Music Magazine'', and ``Kinema Junpo''. A research book based on the web series, ``Mini Theater Revisited,'' is also scheduled to be published.

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