I found myself feeling anxious as Helene and the hotel receptionist looked around the room of Helene’s deceased sister, with Helene commenting that she felt her presence in the room. The Vow of Chasity stipulates that “the film must not contain any superficial action” (UFT 113). Vinterberg is able to conjure discomfort in the viewer without the help of an animated apparition, or otherwise fabricated fabricated figure simply through suggestion. He suggests that a spirit is present through the handheld overhead shots of Helene stepping into the bathroom. Similarly, during Christian’s dream sequence, Vinterberg skates around creating a superficial scene by grounding it in reality, i.e. the incessant ringing of the phone in the hotel room. Again, in Christian’s dream, his sister is not a computer generated ghost, but is instead made to look like an apparition with only the flame of a lighter to illuminate her face. Deren nods to Vinterberg’s techniques when she describes how the absence of an actor in cinema (unlike in theatre–where the presence of an actor is a necessity) can contribute to a greater sense of reality for the viewer (CV 66).

This convention of The Vow of Chastity, although seemingly limiting, still offers immense creativity on the part of the filmmaker. Vinterberg’s suggestion of a spirit, through the exploration of the deceased’s former bedroom, or her appearance in a dream, achieves expressive qualities that even the best CGI cannot match.