In Jim Jarmusch's Only Lovers Left Alive, are vampires going extinct?

When Eve finds Adam's wooden bullet and assumes the worst, she gives him the benefit of the doubt by asking if he was, "having problems with one of the others."

Adam says plainly, "I don't see any others. Ever."

With clean blood being so rare that they have to pay someone for their food source, the line coupled with Tom Hiddleston's delivery seems to imply that the majority of vampires in this world seem to be dying off.

Does anyone else get that impression from this scene?

plot-explanation only-lovers-left-alive

Best Answer

I personally felt this while watching the movie, that vampires were endangered and dying out. The lack of pure blood, the ennui from living so long, and the fact that humans (their food source) seem intent on wiping themselves out, all lead to a bleak outlook. It's analogous to our own extinction, and the loss of our culture that will go along with it.

While I was unable to find a direct quote from Jarmusch, it seems many reviewers felt the same:

Washington Post:

a rueful, often ravishing study of a civilization teetering on the very brink of extinction.
Village Voice:

In the universe of the film, the sun is setting on humanity. The world began with an Adam and Eve, and may well end with another similarly named set, since the living are slowly polluting their bodies to extinction."
SBS Australia:

these vampires are romantic and tragic figures, brought to the brink of extinction.