Blood & Roses aka Et mourir de plaisir* (1960) is a French production in English**, hard to get and even harder to forget once you have seen it. Never has a female vampire been so gorgeous and stylish. The film is a cinematic paean to the beauty of the director’s wife, Annette Vadim, just as Barbarella (1968) was for his later wife, Jane Fonda. Blood & Roses is sumptuous, the main players are gorgeous, the sets are stunning, the costumes are breath-taking and the score is a delight. This is a wonderful film, surely one of the best vampire films ever.
All this is obvious despite the fact that the only version of the film available today is a DVD rip of a 1990s VHS tape, a tape that is of the mutilated US version of the film. The original version was 87 minutes; but this was cut to 74 minutes by Paramount for the US market by chopping out all of the naughty lesbian scenes and adding a Blade Runner-esque voiceover at the start to explain the story. In the version we watched, the colours were washed out and the image and the sound were ‘soft’, but the film was still brilliant! That a decent print of this film is not available on DVD, while Andy Warhol’s piece of shit, Blood for Dracula (1974), is available in every DVD shop is a crime.
Although based on the Sheridan La Fanu, Carmilla story, there are some important differences. The beautiful Carmilla von Karnstein (Annette Vadim) is hopelessly in love with her cousin, Leopoldo, who is already betrothed to Georgia. This doomed love triangle mirrors the family history of 400 years earlier when Millarca, the family vampire, also besotted with her cousin, killed a succession of his suitors. The chilling story is told through the whispery voice of Carmilla, who seems already under the influence of the ancestral vampire, which sends a tingle down your spine! To put the film in a nutshell, which is not going to do it justice at all, Carmilla is possessed by Millarca’s vampiric spirit, she re-enacts her past and eventually gets Leopoldo.
* The French title translates as "To Die of Pleasure", but Blood and Roses are recurrent motifs, thus the English title.
** Some people claim that this film was shot in French and dubbed; this is rubbish. Not only are the actors clearly speaking English, but the tomb of Millarca reads "Here lies my love, Millarca", not "Voici se trouver mon amour, Millarca"
[The stunning Annette Vadim and Elsa Martinelli as Carmilla and Georgia]
[Mel Ferrer as Leopoldo]
[The heartbroken Carmilla]
[Carmilla is drawn to Millarca’s crypt]
[Carmilla's bleeding heart, which can only be seen thus in a mirror]
There are too many worthy scenes to go through here. The narrative elements are too clever and too many to list. But we like a challenge so here are our top six:
1. For visual beauty, the scene at the party as Carmilla strides passed the pool
2. For chills, the predatory chase of the servant girl by Carmilla/Millarca (also stunning beautiful)
3. For sophistication, the dueling piano scene
4. For emotional voltage, the broken wine glass at dinner scene
5. For sheer freakiness, the dream sequence
6. For fun, the ‘dance on your bed while your drunk’ scene
[Carmilla strides passed the pool]
The servant girl and Carmilla
Carmilla playing the piano (Carmilla's reflection comes into focus as Leopoldo enters the room)
Carmilla drinks from her broken wine glass
A scene from Georgia's dream sequence
Carmilla changing records after her bed-dance
We got our copy of Blood & Roses from www.VideoScreams.com [catalogue no. 1467 on this page], if anyone knows of a longer version then speak now!!
The entire film is also available at present chopped up into ten-minute chunks on YouTube. The following chunk is from the ball near the start of the film, including Annette Vadim's solo bed-dance. You can follow the links from this to the rest of the film. Enjoy!
[UPDATE March 2010: for a discussion of the 77 Minute version: see here]
