The Iron Rose (1973)

If forced to come up with an opinion, and it definitely varies from film to film, I would have to say that, yes, I am a fan of Jean Rollin. I've known of his work now for about 30 years, finally diving in to explore his filmography after years spent sampling the more straightforward pleasures of other celebrated directors, and it has been nice to eventually see some of his films become available nowadays in presentations that actually treat his work with due respect.

The Iron Rose is a simple film, arguably even more focused on the dream-like/nightmare atmosphere and visuals than most of his other films. A man (Hugues Quester) and a woman (Françoise Pascal) go on a date that leads them to a walk through a large cemetery. It isn't long until they realise that they cannot seem to find their way back out again. That's really all there is to it.

While leaving behind the vampires that he had become known for, Rollin still stays well within his comfort zone here. That comfort zone just happens to be an obsession with death and the macabre. Do the main characters here have a real problem developing around them, or is it just some kind of self-made conundrum? And is the best way out of the scenario to struggle against it, or give in to the strangeness?

Both Pascal and Quester do very well to hold your attention, the former having to work that bit harder in scenes with her all alone, and the film doesn't need any other supporting characters. There are some figures shown here and there, opening sequence aside, but they're more like props being moved to emphasise the strangeness of the cemetery.

Inspired by the poetry of Tristan Corbière, with dialogue by Maurice Lemaître, Rollin excels here in creating something that is atmospheric and continually dances around between moments of joy and moments of terror, and sometimes both together. I know that this is something that could be said about almost any Rollin film, of course, but The Iron Rose is up there with his most successful creations, and certainly stands out from the pack by retaining his favourite themes without making use of fangs (or Brigitte Lahaie).

Maybe not one to select as your first foray into Rollin (there are two or three I would put ahead of it when it comes to being introduced to his work), but it's somehow contains both a sense of the familiar and a sense of the unique that should have fans ranking it very highly in any attempt to order his filmography. 

8/10

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