Page 176 - Alternative Europe Eurotrash and Exploitation Cinema Since 1945

combination of contrivances and sado-masochism are given an outlet in many of Rollins more outre
works. La vampire nue's (1969) story is either unbearably complex or paradoxically simplistic. The
plot (perhaps) for this film follows a young man who resolves to discover the secrets of a bourgeois
and exclusive society which appears, upon first inspection, to be a bizarre suicide cult. A mysterious
young girl is involved, but is she victim or protege? And then there is the laboratory and scientific
experiments. Rollins narrative ensures that the mystery surrounding the cult and the girl unpeels like
the layers of an onion and that no information given to the audience is extraneous. When all the layers
have been revealed, the audience is still left with mystery.
Much of Rollins style harks back to Feuillade in his 'cinema of attractions' approach to story-
telling. Here:

the spectator is external to the story space, an effect created by tableau staging, long takes and
the essential autonomy of each shot. The overall strategy is one of showing: the displaying of
events, tricks and scenes rather than the telling of, or immersion in, a story.2

Although he does not necessarily shun classical Hollywood narrative devices, Rollin often creates
a tableau for each scene through which he allows the audience to immerse themselves. Continuity
editing in these sequences is absent and he rarely employs shot/counter-shot in establishing character
relationships. His narratives are generally linear and flashback devices or other temporal shifts are rare.
If they are employed (the childhood memories of both Levres de Sang (1976) and La morte vivantt
(1983)), they are used to enhance the audience's emotional understanding of a situation rather than
provide an explanation of events.
Rollins use of the static shot and long-shot puts him at odds with the over-reliance on fast editing
that plagues much of modern cinema. Audiences nowadays are bombarded with images to intensify
a film's pace. They are not given the chance to sit back and soak up a scene. In Rollins oeuvre the
camera often lingers on a single framed shot through which the characters move and the action takes
place. It allows the viewer to absorb the details (including the incidentals in the background) rather
than be shown exactly what is 'significant' in any given shot. This brings attention to the links with
painting and poetry (where similarly words are to be savoured longer because of their basic brevity)
as well as re-emphasising Rollins intention to provide mystery. He often selects settings of natural
beauty or unusual locations.

LANDSCAPE AND LOCATIONS

In many of Rollins films the action takes place at a chateau in the rolling French countryside, which
is filmed as lovingly as any of the characters and is complementary to his use of framing and the long
take. Similarly, Rollin has a favourite beach, near Dieppe, where many of his vampire films conclude.
In Le violdu vampire it is the place where new lovers run to their untimely but ultimately short-lived
deaths. The beach is their death but also their resurrection through blood - their executioner is killed
and, as the camera tracks perpendicular to the beach breakers, their naked bodies stir, revived by the
freshly flowing blood on the rocks. The beach also provides a setting for the resolution of plot threads

162