Page 183 - Alternative Europe Eurotrash and Exploitation Cinema Since 1945

FIGURE 37 Rollins sexual imagery has frequently produced controversy: Le frisson des vampires (1970)

tap their white sticks rhythmically during the daytime, one in the left hand, the other in the right.
In most Rollin films the twins undergo a series of Trouille-inspired costume changes and Les deux
orphelines vampires sees this reach its obvious conclusion.

SURREALIST TENDENCIES

What you have seen and what you will see are only partly reality.
- La vampire nue

Time and again Rollin refers to the peripheries of the surrealist movement (including those whose
work reflects surrealist sensibilities) and his shots often contain such elements in their composition
and structure. Belgian artist Paul Delvaux appears to be an influence. His tableau of sensual women
in Sleeping Venus (1944), some clothed, some naked and some skeletal©, reflects Rollins penchant
for the surreal within his mise-en-scène. In Requiem pour un vampire wannabe vampire Erica performs
an organ solo to a group of robed skeletons. By having the luxury of time within his medium though,
Rollin can extend the principles of the surrealist painters' compositions. Magritte's oft-painted sea-
scapes are a case in point. Rollin would often film at the beach near Dieppe in a manner reflecting
Magritte's paintings of the sea {La naissance de l'idole (1926), La traversée difficile (1926), inter alia).
Rollin also has his characters move from interior locations directly to the beach in a manner that is
causally unlikely. The spatial jump to the sea can also be seen as a reference to the similarly startling

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