One the of most important horror films of all time is the French film, Les Yeux San Visage (Eyes Without A Face, 1960), a film that is visually more stimulating than the far more famous Psycho, released later that same year. Les Yeux Sans Visage deals the plight of a beautiful young woman who is horribly disfigured in an accident, so her father makes attempts to have a skilled surgeon conduct a facial transplant. They obviously need a face, a beautiful face, from which to transplant and there’s not many ways to get the willing donor. This plot device has been duplicated many times over the years, Jess Franco alone has made several versions, and even Les Yeux isn’t totally unique, even though it is a stunning film in its own right.

Les Yeux’s origins can be traced back to The Hands of Orlac (1924), which was adapted from Maurice Renard’s book of the same name. Both films deal with vanity and loss of beauty, but in the case of the Hands of Orlac it’s more about the inability to give beauty, in the form of music. Orlac is an amazing pianist who losses the ability to play when his hands are damaged in a train accident. There is still a certain amount of personal vanity involved, especially when Orlac despises his hands and their inability to give him personal worth and thus the adoration of millions of fans. Blood Rose takes its cues from Les Yeux San Visage, and focuses it attention purely on the vanity aspect. Blood Rose clearly shows us just how the loss of beauty can destroy a personality in an age where beauty is king, or queen.

The majority of this early part of Blood Rose is played in flash back, and there are three distinct parts to the film. The past, present, and finally, the future. In the present section, we see the lives of the once happy couple, and just what a dramatic effect Anne’s accident has had on their relationship. Anne is very bitter and treats those who are looking after her cruelly, especially her attractive nurse, obviously jealous of what she no longer has. She drives her nurse to tears and sends her off as she rages against the poor woman. Her jealousy peaks when she sees her husband fooling around with the nurse after he made attempts to console her, and Anne’s fears are confirmed.

One of the more important aspect of Blood Rose, in it’s effectiveness, is the fact that very little of Anne’s face is revealed. We are provided with small glimpses of her hideous features, but the whole is not revealed until much later, which obviously leaves a lot to the imagination. When Anne appears on camera, generally we see through her eyes, with hazy camera shots representing her poor vision.

 

 

Frederic is into plants, and Professeur Römer (Howard Vernon) is experimenting and creating new plants for him. Frederic for some unknown reason brings a deadly poisonous plant into the house, and it’s not long before Anne is tricking the nurse into touching the plant. When the plant pricks her with its poisonous spikes she falls to the floor dead. Anne has no problems telling Frederic that she killed her because the woman was getting between them.

Frederic and his small of stature servants bury the body of the nurse, but things are not quite that simple. The nurse’s sister begins to get suspicious when she receives a letter saying her sister left to tend for another patient. She decides to travel to the chateau to find out what really happened to her sister, and why she left so suddenly.

 

Информация о фильме:
Название: Кровавая роза
Оригинальное название: La rose ecorchee
Год выхода: 1970
Жанр: ужасы, sex, готика
Режиссер / Director: Клод Мюло / Claude Mulot
Сценарий / Writers: Jean Larriaga (writer), Claude Mulot (writer), Edgar Oppenheimer (writer)
Оператор / Cinematography by: Roger Fellous
Original Music by: Jean-Pierre Dorsay