Just watched an unusual French film with English sub titles. It's called 'Rose of Iron' (aka 'The Iron Rose', 'The Crystal Rose' and 'The Night of the Cemetery') from 1973. I had recorded it late at night from TCM.
It's categorized as a "horror" film by the IMDb. The story involves a young couple who meet at a wedding noticing each other across the room. The woman is intrigued by a few lines from a morbid poem that the man recites aloud to the group and seemingly to her. A strange poem to read at a happy event, still they seemed to enjoy it..Evidently the poem is a work in progress. The couple meet and talk after the wedding and decide to go on a date bike riding. Later, on the date the man suggests they go into the large ancient looking cemetery to picnic and explore. We see a solemn clown walking to pay his respects at a grave in full costume. Evidently this has some meaning that so far eludes me. Soon they find two steel doors facing down into the ground going into a sort of crypt. The doors remind me of those outside homes leading into some old cellars. The man induces the women to go down with him and look around. She reluctantly agrees. Soon they decide this damp dark underground crypt is a good place to light a candle and make love. They like the privacy it offers. This is perhaps the strangest place I've ever heard of for romance, except for a scene that comes later. It's almost the opposite of the mile high club. Here they are on their first date and they're making love underground in a cemetery. When they finally come up for air so to speak. They find it's getting late, almost dark. They try to find the path out, but they're utterly lost. It seems they're surrounded by endless old graves, tombs and statues. No matter how far they walk in any direction they seem to end up where they started. When they realize they can't find a way out we learn that the woman is either insane or has very quickly gone insane from their situation. It all becomes very surreal. She starts to create her own ending for the work in progress poem her new lover had recited earlier at the wedding. She says the words aloud taking up where he had left off. I won't say any more about the film so as not to ruin anything for those planning to see it.
This might have been a better film if it was about 30 minutes shorter. The concept itself of a couple who just met getting lost in a cemetery has potential. They know little about one another. The cemetery is a strange place to learn about a person. There's a chilling end to the film. It almost makes up for the endlessly dragged out scenes that come before. It's obvious that the director is obsessed with his lead actress.Françoise Pascal. We see long scenes of her ballet dancing among the graves or slowly approaching as she walks towards us from the misty distance. Scenes that could have been one fifth the length they were. One scene that took place in her mind has her dancing about nude on the beach. Obviously the director felt the need to find a way to fit a long sequence of her naked into his film. BTW, I did not know TCM showed total nudity. I guess their films really are uncut.
One person at the IMDb commented that we Americans complain about films like this because we have low attention spans and need nonstop action. We don't appreciate slower paced stories like Europeans do. He may have a point to some extent. But I'm a man who loves foreign films and is familiar with them. I say this one really is too long for its own good. Still, see it if you are able to fast forward frequently. The end really is chilling.
It's categorized as a "horror" film by the IMDb. The story involves a young couple who meet at a wedding noticing each other across the room. The woman is intrigued by a few lines from a morbid poem that the man recites aloud to the group and seemingly to her. A strange poem to read at a happy event, still they seemed to enjoy it..Evidently the poem is a work in progress. The couple meet and talk after the wedding and decide to go on a date bike riding. Later, on the date the man suggests they go into the large ancient looking cemetery to picnic and explore. We see a solemn clown walking to pay his respects at a grave in full costume. Evidently this has some meaning that so far eludes me. Soon they find two steel doors facing down into the ground going into a sort of crypt. The doors remind me of those outside homes leading into some old cellars. The man induces the women to go down with him and look around. She reluctantly agrees. Soon they decide this damp dark underground crypt is a good place to light a candle and make love. They like the privacy it offers. This is perhaps the strangest place I've ever heard of for romance, except for a scene that comes later. It's almost the opposite of the mile high club. Here they are on their first date and they're making love underground in a cemetery. When they finally come up for air so to speak. They find it's getting late, almost dark. They try to find the path out, but they're utterly lost. It seems they're surrounded by endless old graves, tombs and statues. No matter how far they walk in any direction they seem to end up where they started. When they realize they can't find a way out we learn that the woman is either insane or has very quickly gone insane from their situation. It all becomes very surreal. She starts to create her own ending for the work in progress poem her new lover had recited earlier at the wedding. She says the words aloud taking up where he had left off. I won't say any more about the film so as not to ruin anything for those planning to see it.
This might have been a better film if it was about 30 minutes shorter. The concept itself of a couple who just met getting lost in a cemetery has potential. They know little about one another. The cemetery is a strange place to learn about a person. There's a chilling end to the film. It almost makes up for the endlessly dragged out scenes that come before. It's obvious that the director is obsessed with his lead actress.Françoise Pascal. We see long scenes of her ballet dancing among the graves or slowly approaching as she walks towards us from the misty distance. Scenes that could have been one fifth the length they were. One scene that took place in her mind has her dancing about nude on the beach. Obviously the director felt the need to find a way to fit a long sequence of her naked into his film. BTW, I did not know TCM showed total nudity. I guess their films really are uncut.
One person at the IMDb commented that we Americans complain about films like this because we have low attention spans and need nonstop action. We don't appreciate slower paced stories like Europeans do. He may have a point to some extent. But I'm a man who loves foreign films and is familiar with them. I say this one really is too long for its own good. Still, see it if you are able to fast forward frequently. The end really is chilling.