Et mourir de plaisir

Plot synopsis:
The ancestral von Karnsteins were rumored to be vampires. So strong was that belief that the peasants revolted in 1765 and, led by the village priest, invaded the Karnstein cemetery, drove stakes through the hearts of all the inhabitants and burned every corpse."One survived," Carmilla von Karnstein [Elsa Martinelli] tells the story while pointing to a portrait hanging on the wall. "Don't you think I look like her?" The lady in question is Millarca von Karnstein, saved on the eve of the massacre by her cousin and lover Ludwig von Karnstein who swore undying love for Millarca. But Ludwig proved to be unfaithful. Over their lifetimes, he became engaged to three women. Each of them died shortly before the wedding."If Millarca were to return, how do you think she would feel about me?" asks Georgia Monte Verdi [Annette Vadim], fiancée of Carmilla's cousin Leopoldo von Karnstein [Mel Ferrer]. "After all, doesn't (Leopoldo) resemble Ludwig von Karnstein? Will she kill me like the others?""Maybe this time she has come back for Ludwig," says Carmilla.Leopoldo breaks in. "Carmilla, enough," he says, "you are frightening Georgia. You play the game too well."Whether it is a game or whether Carmilla believes the story, it is obvious that she is in love with Leopoldo, so much that she arrives late to his engagement party. She also arrives in Millarca's white wedding dress, much to the dismay of all who know the Karnstein history. When fireworks set off from the deserted family cemetery accidentally ignite ammunition left by the Germans, Carmilla is drawn to Mircalla's unearthed crypt. An exchange of souls seems to take place. The sight of Carmilla now makes animals frightened, flowers wither in her cold hands, she recognizes 17th century music, the sun hurts her. Each night Carmilla goes to Millarca's grave to rest. One night she is spotted by one of the hired hands. The next morning, a young servant is found dead. Talk of vampirism begins, and suspicion falls on Carmilla.When the wedding plans are suddenly moved from the family estate to Venice, Carmilla seems to snap. The next morning, Georgia awakens with two bites on her neck and memories of Carmilla attacking her. That afternoon, as the army detonates the remaining ammunition left by the Germans in the Karnstein cemetery, Carmilla is blown off a cliff and becomes staked on a tree branch. The diagnosis is that Carmilla escaped into a dream world where she became Mircalla and that she hoped, by killing Georgia, to become the one loved by Leopoldo.Georgia and Leopoldo finally marry and, as the honeymoon jet carries them from Rome to Paris, Millarca narrates. No one suspects that Georgia is dead and that her body now belongs to Millarca. As proof, the rose in Georgia's hand withers. [Original synopsis by bj_kuehl.]

Tags: psychedelic, haunting

Review:
Doing LeFanu 'straight'--as in VAMPIRE LOVERS-- does not necessarily make for a better film as Hammer proved.When I first saw B&R 15 years ago, I was disappointed because I wanted it to be a direct telling of the source material.
Top that off with being possessed by a vampire, and I think dismissing her as "jealous" or "bitter" is a bit heavy-handed and easy.I'm not quite sure why this film is considered "exploitive"--was Vadim "exploiting" Annette and his divorce from BB?
It actually had far more explicit descriptions of Carmilla's breast-centric vampirism of young woman, but I don't recall the novella ever being described as "exploitive."There are a couple of jarring moments in the film that don't sit right with me, for instance, Carmilla and Leopold doing the comic piano duet about fishing, and some parts of the celebrated "dream sequence"--just too "art house," even Bergman-esquire, and certainly screaming Cocteau.
Definitely in my top 10.Just hoping that the delay in releasing BLOOD AND ROSES on DVD has to do with a pains- taking restoration and accumulation of extras on Paramount's part--this film is long overdue on DVD..
In a world where films such as "Twilight" are considered great vampire flicks, a little unknown gem like "Blood and Roses" comes as a extremely pleasant surprise as it is one of those films that you expect nothing from and turn out to be real cinematic works of art.
Unfairly underrated director Roger Vadim creates a dark, tragic love story, filled with beautiful landscapes, terrifying Gothic atmosphere, surrealistic feel, a lovely soundtrack and a suspenseful build up to a shocking and heartbreaking finale.
Making "Carmilla" a much more human character was a clever choice and makes you feel sympathy for her character, so therefore you actually feel bad for both the victims and the killer, which is something that usually lacks in horror films, at least in such an intelligent way.
I don't remember why I wanted so much to watch this movie, maybe the poster's picture, Annette Vadim and Elsa Martinelli kissing :).
And I still remember also the score of Jean Prodromidès (an underrated genius, his opera "The Persians" is a masterpiece!) It was almost 50 years ago, thanks to Annette, Claude Renoir, Jean Prodromidès, Vadim, I was become a movie-goer.
Later on I saw this film on television and I was deeply impressed - the atmosphere, the castle and landscape surrounding it, the two girlfriends running together and laughing (one of them will die because the other one is in reality a vampire), beautiful flowers ...
Contrary to the Hammer film "The Vampire Lovers" in which the girls relationship is explored very briefly and superficially, "Et Mourir de Plaisir" shows in more detail the delicate love story between two girls lived until death did them part.I don't remember so well the film after such a long time, but some images remained with me, and those images dictate the words I'm writing now..
I cannot seem to find this musical score other than by ordering the VHS video.I am particularly disappointed that I cannot find this film in DVD today, since I would like to have it in my library.I thought that Mel Ferrar was perfect for his role since he was seemingly oblivious as one might expect a country gentleman to be to what was going on with the girls.The film reveals a poignant story of unrequited love, with a fatalistic tone.
I recently had the opportunity to see the French version of this film ("And Die of Pleasure")and propose two things of note: firstly, the controversy over the omission of the dream sequence- regarding the official running time of 84 minutes, I believe it was actually included in the French version but this print was either damaged or censored, the cutting is way too abrupt and the scene rendered senseless.
Although there is a brief nude scene included in the dream sequence, there is one nude scene in the French version clipped out of the American prints- before Annette Vadim breaks the mirror she tears her dress away and reveals her blood smeared breast.
This is the second film adaptation of it – the first, a very loose one, was Carl Theodor Dreyer’s magnificent VAMPYR (1931; soon to be regaled with two fully-loaded SE DVDs on both sides of the Atlantic) and it was followed in quick succession by the Spanish/Italian co-production CRYPT OF THE VAMPIRE (1963; starring Christopher Lee, a quite good version, of which I foolishly erased a VHS copy I had recorded off Italian TV – the only edition currently available is the Retromedia R1 DVD which, unfortunately, presents the film dubbed in English), the Amicus/Hammer collaboration THE VAMPIRE LOVERS (1970; starring Ingrid Pitt and Peter Cushing) and Vicente Aranda’s eerily erotic THE BLOOD-SPATTERED BRIDE (1972).Director Vadim is better-known for having had great tastes in women (counting Brigitte Bardot, Catherine Deneuve and Jane Fonda among his discoveries/lovers) than for his film-making talents; I myself have only been truly impressed by one of his movies – THE GAME IS OVER (1966) – out of the seven that I’ve watched so far (including this one).
BLOOD AND ROSES could well have been the second…were it not for the fact that the edited 74-minute version I watched – prepared for U.S. home video consumption and sporting the Anglicized original title AND DIE OF PLEASURE – is a bit of a mess (the full-length French version is 87 minutes long), English-dubbed (naturally), panned-and-scanned (of course), and preceded by one of the phoniest credit sequences I’ve ever witnessed (that said, a reasonable photo gallery was included with the DivX copy I acquired, which starts automatically soon after the main feature).
Needless to say, I’d long wanted to watch this – but, bearing in mind the state of the edition I ended up with, in spite of its many pictorial rewards, it wasn’t an ideal viewing experience…and one can only hope that, given the amicable relationship between Paramount (who owns the U.S. rights for BLOOD AND ROSES) and Criterion, the film will turn up someday – in the original French language and uncut – on a decent official DVD (after all, the latter’s vast and considerable collection already numbers Vadim’s debut feature …AND GOD CREATED WOMAN [1956] among its releases).Anyway, the cast is an interesting combination of international movie stars (Mel Ferrer – who, coincidentally, has just died aged 90 – and Elsa Martinelli), newcomers (Annette Vadim nee' Stroyberg) and even a director (Marc Allegret, who had given Vadim an early start when he engaged him as his assistant).
The film makes a fair attempt to update the LeFanu original to contemporary times – though, rather than make Carmilla and Millarca one and the same, we get the former being possessed by the latter: this is quite subtly done (at least in this reduced form) as Millarca’s personality in Carmilla manifests itself in her suddenly knowing the steps to an ancient dance and her incongruous preference for a classical record!
Incidentally, the film was clearly intended for the Art-house crowd (resulting in being fairly talky for the first two-thirds) – even if it’s not quite in the same league as Georges Franju’s EYES WITHOUT A FACE (1959), an altogether more accomplished and successful marriage of the highbrow and the exploitative.That said, it contains any number of striking sequences: the costume party (with a fireworks display for backdrop) in which Ferrer dons a bat mask fitted with a pair of wings!; Stroyberg’s wraith-like pursuit of her first victim (her stilted performance is actually just right for the character) – despite its being obviously shot day-for-night; the wilted rose on Carmilla’s white dress turning to a huge blood stain (incidentally, this vampire registers in a mirror!); Stroyberg’s seduction of Martinelli on a rainy night inside the Karnstein family greenhouse (both women also love Ferrer, though he and Stroyberg are related!); Martinelli’s surreal, erotic and blood-spattered black-and-white dream sequence towards the end (in which, among other things, Stroyberg as Millarca operates on her naked self as Carmilla!) – which is the film’s undeniable tour-de-force; Carmilla’s demise as she gets staked during an explosion (the location being a cemetery holding remnant shells from WWII); and the very last image when another wilted rose betrays the fact to the audience, but not the oblivious Ferrer, that Martinelli has herself been turned into a vampire (the latter starts off as an ingénue but slowly, and believably, matures through her attachment to Carmilla).By the way, some weeks back I happened upon a recent TV interview with Martinelli; she seemed deservedly proud of her cinematic legacy (including a successful stint in Hollywood) but, unsurprisingly, this film – or another good one where she was also involved in lesbianism, Lucio Fulci’s giallo ONE ON TOP OF THE OTHER aka PERVERSION STORY (1969) – wasn’t mentioned at all….
It's been a few years since I last saw Vampyr, but I don't recognize much of the story in this one, except for maybe a little bit of vampire lesbianism.
She stars as Carmilla, a woman secretly in love with her cousin (Mel Ferrer, Audrey Hepburn's husband at the time), who is about to be married to Elsa Martinelli.
BLOOD AND ROSES, or ET MOURIR DE PLAISIR (to die of pleasure), is a spotty Eurocult horror film directed by Roger Vadim that works better as an experimental film than an actual movie that's supposed to entertain.
I enjoyed watching this movie for the amazing atmosphere, some of the great visuals and the truly beautiful score.
There would be extremely long moments with nothing going on.But BLOOD AND ROSES falls flat when it plays like a movie, with characters too sketchy for anyone to care about or moments which now look positively dated, like the drive through the country with the two men and the two little girls.
I can't imagine what people thought of this scene when they saw it back in 1960.If you watch BLOOD AND ROSES for the Goth moments and the music, you won't be disappointed but if you expect some sort of Hammer style horror film, with lotsa action, this film won't be your cup of tea.
Vadim's direction fails to make the most of these elements, or the story, alas, but Annette Stroyberg and Elsa Martinelli are both interesting.
This is what gets Carmilla into so much trouble in this film, Blood and Roses aka Carmilla, The Grumpy French Vampire.Like George Romero's later vampire film Martin, you're never quite sure if Carmilla has just gone insane due to her uncontrollable jealousy or if the actual spirit of her vampire ancestor has returned to take over her body.
Cinematographer Claude Renoir imbues the film with a startling yet dreamlike quality and the uncanny possession of Carmilla, who's in love with a male cousin just like her ancestor Mircalla was, keeps you guessing right up to the end.
For decades the only extant version of BLOOD & ROSES was a U.S. edited-for-TV print until the BFI rediscovered the original for their "Gothic: The Dark Heart Of Film" series last year.
Young Carmilla (Annette Vadim) is jealous of her friend's engagement, and her obsession leads her to the tomb of a female vampire.Critical reviews of this film seem overall negative.
It is unique, more accessible and shares some style aspects with the Hammer films, which may appeal to people who are not interested in old German cinema.Who makes a better male lead, Mel Ferrer or Christopher Lee?
I was originally disappointed with Blood & Roses, because I had been led to believe it was a Hammer-type vampire film.
(that sounds really bad.)  His movies aren't really very good storywise, but his wives have made for an interesting subject themselves.As an aside- according to IMDB, there is only one actor or actress with the first name of "Carmilla", and she's only made one film...
....Et Mourir De Plaisir.The first of the two fantasy and horror movies Roger Vadim made and without any doubt ,his best ;actually,it's arguably his very best movie ever,probably his best screenplay,a story which does not fall apart after the second reel;inspired by André Gide's diary in which the writer wondered why a vampire was always ugly :why couldn't it take the shape of a beautiful woman?The title may have been taken from Camille's lines in Corneille 's Horace (1640)after her lover's death caused by her brother (after all,the heroine is called Carmilla and the action takes place in Italy).Claude Renoir's cinematography is a feast for the eye ;it 's really a work of art ,when he depicts the splendid Roman landscapes or when he lovingly films the two actresses ,with subtle lesbian overtones.Till the end ,the director succeeds in sustaining ambiguity -we will never know whether there's a vampire curse or whether it all happens in Carmilla's troubled mind.At a time when unexpected ends often come at the most awkward moment,when they are almost De Rigueur,the last picture is a model of the genre ,a stroke of inspiration which should make today's directors drool.Although set in modern times,the spirit of Edgar Allan Poe wanders in these mysterious settings .One can wonder why Vadim totally failed when he adapted the American writer's "Metzengernstein" in his "spirits of the dead " (aka "Histoires Extraordinaires" ) segment.If you should see only one Vadim movie ,it is definitely the one to choose ..
But the story of 'Blood and Roses' is loosely based on the novella Carmilla (1872).It's about a woman, Carmilla, that has revealed her family's past concerning vampirism.
The spirit of the vampire over takes Carmilla or has Camilla been overtaken by the stories of her family's past?
Mourir et plaisir or Blood and Roses is a very slow paced romantic story about a couple which is going to be married and another woman who is secretly in love with the groom.Visually this is a great movie and so are the scores.
Aside from rubbish such as most of the films made by French director Jean Rollin, there are some very notable lesbian vampire movies; Daughters of Darkness, The Blood-Splattered Bride and Vampyres being the best among them.
I don't doubt that director Roger Vadim could have added more had he wanted to; there is certainly scope for a vaster story and the gap left by the fact that there isn't a lot of blood and lesbian activity is a real shame.
Overall, this is an obscure film and while hardcore lesbian vampire fans may want to track it down for completion purposes; I really wouldn't recommend that anyone goes too far out of their way to get it as there are a lot of better films that are similar to this one..
Slow Art. Blood and Roses (1960) ** (out of 4)Bram Stoker's Dracula will always be the best known vampire tale but Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu's "Carmilla" had a pretty big run of films in the 60s and 70s.
In this film, Carmilla (Annette Vadim) gets jealous for the love of her cousin (Mel Ferrer) and soon she visits the tomb of a former relative who just happened to be a vampire.
I know director Roger Vadim has a strong following out there but I've always been left rather cold by his horror films.
He does manage to do this with a couple good scenes including one dealing with a dying rose but outside of this I thought he sucked the film dry of any energy.
This article is aimed at people already familiar with the American version of Roger Vadim's "Blood And Roses".
These include extra lines spoken off-camera ("You make it seem too real, Carmilla", "Carmilla, enough; you're frightening Georgia" etc.), extra sound effects (the unconvincing screams), and even visuals (the big close-ups of the rose fading) that Paramount presumably felt were needed to make the story clearer and the film more "marketable".
Beautiful 60"s Horror, With A Great Story And A Wicked Ending!.
This really felt like a Hammer film, and for the most part it was, and it had a beautiful score, plus all the characters were great!.
This is a beautiful 60's Horror film with a great story and a wicked ending, and i say it's a must see!.
This is a beautiful 60's Horror film with a great story and a wicked ending, and i say it's a must see!.
Roger Vadim does a great job here, giving it a dreamy look and feel, good camera work, great set pieces and keeping the film at an engrossing pace!.
I only watched the French audio version that comes with the English subtitles, as that is the only version that I could understand, but it's a lovely, crisp, WIDESCREEN print of the movie, and therefore a million miles away from the full screen VHS version that i have had to live with up until now.The story is slight: Leopoldo Karnstein is celebrating his impending wedding to the beautiful Georgia, and everybody is happy except for cousin Carmilla, who is secretly jealous.
There is a lot of stillness in the film, some scenes linger on very slow moving visuals for long periods of time, but it all comes together, if you have the patience to just enjoy what you are looking at.
Her acting skills are up to the job, and she shows a surprising amount of different emotions in the role, whereas, if shots of her are just viewed in still images or short clips, the impression you get of her is that she is quite wooden, but when seen in the film as a whole, I think she is actually very good.
I avoided buying this release for quite a while as I was hoping that an English audio version would eventually come out, because I prefer to soak up the visual atmosphere of a film like "Blood and Roses" without having to constantly read text, but I like this version now that I have watched it.
The second offbeat Vampire film I watched today was 'Blood and Roses'.