The Iron Rose (5 Stars)

What's the message of this film?

"When you take a girl on the first date, don't take her to a cemetery".

It's best to wait until you know her better. She might be a crazy woman who wants to trap you in a double suicide. There are women like that around, I've been told, but luckily I've never met any.

This 1973 French film is a masterpiece of horror. It doesn't have jump scares. It doesn't have monsters. All it has is a terrifying atmosphere of menace and foreboding. The unnamed man (that I like to call Tristan) is horny and just wants to be alone with the woman he's met at a wedding. Karine wants to commune with the dead. She feels like the dead are her friends, because they don't wage war, so she wants to be with them. That's not the sort of girlfriend to take to a cemetery for a picnic.

There are hints of supernatural occurrences, but nothing is stated explicitly. There are unusual visitors in the cemetery. Early in the film we see a man dressed as Dracula, but he's no danger to them. It's just a costume. We also see a monk and a clown in the cemetery. The monk in particular gazes at the young couple with an evil stare, but he doesn't approach them. He just adds to the atmosphere.

The only real supernatural element in the film is the iron rose itself. In the opening scene, Karine finds the rose on the beach. After examining it she throws it in the water. The following day, when she's in the cemetery, she finds it on the ground and shows it to Tristan. Is it a thing of beauty or ugliness? That's not clear, but it's a thing that can last. Karine sets flowers on fire, but the iron rose doesn't burn.

I can't explain the film. I can tell you what happens, but I can't tell you why it happens. That's typical for all of Jean Rollin's films. Watch the film for yourself. Feel it.

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