The Iron Rose (5 Stars)

"You've never had a picnic in a cemetery before? You'll love it so much, you won't want to leave".

A young man is invited to a wedding. He recites a poem about suicide. The assembled wedding guests are confused, but they politely applaud. A young woman called Karine is so fascinated that she approaches him, and they agree to go on a date the next day. They meet at the railway station. and they ride their bicycles to the town's cemetery. The man (who isn't named) brings the food.

It's not just about eating. They have sex in a crypt, and they lose track of the time. It's dark when they come out. They can't find the exit. The cemetery is like a living creature, holding the couple prisoners. Whenever they think they've found the way out, there's yet another field with more graves. There's a graveyard for fallen soldiers. There's a chapel for dead children. There's even a mass grave, not yet sealed, in which long dead skeletons have been piled on one another.

Do they want to leave? The man does. He runs from field to field in a frenzy. Karine doesn't. She likes being surrounded by the dead, and she tries to persuade her lover to stay with her.

For the next two weeks I plan to watch films included in my top 100 film list. They're the greatest of the great. I shan't watch them in any particular order. "The Iron Rose" is in 96th place. "Tommy", which I watched yesterday, is in 43rd place.

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