The Iron Rose — The Iron Rose( Blu-Ray/ UHD)

The Iron Rose was the fifth feature film from French director/ writer Jean Rollin. The early 1970s film saw him stepping away from his normal erotic & often vampiric-focused fare, for a very slow-burning & moody drama, come low-key psychological drama regarding two lovers lost/ trapped in a graveyard.  Here, from Powerhouse, as part of their series of reissues of Rollin’s filmography, is either a UHD or Blu-ray release of the film. It takes a new 4K scan, two versions of the film, a new commentary track, and a selection of new and archive extras.

The Iron Rose ( aka La Rose De Fer, The Crystal Rose) is from the year 1973.  The film was largely shot in a large cemetery in the northern French city of Amiens, though we do get a few moodily poetic scenes shot on a barren beach and a mist-shrouded train yard.  The film runs for one hour and twenty minutes, and as mentioned earlier, it is a very slow-burning affair, with moodiness/ lightly dialogue drama shifting first into light disquiet, fearfulness, and ghoulishly tinged madness.

The film focuses on just two twenty-something lovers La femme(Françoise Pascal) and L'homme (Hugues Quester), with brief appearances of walk-through actors. The pair meet at a wedding reception, fairly soon arranging to meet the next day for a romantic rendezvous.

The pair meet on their bicycles at the train yard, and after messing around in the misty morning, they head to the large graveyard where most of the film's runtime takes place. At first the red polo necked L'homme is cocky and show-offish. While the yellow shirt-wearing  La femme is sheepish, less keen, and more than a little unsettled by the place.

As they wander around the graveyard, they get glances of other figures- a caped man, a clown with flowers, a grumpy, slightly creepy man in a ragged blanket. In time, they decide they want some intimacy away from prying eyes, so they descend into an open crypt. When they look up again out of the crypt, the sky has darkened- they climb out, finding themselves rather lost/ unsure in which direction to go. From here, they face confusion, doubt, fear, and one of them starts to change- and here, I’ll leave the plot rundown.

The Iron Rose truly is a prime example of 70’s slow-burn cinema, and while there are subtle hints at dread & a feeling of moody foreboding in its first half. It’s not until they reemerge from the crypt that the film fully kicks into gear, with moments of disorientating, creepy disquiet, and unsettling behaviour.  All in all, making it the most subdued film of Rollin’s career, as there are just brief glances of nudity, no real gore/ blood, and no vamps- aside from the fleeting glances of the cloaked man.

 

Moving on to this new release, we get two versions of the film. The original French language and an English language version. Both have the same runtime. Both versions are given a 4k scan, with nice bold colours for the pair's clothes, and depth/ clarity for the misty and nighttime shots.

On the new extras side, we get a few things. First is a commentary track from film expert/ writer Tim Lucas- this, as we’ve come to expect from Mr Lucas, is a wonderful, researched and observed affair. He opens by talking about the pre-credits beach shots- we find out this is near Dieppe, the director first went there as a child, and it remained impactful in his life/ films, as it appeared throughout his filmography.  We find out the film was shot between October and November 1973. He points out locations/ buildings as they appear.  He talks about how the film is matter-of-fact about life and death, youth and death. He points out a cameo from Rollin,  discusses the fear of clowns, and talks about how the film in the cemetery could have been used for any number of stories.  Later on, he gives a potted history of graveyard cherubs, touching on how in the Victorian period they were sometimes modelled to have the likeness of those buried beneath them.  He talks about the use of clocks and time in this, and many of the director's films. He talks about the possible meaning behind the beach set scenes.  He touches on the film's minimal score, which he compares to early Pink Floyd.

Otherwise, on the new extras side, we have: Children of the Grave (30.42), which finds genre commentator/ author Stephen Thrower talking about the film/Rollins' career. We find out the director was thirty-four when he made the film, which saw him cut away from the vampire-focused fare of his filmography thus far. We get a bio of Rollin, as well as details of notable members of his direct family. We find out that The Iron Rose was based on a short story the director wrote/which was included in a French comic book- this included sex scenes that wouldn’t appear in the finished film. He talks about how the pictures' slow pace creates cinematic poetry, which focuses on imagery, time, texture, and the macabre. He talks about the meaning/ reasoning behind the film's title and the use of subtlety and misdirection throughout the picture.  This is another excellent featurette from Mr Thrower. There’s Les Nuits du Cimetière (15.51), a documentary on the making of the film by Rollin’s personal assistant, Daniel Gouyette, featuring interviews with Rollin associates Jean-Noël Delamarre, Natalie Perrey, and Alain Petit. Woman Is Free (23.49)  a career-spanning interview with Pascal filmed at the Père Lachaise Cemetery, Paris. Kiss from a Rose (2.31) Pascal joins Rollin collaborators Serge Rollin, Jean-Pierre Bouyxou and Jean-Noël Delamarre at the Metaluna Store, Paris, for a signing event.

And on the archive extras side, we have the following: Jean Rollin Introduces ‘The Iron Rose’(1.14). Cemetery Gates (3.39): Rollin discusses The Iron Rose. Interview with Françoise Pascal (22.03): actor and singer fondly remembers her time making The Iron Rose. The Yellow Loves (11.00): Rollin’s first film from 1958, which is an impressionist interpretation of the poetry of Tristan Corbière. This features a commentary track from Lucas. Original theatrical trailers. Image galleries: promotional and publicity material, and behind the scenes. ‘La Nuit du cimetière’ gallery: Rollin’s original French-language prose treatment for the film, first published in the short story magazine L’Impossible, and dialogue continuity script gallery.

The finished release comes with a eighty page book featuring a new essay by Nick Pinkerton, an archival introduction by Jean Rollin, an English translation of ‘La Nuit du cimetière’, an archival interview with Françoise Pascal, Jean Rollin on The Yellow Loves, an introduction to the poetry of Tristan Corbière, and full film credits.

 

The Iron Rose stands out in Rollin’s filmography as his most moody creation. It won’t be for everyone, but if you enjoy atmospheric & lightly disquieting/ creepy 70’s drama, it will appeal. Once again, Powerhouse have done a very classy job with this reissue, with the great new 4k scan, and selection of excellent extras- both new & old.