Title: The Two Orphan Vampires (1997)
Director: Jean Rollin
Cast: Alexandra Pic, Isabelle Teboul, Bernard Charnace
This film comes to use from one of the great French horror
directors, Jean Rollin. Now this of course depends on who you ask because some critics
dismiss Rollin as a pornographer, an amateur filmmaker or simply a maker of
sleazy, gratuitous b-movies. But I beg to differ, I really do. Sure Rollin’s
films had gratuitous nudity and violence, but to me Rollin’s films are also
poetic and haunting and though some of them might come off as empty examples of
style over substance, I also find relevant themes in his films. Take for
example The Two Orphan Vampires, one look at it and you might say the film is
paper thin, with little in the way of plot. And in a way you’d be right,
because it is a simple film, but if you give this film a deeper look you’ll
find a film that comments on religion and the contrasts between new ways of
thinking versus the old.
In The Two Orphan Vampires we meet Henriette and Louise, two
young girls living in a catholic orphanage. Their unique situation is that they
are both blind, nobody knows why, nobody knows how, they simply are. One day,
an ophthalmologist comes visit the orphans to inspect their eyes and soon
decides to adopt and take care of them, he becomes their father figure, taking
them from the orphanage and welcoming them into his home. The nuns are happy
the orphans finally have a home, the orphans are happy they are finally out of
the orphanage and the doctor is happy to help these two blind girls. But unbeknownst
to all these people, the two orphan girls are only blind during the day! At
night they become vampires and can see just fine! When night unfolds, the two
girls roam the city streets looking for victims to feed on. How long will they
continue this charade before others discover their secret? Will they ever be
caught?
Thematically speaking, The Two Orphan Vampires is all about
beliefs. First off we have these two girls living a lie. They live in a catholic
orphanage, where they give this façade to the nuns, making everybody believe
they are these two angelical blind girls. Now the meanings behind the girls
being blind while living in a catholic orphanage are pretty obvious, this was Rollin’s
way of addressing how religion can blind people, shutting their eyes to the
realities of life. Humans are always drawn towards the lurid, seedy aspects of
life, this is why the girls go out at night. It’s after they sneak out at night
that these girls enjoy life, it’s at night that their vision returns, it’s when
they escape the confines of the orphanage that they have their fun in the world,
this is the time when they really see life for what it is. A mix of fun and struggle
to survive, a dog eat dog world with moments of wonderment as well as
suffering, a bitter sweet existence. An interesting aspect of all of this is that
the girls are teenagers, a time when most people succumb to the more rebellious
aspects of life; the teenage years are a time when you question everything and
want to push your limits. This is why the girls escape their elders to smoke their
cigarettes and drink their alcohol. So the film depicts two rebellious teenage
girls giving their backs to Christianity in order to have their fun in life.
At the same time, the film addresses existential issues. The
two orphan vampires are constantly questioning who they are and where they come
from. They are vampires who have died many times over and have come back to
life, with foggy memories of who they use to be. Problem is they can only
remember a few of the lives they have lived, they can’t go that far back into
their existence, so they start to wonder who they used to be in earlier lives
and they come upon this book about Aztec civilization that gives them the idea
that they were these ancient Aztec gods. Kind of like how humanity has a
recollection of past civilizations, but at some point our history becomes foggy
and we end up asking ourselves where we all really come from? Same as the two
orphan vampires, we too have a foggy memory about these things. The two girls
can only imagine they were Aztec gods, they are not certain, the same way we
cannot find the answers to the big questions in life, so we make up answers and
call these answers religion.
The Two Orphan Vampires features Rollin’s signature poetic
visuals, the film is also told at Rollins usual slow pace, as if it was in no
hurry to tell you its story, it simply unfolds at the pace it wants to whether
you like it or not. I’ve grown to like this aspect of Rollins films because to
me they are a breath of fresh air when compared to the frenetic pace of some of
today’s films. So in that sense Rollin fans will find this to be like many of
Rollins other pictures. But where this one takes a left turn is in the absence
of nudity and violence, there’s very little of both on this film. Also, those
looking for lesbianism will find the film lacking in that aspect as well, for
while the girls hug a lot, it is never implied that they are in love. They
function more as sisters. There is one scene where they are naked together, but
it’s a completely unnecessary scene and seems to be spliced in the movie only
to appease the producers who always asked Rollin to fill his films with nudity
and violence. When compared to previous Rollin films, this one feels restrained
in these areas, which was something that hardcore Rollin fans didn’t like about
this film, personally, this didn’t stop me from enjoying this one.
The Two Orphan Vampires was made late in Rollins life, he
was into his sixties when he made this one, and very ill I might add, yet the
film still retains many of the aesthetically pleasing elements that I enjoyed about
his earlier works like The Grapes of Death (1978), The Living Dead Girl (1982) and Fascination (1979), and though this film isn't nearly as good as these I've mentioned, there are still many good things to say about The Two Orphan Vampires, for example, the
beautiful localizations are present…this was one thing that Rollin loved about
filmmaking, shooting in actual beautiful locations, so we still have these
beautiful shots of actual places, sometimes Rollin would compose these shots on
the spot, an aspect of his films that I love. True, this is not Rollins best
film, it has a few flaws, like the actresses who play the orphan vampires, though
beautiful this was the first feature film for both, so sometimes their
performance isn’t the best. The bad dubbing kind of hinders the enjoyment of
the film; it makes the poetic dialog come off as robotic and unnatural. Still,
I enjoyed the visuals, the music and the themes, it is not the disaster that
some would have you believe. Sure it was late in Rollins career, but wow, the
guy made this film through some serious illness, sometimes going from the
hospital to the set, it’s a miracle he managed to pull off a beautiful looking
film and on such a low budget! Admirable in deed.
Rating: 3 out of 5
2 comments:
Locations sure are a great thing about Rollin's films! Even if a film is low budget, as long as there are real cool locations, they never feel cheap. One of the perks of living in Europe, you can just drive down the road and find a lush castle to film at.
Hae you seen Fiancee of Dracula yet? As of now, it's still my favourite Rollin film.
Rollin did just that for a scene in The Two Orphan Vampires, he was driving down a road and liked these gates that led to nowhere, and so he has the girls walk past the gates for a scene and included it in a movie. I liked this element of Rollins movies, the improvisation of the shots and the use of architecture.
I've read about Fiancee of Dracula but have not yet seen it, I shall make it a priority!
Post a Comment