Fascination (1979)

Why so much hype?

Good films always raise compelling questions, whether the format is fiction or documentary fact.

This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

While it doesn't offer any answers, it both thrills and makes you think.

Jean Rollin was a master of the fantastique, the way that the French refer to a mixture of science fiction, horror and fantasy. What's the difference between fantastique and fantasy? The former is more concerned with the intrusion of supernatural phenomena into an otherwise realist narrative. In this genre, the supernatural may be met with doubt, disbelief and fear; yet it always exists.After a decade marked by working under a pseudonym in the porn industry to make ends meet, Rollin saw Fascination as an attempt to return to his roots. It's based on Jean Lorrain's Un verre de sang (A Glass of Blood), a poem about rich people drinking the blood of bulls in order to cure anemia. It's also a tribute to a French magazine that explored eroticism in art.In 1905, a group of wealthy women wait for bulls to be slaughtered so that they can drink their supposedly curative blood.A gang of thieves pursues Mark, who is trying to leave France for London with a bag of gold coins. He finds a secluded mansion in the mountains that is empty, save for two chambermaids, Elizabeth and Eva, who await the arrival of their Marchioness and her servants.The women, who are lovers, aren't afraid of Mark. Instead, they see attracted to him. Eva eventually sleeps with the thief, making Elizabeth jealous to the point that she puts a gun in her mouth.A shot rings out, but it is not Elizabeth's death. The thieves have found where Mark is hiding and have begun shooting at the house. Eva goes out to give the men Mark's gold. While they count it, a female thief demands her dress.Eva makes love to one of the thieves before stabbing him, then wiping out the rest with a scythe. Once the film tastes blood, it picks up in intensity and purpose. Eva returns to find the woman who stole her white dress, now glad in black and carrying the giant bladed weapon. Single frame close ups of their eyes, lips and blades show the difference between the women. While the thief was once in control and confident, now she is facing death. Her outstretched knife is tentative and finally drops as Eva laughingly decimates her, the former virginal white dress awash with blood as the camera pulls back from the drawbridge to show the carnage.Soon, the Marchioness later arrives, whom Mark refers to as the grand danger. She tells him that death often takes the form of seduction (and Elizabeth had said that death itself would be coming). If Mark stays — and she know she will — he'll be the only man there…except for Satan, of course.Mark jokingly says, "Midnight! Satan! Death!" as he finds the situation very amusing. Mark tries to take her by force, as she intimidates that he'd like to try, but she responds by biting his lip.Four more women arrive, excited at the possibility of Mark being at their annual reunion. They go to meet him as Elizabeth and Eva light a room full of candles. Mark asks if it's for the arrival of Death, but gets no answers.Read more at https://bandsaboutmovies.com/2017/10/11/fascination-1979

This film has probably the most striking opening of any from French Director Jean Rollin – two young women dressed in white dancing together on a bridge walkway over a picturesque stretch of water, followed by a well-to-do group entering a cadaver-strewn abattoir for a genteel blood-tasting ceremony. Blood is a cure for anaemia, apparently – its taste is very 'fashionable'.This is followed by scoundrel Marc (Jean-Pierre Lemaire) who has just double-crossed his band of robbers and takes refuge in an ornate mansion, where he meets Eva and Elisabeth who claim to be preparing the property for when the owners return. He places the two girls in very lose home-confinement (leaving them at liberty to enjoy bouts of lovemaking that – rarely for Rollin – carry a genuine sexual charge) they immediately assume the psychological upper hand by undermining Marc and refusing to be intimidated by him. Indeed, Eva seems particularly stricken with him.Although I loved the use of stark black and white in Rollin's 'Rape of the Vampire', the colour and lighting here is beautiful. Crisp autumnal dawn sunlight, mist and the vibrant hues of the various costumes – all are intoxicating and spellbinding (although there's a variant in weather and conditions rendering continuity a mess – mist, sunshine and rain – all in the space of the same sequence).The owners return – upper-class 'bourgeois crackpots' who are, of course, the blood-drinkers from the opening moments and put a grisly end to Elisabeth, while Eva appears to save Marc by taking him to the stables, before making it clear she is the most unhinged of all by killing him and blaming the dead Elisabeth.The acting is particularly strong here. Lemaire is excellent as the caddish Marc (doomed from the moment he enters the château but the last to realise it), and the ever pouting Brigitte Lahie excels as Elisabeth (equally doomed, but much less predictably so).Rollin is at his most visually confident here. 'Fascination' is probably best known from its image of Lahie as a grim reaper (naked under the cowling), complete with scythe striding across the picturesque stone bridge in red leather boots.

When people throw out the word "dream-like" to describe a film, I immediately think it will possess three distinct qualities: 1. soft focus or hazy photography, 2. little to no plot or a plot that doesn't make sense, and finally, 3. shots that linger for an eternity to make up for the fact there's little to no plot. After all, *something* needs to fill the time, right? I can't say I'm usually a big fan of these kinds of films unless they're done by very talented directors who are able to use photography, lighting, music, art direction and shot composition to enhance and strengthen the plot. This is also commonly referred to "Making a proper movie." One can actually have it both ways and find that perfect balance. One can be both an artist and a storyteller, which is really what the art of filmmaking is all about. This film I don't think ever finds that balance. In fact, it doesn't really excel at anything. There's next to no plot and, despite this director's reputation as a visual stylist, the material is mostly presented in a surprisingly flat and uninspired fashion. Sure, there are a few nice shots in this 80-minute movie, but not nearly enough to justify sitting through the rest of it.Arrogant thief Marc (Jean-Marie Lemaire) double-crosses a few people, takes the lone female as a hostage and runs off with a bag full of gold coins. The hostage flashes her breasts, kicks him in the crotch and manages to escape. Marc takes off again and finds a secluded mansion that's surrounded by water and accessible only by bridge and sneaks inside. Those he's betrayed see him going in, but decide to lay low for awhile with plans on ambushing him later on that evening when he's not expecting it. Inside, Marc encounters two young women; Elisabeth (Franca Mai) and Eva (Brigitte Lahaie)... and they're odd to put it mildly. For starters, their story keeps changing as to why they're even there. They should be terrified in the presence of an armed thief, but instead act like giggly schoolgirls who joke about letting him rape them and then turn the tables by claiming they want to rape him. Elisabeth and Eva are lovers and the director is kind enough to prove it by shoehorning in a sex scene at an awkward time as if quickly trying to fill some requirement. Eva takes off her clothes and seduces the thief. Elisabeth gets jealous because she's in love with Eva but then claims she's in love with Marc and pleads for him to leave before nightfall. While that's going on, Eva goes outside to meet up with the four people Marc ripped off. She stabs one of the guys during sex with an (obviously retractable) dagger and then takes a scythe to the other three in scenes that have absolutely no impact whatsoever because they're so poorly staged and edited. Night finally falls and another weird woman named Hélène (Fanny Magier) swings by with four other girls talking about some "reunion" and Satan. The ladies reveal themselves to be part of a bourgeois lez cult who drink human blood to keep themselves from becoming anemic (?) because they're sick of drinking ox blood (?!) The women then put on sheer nightgowns and walk around, a couple of people get shot and then the film is over.This isn't art, as real art actually means something. This film means nothing, stands for nothing and ultimately accomplishes nothing. It's really just lazy pseudo eroticism shot at a cool-looking house and with a few attractive actresses in it and that's all. It helps that one of those actresses is Lahaie, who's worth a look even in something as dull as this. She also has the lion's share of the nude scenes, but even gazing upon her fine form from time to time isn't enough to overcome the lumbering pace, meandering non-story and awful dialogue. Apparently they didn't even use a shooting script for this one and just made it all up as they went along... You can tell! Worst of all, this isn't the least bit impressive on a visual level. Your average Friday THE 13TH sequel features more artistry and skillful camera-work than this does. The photography isn't imaginative, the score is forgettable, the editing is terrible, the potentially atmospheric location goes completely to waste, every single "horror" moment is ineptly fumbled and the director seems to have no concept of scene continuity. There's a good reason people always focus on the striking image of a nude Lahaie, clad only in a black cape, holding onto a scythe. That's because it IS the only striking image in this film.This is the fifth effort I've seen from Rollin now and it's one of his most popular and acclaimed works for some reason I can't quite fathom. I much preferred his zombie film THE GRAPES OF DEATH (1978) and the oddly compelling THE NIGHT OF THE HUNTED (1980) to this one.

A thief(Jean Marie Lemaire),on the run from fellow gang members,takes refuge in a château populated only by two young women—Eva (Brigitte Lahaie)and Elisabeth (Franka Mai).The man is seduced and lured to stay for a forthcoming soirée,while the young ladies-themselves indulging in lesbian encounters—turn out to be initiates in a cult of bourgeois women addicted to drinking human blood.Jean Rollin's "Fascination" is simply an awesome lesbian vampire flick.The pace is pretty slow,but there is plenty of sleaze and beauty to enjoy.The film is loaded with stunning visuals for example the image of a nude Brigitte Lahaie with nothing but her impossibly statuesque figure,cape and scythe moving down the bridge and over the moat to the castle or truly surreal scene of Eva and Elizabeth dancing on the bridge in matching white gowns while an old-style phonograph plays classical music.Overall,I deeply enjoyed this one and you should too,if you liked "The Living Dead Girl" or "Lips Of Blood".