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DAUGHTERS OF DARKNESS
Les lèvres rouges

Harry Kümel  •  Belgium/France/West Germany  • ​  1971
101 mins  •  HD  •   R16 violence, sex scenes
​In English
​

A sumptuous blend of highbrow European art film and campy lesbian vampire B-movie, starring Delphine Seyrig as an ageless Countess who seduces a troubled newlywed couple at an isolated off-season resort.
With: Delphine Seyrig (Countess Bathory), John Karlen (Stefan), Danielle Ouimet (Valerie), Andrea Rau (Ilona Harczy), Paul Esser (hotel clerk), Georges Jamin (retired policeman), Joris Collet (butler), Fons Rademakers (mother)
Director: Harry Kümel
Producers: Heney Lange, Paul Collet

Production co: Showking Films, Maya Films, Ciné Vog Films, Roxy Film

Screenplay: Pierre Drouot, Jean Ferry, Harry Kümel
Photography: Eduard Van Der Enden

Editors: Denis Donan, Gust Verscheren

Music: François de Roubaix


REVIEWS

“Stranded in a palatial seafront resort hotel in out-of-season Ostend, newlyweds Stefan (Karlen) and Valerie (Ouimet) find themselves in thrall to the hotel's only other guests, the Countess Elisabeth Bathory (Seyrig) and her surly but sultry companion Ilone (Rau).  Tension within the young couple – Valerie is pressurising Stefan to inform his disapproving mother of their marriage – is exploited by the countess when she rouses Stefan to ecstasy with an account of her ancestor's unquenchable thirst for blood.  Three young women, meanwhile, have been found murdered in nearby Bruges, their bodies drained, and the hotel concierge (Esser) can't get past the fact he remembers the countess staying at the hotel 40 years previously, and she hasn't aged a day.

There are neither fangs nor longueurs in this sumptuous blend of lesbian vampire flick and European art movie.  The casting of Seyrig, trailing memories of Marienbad, is inspired, and her swooning performance bewitches the entire cast.  Kümel casts his own spells with alternating blue washes and red dissolves, and skilful location work that doesn't allow you to see the join between hotel exteriors and interiors – in Ostend and Brussels respectively.”

— Nicholas Royle, Time Out


FILM SOCIETY SCREENINGS
​

Hamilton
Monday, 18 June, 8:00pm


Auckland
Monday, 25 June, 6:30pm


Canterbury
Monday, 2 July, 7:30pm


New Plymouth
Wednesday, 25 July, 6:00pm


Dunedin
Wednesday, 12 September, 7:30pm


Palmerston North
Monday, 8 October, 6:00pm


Wellington
Monday, 29 October, 6:15pm


Whanganui
Monday, 5 November, 7:00pm

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New Zealand Federation of Film Societies  |  PO Box 9544, Te Aro, Wellington, NZ  
Phone: +64 4 385 0162  |  Fax: +64 4 801 7304  |  Email: 
michael@nziff.co.nz
  • Home
  • ABOUT
  • SOCIETIES
    • AUCKLAND
    • HAMILTON
    • TAURANGA
    • NEW PLYMOUTH
    • WHANGANUI
    • PALMERSTON NORTH
    • CARTERTON
    • WELLINGTON
    • NELSON
    • CANTERBURY
    • Timaru
    • QUEENSTOWN
    • WAITATI
    • DUNEDIN
  • 2018 SEASON
    • ANIMATION SHOWCASE
    • ARCHITECTURE IN FILM
    • BEAUTIFUL CREATURES
    • RITA!
    • SE ASIAN CLASSICS
    • CULT & CLASSIC
    • FRENCH CONNECTIONS
    • GERMAN CINEMA
    • WORLD CINEMA