Le parfum de Mathilde (1994)

Unlike his fellow countryman José Bénazéraf, who dove headfirst into the world of hardcore adult films once hardcore pornography became legal in France, Jean Rollin had a rather acrimonious relationship with adult films. Although Rollin, like a lot of directors, initially found the concept of being able to film hardcore material freeing and rebellious, he ultimately found the practice artistically unfulfilling. Rollin himself was always the first to admit that his adult features were done strictly for economic reasons with Rollin signing the works with the pseudonym “Michel Gentil” and Rollin would even claim that he directed everything but the sex scenes, turning those over to his assistant director while he would have a smoke. The biggest exception to this rule would be Phantasmes (1975), released in some territories as “The Seduction of Amy”, in which Rollin used his real name and brought the same sensibilities that defined his outstanding horror films. It is also of course worth mentioning that it was on the set of one of his adult films where Rollin met Brigitte Lahaie who would go on to become a muse of sorts for Rollin. In the midst of the 90's, Rollin unexpectedly found himself back in the hardcore realm again when adult producer Marc Dorcel roped him into writing and eventually co-directing Le parfum de Mathilde, a standout film in its genre with a feeling that is distinctly Rollin.

Agnes (Draghixa), a young bride-to-be is set to marry wealthy widower Remy. After being taken to Remy's countryside chateau by her aunt and uncle who arraigned the marriage, the innocent and virginal Agnes is shocked to discover the castle to be a den of perversity, with the staff and guests openly displaying their sexual appetites to a horrified Agnes. Hoping her future husband will be a savior, Agnes is further dismayed to learn that Remy is the architect of all the orgiastic behavior and intends for Agnes to be inducted into the libertine way of life at the chateau, where the memory of Remy's former wife Mathilda is ever present.

Playing out like a hardcore take on Hitchcock's Rebecca (1940) had it been adapted from the Marquis de Sade, there are several parallels that could be drawn between Le parfum de Mathilde (The Scent of Mathilda) and the previously mentioned Phantasmes aside from the obvious Sadean nature of both storylines, the classic Sade theme of an innocent led into a perverse, libertine world being at the center of Le parfum de Mathilde. What the two also have in common and what set them apart from Rollin's other, work-for-hire hardcore work is that both seem like adult films actually written and designed by Rollin. Although he's only credited as the screenwriter, again, Rollin co-directed the film along with Dorcel and it would seem as if Dorcel handled all the sex scenes while Rollin did the majority of the heavy lifting. Rollin's aesthetic fingerprints are all over the film with the gothic chateau setting of course being a Rollin staple. Even the films 90's shot-on-video look doesn't rob the film of Rollin's unique visual style and the video look does give the film a strange, prurient atmosphere. Rollin even invokes The Nude Vampire (1970) with the appearances of odd masks during Agnes's martial ceremony and the ritualistic, cult-like vibe of the sequence. Draghixa does play the Sadean innocent type very well, and curiously she has a habit of disappearing for stretches of the film, the film's final third being more Dorcel than Rollin, though the final surprise of the film is a purely Rollin addition.

The 90's were a fairly trying time for Rollin. A good portion of the decade was spent by Rollin writing a series of novels, one of which was eventually adapted into Two Orphan Vampires (1997), Rollin's true comeback feature. Le parfum de Mathilde was made during a time when Rollin had extreme difficulty getting funding which is perhaps why he accepted Dorcel's offer. Though he would later claim that the film wasn't all that great, he wasn't regretful about working on it, and even used his real name for the screenwriting credit. The film even made it to the States, released by Vivid Video as “The Scent of Mathilda” and got some good press at the time from the adult trade magazines. Over time however, it seems as if the film has been forgotten about, rarely getting a mention even when Rollin's adult films are discussed. Perhaps it's due to him being un-credited as the co-director or the fact that many adult titles from the 90's tend to get pushed aside in favor of features from the 70's and 80's, but Le parfume de Mathilde is a title worth seeking out. For Rollin fans, it's a curious work seeing him return to a genre which he bowed out of decades prior but in general it's a wonderful example of what's possible in the adult medium when a mind such as Rollin's is involved.

No Reason (2010)

One of the more more interesting discussions to be had regarding film violence is the individualistic way in which certain filmmakers approach bloodletting. For instance, the violent setpieces in the films of Dario Argento have long been recognized for their baroque, painterly quality, so immaculately composed that even the more horrific scenarios take on a air of beauty. Contrast that with Lucio Fulci, who once opined that “Violence is Italian art.” Fulci's violence could be brutally realistic in a film like The New York Ripper (1982) but the free-form narrative of a film like The Beyond (1981) took the gore into an otherworldly surreal realm. Paul Verhoeven has been known to use over-the-top violence in a satirical manner in films like RoboCop (1987) and Starship Troopers (1997) whereas Takashi Miike does the same in a film like Ichi the Killer (2001) but takes the violence into unnerving territory in Audition (1999) and Imprint (2006). As one of the forefathers of German splatter, extreme gore became Olaf Ittenbach's calling card from his very first film Black Past (1989). Ittenbach's approach to gore is often so gratuitous, not to mention innovative, that the violence in his films can often seem surrealistic in it's excess. Combining his trademark gore with an esoteric plot, 2010's No Reason stands as one of Ittenbach's most ambitious and potent films, and a work bound to alienate even seasoned splatter defenders.

In the process of moving out of their apartment building, the happily married Jennifer (Irene Holzfurtner) and Sebastian begin their day like any other. After Sebastian leaves for work, Jennifer drops her son Nico off at her elderly neighbors before doing some shopping, though when she returns her day takes a turn for the worse when the neighbor, along with her son, has inexplicably gone missing. Worse yet, Jennifer is sent photos of her husband and another woman in their building in bed. In an attempt to calm down and clear her mind, Jennifer slips into the bath and falls asleep, only to wake up covered in blood and surrounded by dismembered body parts, greeted by an imposing figure in a tentacled mask who proceeds to lead Jennifer through various levels of a hellish netherworld.

No Reason is and isn't a typical Ittenbach film. While the gore effects are, as always, up to Ittenbach's high standard and would be pretty difficult to mistake for the work of anyone else, it's the story that makes the film so peculiar. Ittenbach was no stranger to off-center storytelling, but even still No Reason is a markedly different, transcendental kind of story for Ittenbach. Over all, the biggest thing that separates No Reason from the Ittenbach films that came before it would be tone. Even Ittenbach's darkest minded films feature bits of his humor tossed about the film, but save for one very brief moment early on, No Reason is an exceptionally grim affair. Setting aside the violence for a moment, the film is smothered in a thick, morose atmosphere from the very beginning. Even the early scenes of Jennifer as a happily married family woman have a slight air of unease to them given the horror Jennifer is about to endure and the more Jennifer's ordeal goes on and the more Ittenbach reveals about her character, the film darkens in tone even more. Admittedly the true nature of what Jennifer is put through isn't entirely surprising, but it's the ordeal itself at the center of the film, Ittenabach's method of depicting it making the film all the more curious. Having each “level” of the hellish netherworld be based upon one color, Ittenbach baths the screen in red, green and blue, the “green level” being the films highlight, a Hellraiser-esque S&M nightclub.

As stylish and colorful as the film is and as much as Ittenbach astonishes in the gore department, presenting a range of atrocities and even some grotesque creatures, the weight of the film rests on the shoulders of Irene Holzfurtner who carries the heaviness of the material, going the extra mile emotionally and physically. Throughout the course of her torments, Holzfurtner displays more or less every emotion a performer can muster but for 99.9% of the film Holzfurtner is completely nude yet given the context of everything is never eroticized. It's also worth noting that both Takashi Ishii's A Night in Nude: Salvation (2010) and David Blyth's Wound (2010) were also released the same year as No Reason and both feature extremely harrowing performances, with their leading ladies, Hiroko Sato and Kate O'Rourke respectively, both spiraling into a psychological abyss. Holzfurtner's turn in No Reason is easily on par with both, though obviously the films are wildly different from each other save for their unflinching transgressions and all three having been made by filmmakers who have carved out a niche for themselves by dividing audiences. With No Reason, Ittenbach is at his most divisive. The gore will no-doubt please the extreme horror crowed who will possibly be bored with the narrative concepts which might get the film some appreciation from splatter detractors that will be put off by the violence. Quite the accomplishment.