Les lèvres rouges (1971)

Director:

Harry Kümel

Writers:

Pierre Drouot (scenario) &
Harry Kümel (scenario) ...
(more)

Release Date:

3 December 1971 (West Germany)

Genre:

Horror

Tagline:

An erotic nightmare of vampire lust [DVD]

Plot:

A newlywed couple are passing through a vacation resort. Their paths cross with a mysterious, strikingly beautiful countess and her aide.

Plot Keywords:

Newlywed | Sexual Violence | Male Frontal Nudity | Seduction | Zither

Cast

John Karlen	...	Stefan
Delphine Seyrig	...	Countess Bathory
Danielle Ouimet	...	Valerie
Andrea Rau	...	Ilona Harczy
Paul Esser	...	Hotel clerk
Georges Jamin	...	The Man
Joris Collet	...	Butler
Fons Rademakers	...	Mother

Directed by
Harry Kümel

Writing credits
Pierre Drouot		(scenario) &
Harry Kümel		(scenario)
Jean Ferry		(dialogue)
Manfred R. Köhler		(writer) uncredited

Produced by
Paul Collet	....	producer
Pierre Drouot	....	associate producer
Alain C. Guilleaume	....	associate producer
Henry Lange	....	producer
Luggi Waldleitner	....	producer (uncredited)

Original Music by
François de Roubaix

Cinematography by
Eduard van der Enden

Film Editing by
Denis Bonan
August Verschueren		(as Gust Verschueren)
Hans Zeiler		(uncredited)

Art Direction by
Françoise Hardy

Costume Design by
Bernard Perris

Makeup Department
Pascale Kellen	....	makeup artist
Ulli Ullrich	....	key makeup artist

Production Management
Jean-Marie Bertrand	....	production manager
Paul Collet	....	unit production manager
Will Dellaert	....	assistant unit production manager (as Willy Dellaert)
Erwin Gitt	....	production manager

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Paul Arias	....	first assistant director
Jean-Marc Turine	....	second assistant director

Art Department
Henri Roesems	....	property master (as Henry Roesems)

Sound Department
Jacques Eippers	....	sound
Jack Jullian	....	sound mixer
Hans-Walter Kramski	....	foley artist (as Hans W. Krasmki)
Henri Morelle	....	boom operator

Special Effects by
Eugene Hendrickx	....	special effects

Stunts
Thierry Hallard	....	stunts

Camera and Electrical Department
Peter Anger	....	first assistant camera
Claude Decubber	....	electrician
Jacques Fondaire	....	second assistant camera
Virginia Leirens	....	still photographer
Bob Lessenne	....	grip
Jan Van Gastel	....	still photographer

Costume and Wardrobe Department
Marie-Paule Petignot	....	costumer

Editorial Department
Daniel Devalk	....	assistant editor
Edith Schuman	....	assistant editor (as Edith Shumann)

Other crew
Michèle Mehary	....	production secretary
Magda Reypens	....	script supervisor

Production Companies

• Showking Films
• Maya Films
• Ciné Vog Films
• Roxy Film

Distributors

• AIR Video (1987) (USA) (video)
• Ariel Video (1987) (USA) (VHS)
• Anchor Bay Entertainment (1997) (USA) (VHS)
• Anchor Bay Entertainment (1998) (USA) (DVD)
• Blue Underground (2003) (USA) (DVD)
• Umbrella Entertainment (2005) (Australia) (DVD)
• Blue Underground (2006) (USA) (DVD) (re-release)
• Cinépix Film Properties (CFP) (1971) (Canada) (theatrical) (English-track)
• Maron Films (1971) (USA) (theatrical) (English-track)
• Continental Video (1985) (USA) (VHS)

Also Known As:

Blood on the Lips
Blut an den Lippen
Children of the Night (video title)
Daughters of Darkness (USA)
Erzebeth
Le rouge aux Lèvres (Belgium: French title)
The Promise of Red Lips
The Red Lips
The Redness of the Lips

Runtime:

USA:100 min (uncut version) | USA:87 min

Country:

Belgium | France | West Germany

Language:

Dutch | English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.66 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Canada:13+ (Quebec) (re-rating) (2005) | Canada:18 (Nova Scotia) (2003) | Canada:18+ (Quebec) (original rating) | Iceland:16 | Australia:MA | West Germany:18 | UK:18 | USA:R

Filming Locations:

Brugge, West-Vlaanderen, Belgium

Company:

Showking Films

Trivia:

Shot entirely in English, even though the majority of the cast was French, German and Flemish. As opposed to most European "genre" films from the 70s, here none of the actors were post-dubbed by others. They can all be heard with their own voices (resulting in some accents), notably Delphine Seyrig's deep, smoky voice or Andrea Rau's and Paul Messer's German accents.

Quotes:

Countess Bathory: I feel it in my bones, the night is dying...

Movie Connections:

Featured in Daughters of Darkness (2006) (V)

Soundtrack:

Daughters of Darkness

psychosexual fever dream

I was fortunate enough to unwind last night with Harry Kumel's erotic and Stygian "Daughters of Darkness" (Les Lèvres Rouges). It is a tasteful vampire movie (an oxymoron?).

Let me start by saying that the art direction is astonishing. If ever a building was elevated to the status of a character, it would be the off-season and deserted Grand Hotel des Thermes in Ostend where the majority of the film is set. Its de Chirco-esqe arcades and columns shot in their full crepuscular splendour separate the action from the real world, enveloping the players in a metaphysical demi-monde. One senses from the beginning the film's perversity, everything is set in Melvillean twilights and dusks, somewhere ephemeral, between or beyond good and evil. The travelling couple of the vampire movie, the man generally virtuous and upstanding, the woman meek and ingenue, in this case are replaced by a fractured and sensual pair. He announces on the night-train to Ostend, "I don't love you", which she parrots back, and they decide that this means that they are perfectly matched.

The soundtrack is perfectly atmospheric sub-Nyman, and the sense of colour is almost unmatched in film history. Twilight exterior shots, in the mode of Whistler are interposed with glowing yellow interiors. The exquisite monochrome costumes perfectly match the psychosexual themes. Particularly memorable is Delphine Seyrig in a flowing scarlet dress sipping a turquoise cocktail from a martini glass.

Whilst this is a perfectly cast movie, one would have to say that Delphine Seyrig as the countess Elizabeth Bathory runs away with the show in a screen-stealing performance. The sensuality of her voice is reminiscent of fever dreams, and the subtlety of her expression turns what could have been, in the wrong hands, a porno flick, into a Schnitzlerian psychosexual drama par excellence.

There were a few false notes, some ludicrous Hammer-inspired shots towards the end plus a less than satisfying codicil whose raison d'etre seems to be a false belief in the relevance of the plot. But all of this can be sorted with judicious editing and doesn't really detract from the general tone of the movie. Watch this, but beware it is a truly adult fairytale and an explicit exploration of sadomasochism.