The flesh of the orchid
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| German title | The flesh of the orchid |
| Original title | La chair de l'orchidée |
| Country of production | France , Italy , Germany |
| original language | French |
| Publishing year | 1975 |
| length | 115 minutes |
| Age rating | FSK 16 |
| Rod | |
| Director | Patrice Chereau |
| script |
Jean-Claude Carrière Patrice Chéreau |
| production | Vincent Malle |
| music | Fiorenzo Carpi |
| camera | Pierre Lhomme |
| cut | Pierre Gillette |
| occupation | |
| |
The flesh of the orchid (original title: La chair de l'orchidée) is a French - Italian - German crime film from 1975 . The feature film debut of the theater director Patrice Chéreau is based on the novel of the same name by James Hadley Chase .
action
Claire was locked in a remote building in an insane asylum in the country. When the asylum's gardener tries to rape her again, she stabs his eyes.
The horse breeder Louis Delage goes to a social meeting with his friend Marcucci. A car rolled over in the street. The driver is dead, his eyes are stung. Claire comes out injured from behind the car. They take them to the hotel where the meeting is taking place. When Louis is at the meeting, Marcucci tries to rape Claire. She also stabs his eyes out. Louis discovers him, connects him and comes back to his event. Meanwhile, Marcucci is killed by contract killers Gyula and Joszef Berekian, two former circus artists.
Louis escapes with Claire. They're hiding in his house, but the killers are already after them. Claire and Louis spend the night together while the killer watch in front of the manor. At the same time, one learns that Claire was put in the madhouse by her aunt, Madame Bastier-Wegener, because the aunt wanted to snatch the huge inheritance of her deceased brother for herself and her son Arnaud.
When Louis and Claire want to flee the manor, the killers drive up. Gyula Berekian throws a knife in Louis' back, but Claire is able to drag him into the car and drive away. While searching for a doctor, Claire is recognized by a nurse from the asylum and locked in a room in the practice. Instead of the expected nurses, Gyula and Joszef Berekian suddenly appear at the door and take Claire with them.
At the request of Madame Bastier-Wegener, Louis is hidden and cared for in the insane asylum. When the killers ring the doorbell, Arnaud reveals where his mother and Louis want to flee. Claire is taken by the killers to a former circus colleague, Lady Vamos, who lives in a cinema called "Cinema Italia". Because she feels sorry for Claire, she reveals her true origin. Claire is the daughter of her mother's affair with Orchidee, a circus performer who was also a criminal and who left an orchid as a trademark on the scenes of his deeds. After she was born, the mother committed suicide and Claire grew up with her father. Lady Vamos helps Claire escape.
In the station building, where only women wait, Claire meets a madwoman who sees Claire as a "kindred spirit". Claire takes refuge on the train.
Louis is brought to her brother's house near Zurich by Madame Bastier-Wegener's entourage. Claire has already arrived there, lying asleep on the floor of a room. Claire and Louis speak out while the whole house is barricaded for fear of the killer attack. Arnaud, the son of Madame Bastier-Wegener, commits suicide when he sees Claire and Louis together. Joszef Berekian kills Louis. Claire can stand him and scratches his eyes out. The killers flee.
Claire is in the hospital, Lady Vamos comes to visit her. Gyula Berekian sneaks in to finish the job. He kills Lady Vamos with a knife, then his past appears in front of him in a cross-fade - he gave up his job as a knife thrower because he accidentally killed his partner during a performance - and he commits suicide.
While still in the hospital, Claire discusses the first deals on the phone, because: "Money has to work, money has to get more!"
background
The Meat of the Orchid opened in French cinemas on January 29, 1975 and in German cinemas on August 2 of the same year.
In 1976 the cameraman Pierre Lhomme and the decorator Richard Peduzzi were nominated for a César .
criticism
“[Charlotte Rampling] wanders through a ghostly rainy and foggy France [...] At first, Chéreau's art of staging a hopeless labyrinth of horrors is impressive. But then his theatrical dramaturgy of fate leads deeper and deeper into a pseudo-meaningful thundered-up cinema. "
“It never gets light, it seldom stops raining in this black melodrama […] In his first film, the young Parisian theater director Patrice Chéreau creates an atmospherically dense universe of night and madness. Impressively [...] he combines the brilliantly calculated artificiality of the staging - exquisitely morbid colors, selected desolate scenes - with a fine feel for the classic inevitability with which tragedy takes its course. "
“ First work located between horror and crime films; bloodthirsty and technically still awkward, but reasonably exciting and with excellent actors. "
literature
- James Hadley Chase: The Inheritance of Carol Blandish. German by Iris Reinbeck. Amsel Verlag, Berlin 1954 (EA)
- James Hadley Chase: The Flesh of the Orchid. German by Ursula Bergmann. Ullstein, Frankfurt / M., Berlin 1986 (WA)
Web links
- The Flesh of the Orchid in the Internet Movie Database (English)
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c The flesh of the orchid in the lexicon of international films .
- ↑ The Flesh of the Orchid in the Internet Movie Database .
- ↑ Review in Der Spiegel of August 4, 1975, accessed December 4, 2012.
- ^ Review in Die Zeit of August 1, 1975, accessed December 4, 2012.