Offscreen Notes
Jean Rollin: 1938-2010
Sad news for fans of Euro-horror, as one of its very tallest giants, French director Jean Rollin, passed away on December 15, 2010, at the age of 72. Rollin was one of the most unique stylist among a group of Euro-horror directors known for their style (Jesus Franco, Amando de Ossorio, Paul Naschy, Mario Bava, Lucio Fulci, etc.). Rollin’s style was shaped by an openness to nudity and a conception of the nude body (usually female) as a tool of his painterly and poetic approach to the cinematic image. More than the other noted directors Rollin showed the influence of Surrealist cinema (Georges Franju, Luis Bunuel) and art (especially the art of Paul Delvaux). Scythe wielding women, vampires stepping out of clocks, comatose women walking along train tracks, twinned vampires moving through Gothic landscapes, and many more such imagery comprised Rollin’s visual (and not to discount the aural, since his use of music was also innovative) imagination. The latter perhaps best defines Rollin’s contribution to cinema, and the horror genre: an imagination unfettered by confines of narrative protocol or commercial cinema. I had the wonderful pleasure of meeting Jean Rollin in Montreal when he was an invited guest at the 2007 Fantasia International Film Festival, where he was given a lifetime achievement award, and his then latest film was shown, La nuit des horloges, a wonderful panorama of Rollin’s past film’s themes and images. Already then his fragile health was in evidence. When I have the time I will do a proper essay in homage of this filmmaker who has touched me (and like-minded) in ways few have. In the meantime I encourage you to read the Offscreen essay on Rollin written by one of Fantasia’s festival programmers, Simon Laperrière, entitled “Cinematic Nostalgia and Blue Nights: On Jean Rollin’s Two Orphan Vampires.” Please visit the site linked, “Fascination: The Jean Rollin Experience,” which is gathering links to Rollin tributes as they come in. He will be sorely missed. (Donato Totaro, editor)
Offscreen editor Donato Totaro with Jean Rollin
