Jean Rollin
Jean Michel Rollin Roth Le Gentil (3 November 193815 December 2010) was a French film director, actor, and novelist best known for his work in the fantastique genre.
Jean Rollin
His 1982 film, "La morte vivante" ("The Living Dead Girl") was his most commercial and successful work since "Les raisins de la mort". In addition to its small budget, Rollin again had to contend with producers to construct a film that he wanted, as they required another zombie piece. He was reluctant to do so and was influenced to create a film with combinations from his previous works. Rollin described that the living dead girl is sort of a vampire woman who devours the blood of humans, taking the idea from his vampire works, but not exactly making her a vampire. The gore is a notable aspect taken from "Les raisins de la mort". His usual poetic, supernatural and horror themes are still present within the film. Rollin created the story of a young woman named Catherine Valmont (Françoise Blanchard) who has been dead and buried in her family valut beneath the Valmont mansion for the past two years. As three thieves enter the vaults and plan to rob Catherine and her deceased relative of their jewellery as they lay in their coffins, an earth tremor occurs, which suddenly resurrects Catherine. Unaware of her surroundings, she must acquire human victims and drink their blood to prevent her descending into madness and possibly death, with drifting in and out of childhood memories of her childhood friend, Hélène (Marina Pierro). During which, a photographer, Barbara (Carina Barone), becomes fascinated by Catherine when she discovers her and thinks she is quite peculiar, and sets out to uncover a mystery. Catherine's childhood friend, Hélène is intending to buy the Valmont mansion, which is currently on the market and a strange phone call leads her to the home where she discovers that Catherine is alive and the bodies of the thieves and the real estate agent and her boyfriend. Trying to convince herself that Catherine did not actually die, she realises that she has returned from the dead and must help her by bringing her unsuspecting victims. Some of the financing for the film was courtesy of Jacques Raif, who co-wrote the feature. The film's photographer Pierre LeBlond, found a castle which would become the Valmont mansion, which they rented. The castle provided accommodation for the cast and crew, in which the owner offered to cook. According to Rollin, the owner insisted on being referred to as "His Lordship" and that he was very difficult to get along with Actress, Françoise Blanchard was introduced to Rollin by Fanny Magier, a co-star actress who appeared in the film. When Blanchard arrived, Rollin was unsure whether to offer her the role of Catherine due to the fact that in the first scene in which her character is resurrected, Blanchard appeared wearing trousers which wasn't required for the scene and Rollin did not ask her to remove them. She did however receive the role due to good contact. Blanchard showed great professionalism in her role and in one particular scene, the final scene of the film, in which Blanchard's character cries and screams after devouring her childhood friend, the crew became concerned over her mental state as they thought she has descended into madness. She gave an amazing performance for the role. During the preparation of the film, Rollin had been to Rome with Lionel Wallman to find an actress to portray the role of Hélène. Rollin had Teresa Ann Savoy in mind for the role, whom he was greatly impressed with. After speaking with Savoy and showing her a script for a pornographic picture which was in English and devoid of interest and not for "La morte vivante", as she didn't speak French, she refused the role and told her agent that she would never in her life shoot with a guy like him. His second choice was actress Marina Pierro, a recurring collaborator with director Walerian Borowczyk, whom Rollin instantly liked. Pierro accepted the role. In the role of the photographers, American actor Mike Marshall, whom Rollin enjoyed working with during the production received the role of Greg and Canadian actress Carina Barone, was offered the role of Barbara due to a previous actress who featured in "Les paumées du petit matin" turning it down as she unmistakable believed that it was supposedly an erotic film. The film was a commercial success within theatres and received quite a positive reception, especially in Italy. Upon its release, Rollin was betrayed by a dishonest distributor who premiered in a select number of small theatres behind his back, as the film deserved a much larger audience in highly established theatres. However, "La morte vivante" was selected in many festivals which gave the film little success, particularly in Rome where Rollin's friend, Andriano Pintaldi presented the film in his festival where it was given the public's award.