MovieChat Forums > Les lèvres rouges (1971) Discussion > Nice visuals, but the plot was so dull

Nice visuals, but the plot was so dull


I like the visuals, the music. I give credit for the creative atmosphere.

But overall, I’m just not sure what the movie was aiming at. What was the point of it. Certain scenes seemed to serve no point. Like what was the role of the police officer? Why was he there? Why did the husband get so worked up about the Countess’s story when they had drinks? What was the deal with his neck cut? Why did the husband beat up his wife randomly in one scene? Who was the guy he spoke to when he was supposedly talking to “mother”? Was the husband gay? Why was it necessary for them to put that detail in the movie?

The whole vampire stuff also seemed pointless and gimmicky. The movie could have conveyed most of its plot without it.

I don’t recommend.

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I do agree about the visuals, and I thought they were stunning. There’s a moment where they bury the body out by the beach and the countess raises her cape and then covers the young girl. Damn that scene was a great shot that really stuck with me. I really liked it but I need a second viewing.

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"Like what was the role of the police officer? Why was he there?"

He could have been better developed, along with the owner of the hotel, but I think he was just there mainly as a red herring and to indicate an outside threat to the Countess. Will the hotel owner and inspector get together and stop her in time? It seems he had his eye on her for some time... although the film doesn't confirm this.
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"Why did the husband get so worked up about the Countess’s story when they had drinks?"

Because he had perverse tastes and got off on the idea of blood. The fact that she was a Countess was also an attraction for him. At first, we think he is from an aristocratic family and his "mother" won't approve of his choice of wife. This turns out not to be true, but he does have a taste for the aristocratic.
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"What was the deal with his neck cut? "

It was an indication of his taste for something "forbidden" which his wife couldn't supply for him but he thought the Countess and Ilona could.
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"Why did the husband beat up his wife randomly in one scene?"

He was bisexual and was shown to have some difficulty/distaste to have sex with her prior to that scene. In other words, he sublimated sex for violence. Also, it's indicated that this isn't the first time he has done this to her.
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"Who was the guy he spoke to when he was supposedly talking to “mother”? Was the husband gay? Why was it necessary for them to put that detail in the movie?"

He was his gay lover/sugar daddy. He was called "Mother" due to his feminine nature. It also fed into the them of sexual ambiguity, for not only the female characters, but also the male characters. The husband being a "kept man" also paralleled Ilona's status as a "kept woman" by the Countess.

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