There is a problem that has plagued filmmakers since the invention of moving pictures. How do you make an artistic statement and turn a profit? Some achieve this with a bit of ease (Hitchcock with Psycho, Carpenter with Halloween, Romero with Dawn of the Dead), and some just never even try, will remain nameless. Maybe we should throw Henry Kümel’s name in the hat.
Kümel who? Then let’s discuss Daughters of Darkness (1971). The movie opens with Stephan (John Karlen - Dark Shadows, Cagney and Lacey, Winds of War.) and Valerie (Danielle Ouimet) making love on the train. In the aftermath, Valerie asks Stephen if he loved her. Stephan answers in a typical chauvinistic fashion, “Don’t you know?” The conversation turns to Stephan’s Mother. Stephan and Valerie are traveling to see Stephan’s Mother, and to let her know that they were just married. Valerie wants to meet Stephan’s Mother badly; Stephen is not enthused at all. Stephan is strangely coy about his Mother, and none too pleased with the statement Valerie makes about him being afraid of her. He boldly tells Valerie he will phone her as soon as he can. Their trip is sidetracked when the train goes off the tracks. They decide to take a boat to their destination.
They arrive at the hotel during off season where it’s almost completely empty. After checking in, Valerie needles Stephan about calling his Mother. Stephan does something very peculiar, he asks the Concierge of the hotel to put a phone number through, but he actually writes on the note “say there is no reply”, and hands him some money.
Why is Valerie so obsessed over meeting Stephan’s Mother, and why is Stephan so adamant about keeping Valerie from his Mother? During dinner, Valerie harps on the Mother scene and thinks Stephan is ashamed of her. Stephan tries to explain to her that Mother already hates her, without knowing she exists. She keeps jabbing him with getting in contact anyway, and thinks it’s odd there is no answer. She pushes him to go see Mother without her and he finally agrees.
A mysterious Hungarian countess, Elizabeth Báthory (Delphine Seyrig) and her “secretary” Ilona (Andrea Rau) arrive at the hotel just as the sun sets. The Countess asks for the royal suite, but the concierge remembers the Countess from a long time ago, from the days when he was just a bellboy. He also informs the Countess that the suite is now occupied by Stephan and Valerie. When she sees the couple, she immediately becomes fascinated by them. He tells her that he can move Stephan and Valerie, but when she replies no back and calls by his name, the concierge is a little more than just creeped out. When she is told the couple is leaving the next day, the Countess is nearly heartbroken.
Here is the part in the film where we see the Countess’ power, the ability to invade another person’s mind. She and Illona stare at Stephan and Valerie, the Countess tells Illona the couple is perfect and they are leaving the next day. The scene cuts to Stephan and he hands in his key the Royal suite. The Concierge asks if he is leaving and Stephen shakes his head; “Perhaps the next day?” Concierge asks. Stephan replies, “I don’t know when we will leave.” Valerie waltzes over and asks about the Countess and the seduction has begun.
In another strange scene, the Countess and Illona are watching the couple walking on the beach, almost as if they are having a joint fantasy about them. The Countess can’t stop talking about Valerie and Illona and shows her jealousy. Illona voices her wish to die and the Countess shows her no sympathy, only saying that the lights hurt her eyes and Illona removes her scarf and places it over the hateful lamp.
During breakfast in bed, Stephan and Valerie read about a horrible murder not far from where they are staying. Three nights of atrocious attacks on, in particular of young girls, whose throats were cut? Stephan and Valerie then take a boat ride to Bruges. When the romantic trip begins; a walk through the city leads them to discover another victim in the murder spree. It is the fourth pretty girl to have her throat torn out. But the bizarre fact is all the victims are left with gaping wounds in the necks, and no trace of blood anywhere at the scene of the crimes. The audience sees a stranger who seems to be everywhere Stephan and Valerie are, or is he everywhere the murders are committed? He follows them back to the hotel. This is also where we start to see a masochistic side to Stephan; and how unhappy Illona is being with the Countess, who will not let Illona leave her.
Two sides of the same coin? The Countess and Stephan seem to share a few of the same character traits. Stephan and Valerie finally meet the Countess and have drinks with her. The stranger enters the hotel and is introduced as a policeman, and he in turn says the same thing as the concierge, “So glad to see you after so much time.”
There is an attraction between Stephan and Illona, as well as between the Countess and Valerie. Valerie can’t believe the Countess is older than her late thirties. “Every woman would sell her soul to know your secret,” Valerie says. The Countess tells her, “Oh, it’s just a very strict diet.”
Then there is a scene where Stephan and the Countess share an erotic telling of the Countess’ family history, especially the story of the first Countess Bathory whipping, torturing and bleeding young virgin girls to death. To Valerie’s dismay, this becomes a cruel transgression by both of them. Valerie runs up to her room. She decides to take a bath. While undressing she sees someone on the balcony trying to break in. The camera pans and we see its Illona, naked and hissing. Valerie screams, alerting the Countess, Stephan and the concierge.
The Countess finds Illona in the bathroom, naked, throwing up in the toilet, where she tells Illona, “You couldn’t wait, could you?!” Later, Stephan and Valerie engage in a violent foreplay and the camera pans back to the balcony where the Countess and Illona have been watching them. Stephan does end up calling Mother in one of the more bizarre scenes in the film. Mother is who the audience would think she was. Mother does not approve of Stephan’s marriage. Mother disregards Stephan’s feelings and still treats him as if he were a little boy. After they hang up, the masochism reaches its pinnacle.
Stephan savagely beats Valerie because of his anger and hatred for Mother. Valerie runs away, but the Countess follows her and keeps Valerie from boarding the train. In the meantime, from instructions by the Countess, Illona seduces Stephan. The Countess brings Valerie back, but not before she begins her emotional seduction of her own.
And that’s what these people are: emotional vampires. Yes, they of the traditional vampire. They cannot go out in the day, they can’t stand the smell or sight of garlic, and they commit ghastly murders. They feed off of their victim’s fears and their essence. This film has a peculiar death scene in the shower. Those who see it will probably have not forgotten it. But that is what this movie is. Chock full of strange, haunting, and just plain odd interactions between the characters and awkward pauses.
Kümel did make an art film. It is not for everyone. The sexual situations may be too strong for some. The film may run too slow for others. The camera is almost always there, yet it is not. The makers of the film gives the viewer a chance to get to know the characters while still keeping much of their history and personality in the dark. There are those who will not like this film if they are force fed nice tight answers, nor will they like the film for Stephan and the Countess’ love for hurting others.
Kümel made other films (most notably Malpertuis, featuring Orson Welles). He is known mostly for Daughters of Darkness. Kumel, interviewed by Mark Gatiss for the BBC documentary Horror Europa said that he deliberately styled Delphine Seyrig after Marlene Dietrich and Andrea Rau after Louise Brooks to deepen the filmic resonance of his own movie. Because the vampire character of Elizabeth Bathory is also a demagogue, Kumel dressed her in the Nazi colors of black white and red. In commenting on both the film's harsh sense of humor, and the director's painterly eye in the composition of several scenes, Gatiss drew forth the comment from Kumel that he considers the film very Belgian, especially due to the influence of Surrealism and Expressionism.
Daughters of Darkness is available on Blue-ray and DVD through Anchor Bay.
Mark Slade, HMS
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