Digibeta

The Flesh of the Orchid

La Chair de l’orchidée
Patrice Chéreau

A beautiful young woman (Charlotte Rampling), imprisoned by her aunt in a castle-like asylum, flees for the open road only to wind up in the company of another fugitive: a horse-rearing outsider on the run from two murderous gangsters.

DIRECTOR
Patrice Chéreau
YEAR
1975
COUNTRY
France / Italy / West Germany
RUNTIME
110 minutes
LANGUAGE
French with English subtitles.
FORMAT
Digibeta
ORIGINAL TITLE
La Chair de l’orchidée
START DATE
March 1, 2014

After nearly a decade of groundbreaking theater work, Chéreau made his film directing debut with this grim, visually stunning gangster movie-cum-fairy tale. A beautiful young woman (Charlotte Rampling), imprisoned by her aunt in a castle-like asylum, flees for the open road, only to wind up in the company of another fugitive: a horse-rearing outsider (Bruno Cremer) on the run from two murderous gangsters. Anchored by Rampling’s strong performance and magnificent, rain-drenched cinematography from the legendary Pierre Lhomme—plus a knockout cameo by Simone Signoret—The Flesh of the Orchid is an underseen genre gem, not to mention a testament to Chéreau’s enormous range: a year after directing this pulpy thriller, he premiered his now-legendary Bayrouth staging of the Ring cycle.

The Flesh of the Orchid
The Flesh of the Orchid
The Flesh of the Orchid
The Flesh of the Orchid
The Flesh of the Orchid

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