Trailer provided by Video Detective
As English language films go, they don't come more French than this one. Roman Polanski's occult thriller from 1999 not only takes place mostly in France, it delves into France's deepest, darkest past. There is something about this movie that invokes not just the Crusades and the Knights Templar (without ever mentioning either one even once), it brings up all sorts of occult ephemera without mentioning it, not least which is Alistair Crowley, the (in)famous British "occultist" with a strange and seriously weird wit. From some reason, for me personally (yeah...and I guess the above is personal too, since who writes about Crowley off the top of their head?), it also brings up the spectre of Gilles de Rais. Possibly because he was said to have spent time in the 1530's studying or attempting to study the occult; but, probably more so because Crowley was one of the people who though de Rais was framed by the Catholic Church. It is also because de Rais had a Chateau (aka Castle) that (now in ruins) looked a great deal like the place where Corso (Johnny Depp) ends up in the movie. Gilles de Rais was hanged (over a pyre) in 1540 for killing and dismembering children. He was reportedly the inspiration for the Bluebeard story. He was also a military cohort of Joan of Arc. You can read about him here in Wikipedia. The remains of his castle, where these ghastly acts were carried out, are creepy as hell!
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