Secret Ceremony (1968)

User Rating:

6.2/10   

Director:

Joseph Losey

Writers:

Marco Denevi (short story "Ceremonia secreta")
George Tabori (writer)

Release Date:

23 October 1968 (USA)

Genre:

Drama

Tagline:

No one admitted the last 12 minutes.

Plot:

A woman and the girl she insists is her long-lost daughter are caught in a web of insanity and deception in this powerful psychological thriller.

Plot Keywords:

Daughter | Stepfather | Prostitute | Psycho Thriller | Sleeping Pill

Awards:

Nominated for BAFTA Film Award. Another 1 nomination

Cast

Elizabeth Taylor	...	Leonora
Mia Farrow	...	Cenci
Robert Mitchum	...	Albert
Peggy Ashcroft	...	Hannah
Pamela Brown	...	Hilda

Runtime:

Germany:105 min | USA:109 min

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

UK:15 (DVD rating) | UK:X (original rating) (1968-2006) | USA:R | Finland:K-16 | Sweden:15 | West Germany:18 | USA:Approved

Filming Locations:

Associated British Elstree Studios, Shenley Road, Borehamwood, Hertfordshire, England, UK

Company:

Universal Pictures

Quotes:

Albert: If you don't let her go, she'll get smaller and smaller.

SECRET CEREMONY (Joseph Losey, 1968) ***

Whatever one may say about it - obscure (and obscurely-titled), deliberately-paced and exasperating - there's no denying the hold the film has on receptive viewers. Not quite in the same league as Losey's THE SERVANT (1963) or ACCIDENT (1967), similarly compulsive - and vague - examinations of relationships (though some may disagree, given that Leonard Maltin rates it ***1/2 while the www.cultmovies.info website even goes all the way and awards it ****!), but it's certainly a film which should have received greater exposure over time; I only know of one late-night broadcast on Italian TV some years back, which I had missed.

Needless to say, this is a dialogue-driven film (though the audio on Universal's no-frills R2 DVD comes off muffled on occasion) and George Tabori's adult script provides many a juicy line for the actors (particularly Robert Mitchum) to sink their teeth in. Not surprisingly, the film features quite a bit of mirror imagery - which is in keeping with the prevalent doppelganger theme. There is, however, an unusual emphasis on religion: Taylor is a devout churchgoer (despite being, ostensibly, a streetwalker!) and often takes recourse in praying.

Elizabeth Taylor was at her artistic peak during this time (resulting in one of her most controlled and less annoying performances) - though her real-life obsession with fashionable clothes and elaborate hairstyles proves a distraction alongside the psychological analysis (on the lines of Ingmar Bergman's PERSONA [1966]) the director is striving for! Mia Farrow as Taylor's surrogate child-like daughter is no less impressive here than her astonishing turn in ROSEMARY'S BABY (1968). Mitchum's role - which has a dash of CAPE FEAR (1962) in it - is arguably the most unusual he's ever played (even more so than his unforgettable mad preacher in THE NIGHT OF THE HUNTER [1955], in my opinion!) and, while I'd be interested to know what he really thought about the whole thing, his leering and abusive (verbally to Taylor and physically to Farrow) interloper certainly lends the film an added charge of tension - not to mention another possible mode of interpretation! Pamela Brown and Peggy Aschroft are Farrow's elderly eccentric aunts - unacknowledged by the family (being related to Taylor's deceased first husband, whom they idolize), they have resorted to kleptomania on their rare visits to the mansion!

A couple of confrontation scenes - between Taylor and the greedy relatives and, later, between Mitchum and Taylor at the holiday resort - are very well-handled and emerge as highpoints of the film. Ditto for the sequence in which Farrow goes bonkers when left alone in the house, bringing to mind the Catherine Deneuve of REPULSION (1965); her death scene, then - calling inaudibly for help after the departing Taylor - is equally harrowing. In this respect, Gerry Fisher's velvety cinematography, Richard Rodney Bennett's delicate yet playful score and Richard MacDonald's artful production design (though, thankfully, Reginald Beck's editing is more or less straight-forward - as it could easily have gone the way of the fragmented style of film-making championed by the likes of Richard Lester and Nicolas Roeg, then coming into fashion!) are the perfect partners in the consummation of Losey's distinctive vision on the screen.