My Cousin Rachel (12A.)
Directed by Roger Michell.
Starring Rachel Weisz, Sam Claflin, Holliday Grainger, Iain Glen and Simon Russell Beale. 106 mins.
The opening line poses a questions: “Did she or didn't she?” It's a very good question. It and its variations – Is He or Isn't He/ Are They or Aren't They/ Was It or Wasn't It – have been the basis of many a fine entertainment. But there is an inherent problem with all the stories based on these questions: somehow, you never really get a satisfactory answer.
In this adaptation of Daphne Du Maurier's 1951 novel, the question is whether Rachel (Weisz) is a conniving merry widow who murdered her husband in Italy and is trying to seduce his heir Philip (Clafin) into meekly handing over his estate to her, or is she genuinely in mourning. Director Michell has had a varied and often impressive career since Notting Hill, usually failing in his American project but making British films that seem thoroughly British, except in the way they are uncommonly good. Here though he is rooted in the traditions of the costume drama.
He has written the adaption himself and has done a skillful job of it. The most difficult part surely was making Clafin's meek acquiescence to Weisz's charms seem credible. I'm not sure he quite succeeds but he does at least subtly imply that he is man who is terrified of women and wary of anything he doesn't know. Watch his look of disgust at the sight of two people talking Italian.
It is a very decent adaptation but there isn't a whole lot here to fill the time. The house is stately, and so is the pace. Did she or didn't she is a good question, but that is all its got. The film's narrative is a sustained feat of balance: the presentation of piece of evidence suggesting her guilt before the rebuttal by some evidence against, over and over again. All the while, Weisz is the sphinx-like presence in its centre, never letting down her guard. After a while this even handedness becomes all a bit frugal and small scale and though the conclusion is much more than you'd expect, it doesn't really seem like enough.
Directed by Roger Michell.
Starring Rachel Weisz, Sam Claflin, Holliday Grainger, Iain Glen and Simon Russell Beale. 106 mins.
The opening line poses a questions: “Did she or didn't she?” It's a very good question. It and its variations – Is He or Isn't He/ Are They or Aren't They/ Was It or Wasn't It – have been the basis of many a fine entertainment. But there is an inherent problem with all the stories based on these questions: somehow, you never really get a satisfactory answer.
In this adaptation of Daphne Du Maurier's 1951 novel, the question is whether Rachel (Weisz) is a conniving merry widow who murdered her husband in Italy and is trying to seduce his heir Philip (Clafin) into meekly handing over his estate to her, or is she genuinely in mourning. Director Michell has had a varied and often impressive career since Notting Hill, usually failing in his American project but making British films that seem thoroughly British, except in the way they are uncommonly good. Here though he is rooted in the traditions of the costume drama.
He has written the adaption himself and has done a skillful job of it. The most difficult part surely was making Clafin's meek acquiescence to Weisz's charms seem credible. I'm not sure he quite succeeds but he does at least subtly imply that he is man who is terrified of women and wary of anything he doesn't know. Watch his look of disgust at the sight of two people talking Italian.
It is a very decent adaptation but there isn't a whole lot here to fill the time. The house is stately, and so is the pace. Did she or didn't she is a good question, but that is all its got. The film's narrative is a sustained feat of balance: the presentation of piece of evidence suggesting her guilt before the rebuttal by some evidence against, over and over again. All the while, Weisz is the sphinx-like presence in its centre, never letting down her guard. After a while this even handedness becomes all a bit frugal and small scale and though the conclusion is much more than you'd expect, it doesn't really seem like enough.
