Rapture

The rugged coastline of Brittany sets the mood for this underrated little gem from 1965, starring American actors Melvyn Douglas and Dean Stockwell, French actress Patricia Gozzi, and Swedish actress Gunnel Lindblom. Oh, and it was directed by Englishman John Guillermin. Talk about an international co-production!

Teenager Agnes (P. Gozzi) lives with her stern father Frederick (M. Douglas), a widower, in a farmhouse by the coast. Frederick, who was madly in love with his deceased wife, clearly has very little love for Agnes… au contraire, he seemingly enjoys putting her down at every occasion. The lonely girl, whose best friends seem to be the seagulls whose liberty she craves, and a doll which her father, in a fit of rage, hurls down a cliff and smashes to pieces, withdraws into a world of daydreams and fantasy to escape her misery. When not daydreaming or having to take verbal abuse from daddy dearest, Agnes is worried that he might commit her to a nearby psychiatric asylum just to get rid of her. With her doll broken, she creates a scarecrow destined to become her new ‘best friend’. In her deluded state, that very scarecrow becomes real when escaped criminal Joseph (Dean Stockwell) enters into their lives on the farm. Instead of reporting him to the police, Frederick sees the perfect candidate in Joseph for his leftfield political articles, while Agnes sees her noble saviour in the young man. However, her growing feelings for Joseph are jeopardised when attractive live-in housekeeper Karen (Gunnel Lindblom) gives the young man strong signals… leading to an inevitable clash between the sexually mature Karen and the naïve and deeply insecure Agnes. Nonetheless, it is Agnes that Joseph begins to feel protective over, and despite the protest of her father she packs her bag and travels to the big city with her new lover to start a new life.

After several weeks in a ramshackle apartment, with little money and increasing friction between the unlikely lovers, dreams of a joint future begin to fall apart, made worse by the fact that Agnes manages to lose Joseph’s hard-earned cash. After a bitter fight, she returns to her father’s remote farm, but Joseph, in a fit of remorse, soon follows. It is here that the final tragic climax unfolds, a tragedy which will leave Agnes and her unloving father changed people forever…

The film, skilfully blending stark realism with elements of fantasy, is based on the novel Rapture In My Rags (published by 1954) by Phyllis Hastings. The actors are thoroughly impressive and believable, especially the intimate scenes between the adolescent Agnes and convict Joseph are sensibly handled. However, it is the multi-layered and complex character of Agnes which the young Patricia Gozzi’s tackles with aplomb – throwing in an unforgettable performance in the process. Equally worth mentioning is the film’s moody and atmospheric cinematography by Marcel Grignon, who in 1975 collaborated with Polish director Walerian Borowczyk on the erotic fantasy horror The Beast.

SPECIAL FEATURES of this Dual Edition Blu-ray and DVD release include:
• New exclusive commentary with film historians Julie Kirgo and Nick Redmond
• Booklet featuring an essay by critic Mike Sutton; vintage stills; and more.