Secret Ceremony (1968)

User Rating:

6.3/10   

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.

Gothic Masterpiece

Beautifully dark movie which grants Mia Farrow the freedom to showcase the strange range of her gift. Elizabeth Taylor stays close with a deep and sensitive touch, flashing a legitimate side of herself, oft covered up. Robert Mitchum achieves repulsive perfection lurking in the garden, symbolic of the disgust and fear we share in our hide. The entire cast in breath and stone include every sense in totality, placing the actors and ourselves together to spy on each other from above, and within the ornamental mansion. Intense hallucinogenic 1968 camera shots intimately portray the family by chance's horrific existence. The music tastefully gentle dries the humid landscape making its absurd subconscious logic almost digestible. The story weaved with such expertise, it would be a stab in the back to reveal it any other way. The truth that you always expected was rampant, but waited for the excuse of insanity to reveal. In my opinion, one of the most tragically honest all around performances I have ever witnessed on the screen. A true feat and gutsy effort from the entire bloody pool of talent. Bravo!