Secret Ceremony

I needed to be let in on the secret earlier than I was.

Along with Robert Altman's '3 Women', one of the most bizarre and dream-like films released by a major studio. Very beautiful, eerie and strange. Mia Farrow's best performance.

Interesting, surreal drama; Taylor, Farrow and creepy Mitchum are extraordinary with wonderful support work by Ashcroft and Brown. Losey excells at creating a dream-like fantasy, intermixed with overwrought melodrama. Only problem is that the film doesn't add up to much in the end, and the "solution" isn't as satisfying as the mystery leading up to it. An intriguing oddity.

Psychodrama about grief, dependence, incest, suicide and other emotional intensities, this bears evidence of having been born under the sign of WHO'S AFRAID OF VIRGINIA WOOLF? and PERSONA (both 1966). The filmmakers are clearly aiming to cultivate an uncanny air, but unfortunately almost nothing works, and it’s hard to avoid the conclusion that Losey is all at sea with this kind of thing if he doesn’t have the support of a Harold Pinter screenplay.

Eccentric little chamber drama with Taylor, Farrow and Mitchum comfortably in control of rather capricious characters. Some lengthy indoor scenes steer in a theatrical direction, but later the film opens up a bit. Fans of "3 Women" and "Grey Gardens" may appreciate this.

Viewed March 10, 2021.

this might be watched with Rosemary's Baby