rapture ( 1965 film )
his other body of work included 1976' s king kong, the blue max, sheena and 1965' s rapture .
( 1965) he anchored his score with his signature radiance but added elements of suspense and discordance in keeping with the needs of the film .
there are no critic reviews yet for rapture. keep checking rotten tomatoes for updates !
rapture is an intense and sometimes disturbing coming - of - age story based on the novel, rapture in my rags, by the english author phyllis hastings, its location being transposed for the film to the coast of brittany although the dialogue is in english .
we’d love your help. let us know what’s wrong with this preview of rapture by phyllis hastings .
pauline kael, “the come - dressed - as - the - sick - soul - of - europe parties: la notte, last year at marienbad, la dolce vita, ” in i lost it at the movies: film writings, 1954 - 1965 (boston: little, brown; 1965), pp. 161 - 175 .
after falling hard for the 1965 film version of rapture, i decided to seek out the book that inspired it. because i had a feeling the book would be a bit of a pulp romance and perhaps not terribly well written, and because the film means so much to me, i decided to wait to read it until i' d seen the film several times - - until my experience and understanding of the film couldn' t be changed by reading the book. i' m glad i made that decision. as i' d suspected, the book is a bit of a pulp romance, and
2004 saw the birth of the new masters of cinema series, a specially curated dvd and blu - ray collection of classic and world cinema. since then they’ve released hundreds of dvds and blu - rays of some of the world’s finest movies, many of which we at louder than war have reviewed. today we bring you our review of john guillermin’s classic 1965 french / american film rapture .
the film was the 11th most popular movie at the british box office in 1962 .
future learning and skills – giving everyone the opportunity to build a lifelong relationship with film .
the only thing that i didn' t like about this film was the fact that this was patricia gozzi' s second & last film. what a tragic waste of such talent !
gorgeous 1080p presentation of the film in its original 2. 35: 1' scope aspect ratio
founded in 1999, senses of cinema is one of the first online film journals of its kind and has set the standard for professional, high quality film - related content on the internet .
( 1965) is one of the most sadly neglected studio movies of the 1960s, which is perhaps down to its peculiar plot and its inability to be pigeon holed in any particular genre. atmospheric, haunting and given a strikingly beautiful aesthetic by cinematographer marcel grignon, rapture tells the unusual story of 15 year old teenager, agnes, played with wondrous perfection by patricia gozzi .
is a complex gem of a film. every piece of the film works masterfully, and yet it had mostly fallen off the face of the earth until twilight time licensed it for release on blu - ray. there are a number of reasons that the film might have disappeared. it luxuriates in tricky morality. the main characters each ensconce themselves in unhealthy relationships, whether is is father - daughter, lovers, or otherwise. it seems to me that the film was simply so far ahead of its time that it had no place in 1965, but thank goodness it has reappeared and is ripe for critical rediscovery .
this film is not currently playing on mubi but 30 other great films are. see what’s now showing
twilight time' s blu - ray doesn' t boast any extras which is a bit frustrating because, if ever a film called out for a commentary track by film scholars, this is it. the movie' s outstanding b & w cinematography looks great and georges delerue' s marvelous score is a joy to listen to. julie kirgo' s excellent liner notes explain that patricia gozzi sacrificed a promising film career by going into self - imposed retirement at an early age. a pity because her work in this film was oscar - worthy and she could have had a brilliant career. rapture is a remarkable film on many levels. put it on your
must see
list .
she ended the message writing :
sadly but proudly, i am mary guillermin, widow of a wonderful man - sensitive and passionate, full of a fierce rapture himself .
those who did manage to see rapture over the years have generally remained passionate about it and no wonder, there’s much to recommend the film from the creative camerawork to the score by georges delerue. undoubtedly, though, the best thing about it is the spellbinding performance of patricia gozzi, who had attracted attention after her performance on sundays and cybele, which won the oscar for best foreign language film in 1962 .
the tomatometer score — based on the opinions of hundreds of film and television critics — is a trusted measurement of critical recommendation for millions of fans. it represents the percentage of professional critic reviews that are positive for a given film or television show .
about time that became available. an excellent film with great acting. a first class service from the seller. well recommended .
if you know the director john guillermin through his work on movies like the towering inferno and shaft in africa, then you’re in for a surprise here. rapture is unlike anything he directed before or since, an art house fairy tale that owes a debt to both the french new wave and to the frequently bleak cinema of ingmar bergman. it’s also the director’s personal favourite of his numerous films and it’s astonishing to think that after being shown at some film festivals in the mid 1960s and gaining some very limited screen time thereafter that rapture inexplicably fell into a long obscurity .
wrote ,
this film is hard to swallow, but the nonstop action helps cover up the gaping holes in the plot .
... masterpiece which i saw the night after seeing another wonderful film, sundays and cybele (for which i have ...
after rapture, patricia gozzi would make only one more film for the big screen, la grabuge (hung up), which also sadly fell into obscurity. her decision to step out of the spotlight of acting to raise children was a big loss to cinema as she displays here the potential to go on and become one of the most compelling actors of her generation .
psychologically disturbing and morally troubling – especially when agnes is shown to clearly desire a relationship with a man who is almost twice her age, rapture is a remarkable rediscovery with notable performances all round – douglas and stockwell are superb here too – and guillermin’s direction is always totally assured as is the crisp black and white cinematography of marcel grignon, who shot the film in cinemascope .
shifting of tectonic plates dooms japan: japan sinks (2006, jp .) (aka nihon chinbotsu) - a remake of the 1973 film
until only a few days ago i hadn’t even heard of rapture, or la fleur de l’âge, to give it its french title, but at a time of the cinematic calendar when a succession of ‘unmissable’ blockbusters traditionally send the hollywood publicity machine into overdrive, this can be a refreshing way to see a film: no overblown hype, no preconceived ideas and no real expectations .
while the three adult leads all give very fine performances, the real star of the show is young patricia gozzi, who gives a remarkably nuanced performance as the rag tag young girl who wants so desperately to be loved. joseph plays the women against each other and beds both. he seems to develop a genuine affection for agnes and tries to convince her that her alleged mental problems are easily curable - if she will just get away from her dominating father, who continues to degrade and belittle her. the ill - fated love affair between convict and teen is handled with remarkable candor for 1965, complete with bedroom scenes that leave little doubt that joseph is engaging in sex with an underage girl. the fact that fox backed this film speaks well for the studio, because rapture is the kind of film that major studios rarely went near .
video: 1080p high definition / 2. 35: 1. audio: english / mono. special features: isolated score track. rt: 104 minutes. 1965 / b & w. not rated. region free. limited edition of 3, 000 units. exclusive distribution for twilight time provided by screen archives entertainment .
rapture is presented for the first time on home video in the uk in a new high - definition restoration, released in a stunning blu - ray presentation as part of a dual format (blu - ray & dvd) edition on 28 july 2014 .
it was recommended quite awhile before i finally had the chance to see guillermin’s spellbinding 1965 feature that i go in knowing as little as possible, and i will, accordingly, do as little as possible to discuss the plot of the film here. the film doesn’t have any “twists” per se, and it doesn’t really do much of anything that isn’t perfectly in accordance with the type of film it establishes itself to be rather quickly. and yet there is a distinct pleasure to watch this psychologically warped fairy tale develop. there’s nothing overtly fantastic at play, and yet it feels otherworldly, teetering on the edge of mania without unraveling its tightly - wound core. the opening, pre - title sequence alone is uncommonly unexpected, jarring, and commanding, a quartet of repressed personalities on the verge of explosion .
extras: a highly informative commentary with film historians nick redmon and julie kirgo, a booklet featuring an essay by critic mike sutton; vintage stills and more .
an international co - production made on location along the brittany coastline, rapture is one of the most remarkable coming - of - age films ever made, and with its vivid atmosphere and emotional acuity is one of the most striking and neglected studio projects of the 1960s .
i cannot overstate how great a film this is. tremendously inspired, moving and blindingly powerful so much as to expend memories of other films which are ...
it also went on to win three oscars, a bafta and two golden globes. in 1980 he also won the evening standard british film award for death on the nile .
michelangelo antonioni, “my film, ” l’humanite february 26, 1961, trans. nicholas elliott, archived on the criterion collection website, november 4, 2013, < urltoken > .
a message posted on twilight time' s facebook page read :
i had got to know him a bit in recent years when we released his lost gem rapture on blu - ray. he was, even in his 80s, an irrepressible life - force, funny, cantankerous, profane, sophisticated, urbane .
the lead actress, patricia gozzi, plays an ephemeral woman - child searching for her place and discovering her sexuality a little bit younger than 1965 audiences may have been ready for. the girl, agnes laubard, begins the film as a fifteen year old girl whose obsessions are those of a much younger child. she plays with dolls as though they are her only friends, since she is isolated from other children her own age. her father believes her to be mentally deficient, but what she lacks is not the capacity to understand, but the capacity to relate, and she lacks someone to whom she can relate .
i saw this at a showing in amsterdam last night. it' s the kind of great film they will never show on tv these days. a masterpiece in every respect - ...
disaster films: disasters have been the subject of film - goers' fascination since the time of silent film epics, and this interest continues to exist up to the present time. catastrophes can take so many different forms - but they are mostly man - made or natural. they can be either impending or ongoing, or set in a distant future, or they can exist locally or globally .
this is a great film. for some reason this movie really struck a cord with me when i first caught in on tv back when i was a teenager. the lighting, the french location, the novelty [ to me ] of the film style... i must have watched it a hundred times. even though i haven' t seen it in a few years, i still remember how agnes is so overwhelmed by everything in her life and seems to like to hide her in childlike world. and dean stockwell is actually pretty cute; i was surprised to find out this the same dean stockwell that was later on quantum leap. my mother told me that he was quite the heartthrob in the sixties, and one can see why in this film. i also read the book by phyllis hasting, and it is a whole lot darker in tone than the film. i think it also explores the father - daughter relationship in more detail than the film. this and some of her other books seem very anti - male .
a dark comedy about a murder and its consequences presented in a backwards manner, where death is actually a rebirth. the film starts with an
execution
of the main protagonist and goes... see full summary »
with a supporting cast including gunnel lindblom, sylvia kay (wake in fright, bbc tv’s just good friends), and peter sallis (last of the summer wine), stunningly expressive black & white cinemascope visuals and an exquisite score by georges delerue, rapture is an astonishing rediscovery, presented for the first time on home video in the uk in a new high - definition restoration .
on limited edition blu - ray is a winner. the film deserves far more praise than it has received, and i believe the time for its rediscovery is now. this is a definite recommendation from me. well worth the price .
as in most of his films, antonioni’s wealthy protagonists in la notte live in a hell of their own making. so thoroughly alienated are they from one another (and from the environment) that they experience the rain from the sky (in the pool sequence) as a sublime rapture from above, giggling like schoolchildren, briefly lifted out of their stupor for a moment’s play with the actual elements .
john is here at home till his burial this coming friday. those people who admired his work, but may not have known him or me personally, are welcome to come to our home in topanga to bid farewell to a talented director who produced a large body of films stretching over 40 years. his talent shone through most fiercely in rapture re - released in 2011 by twilight time .
i absolutely adored this film, this strange little creation, an anomaly in the careers of nearly everyone involved, left to the side of film history by some strange combination of circumstance and its difficulty in categorizing. its influences are myriad, intertwined and yet just distinct enough to result in a film that doesn’t quite fit anywhere, but which is so urgently and passionately told, and now so readily available, that ignoring it any longer is simply impossible. it commanded my attention from its earliest moments, and has lingered defiantly in my mind over the past week, burrowing deeper, revealing its complexity bit by bit. i look forward to it continuing to do so. this gorgeous blu - ray comes with my highest recommendation. revel in it .
extras are sparse on the disc, as dictated by twilight time' s licensing agreements, but the major extra is worthwhile. the essay by julie kirgo once again delivers credible and valuable insight into the film and helps to contextualize its appearance and subsequent disappearance from view. it also discusses the sexual politics of the film as well as the fate of patricia gozzi, a talent who chose to leave the screen too soon. i look forward to her essays as much as the films themselves at this point. well done .
world ravaged by biological warfare and nocturnal mutants: the omega man (1971) - earlier film was the last man on earth (1964, it. / us) (l' ultimo uomo della terra), then remade as i am legend (2007 )
is a film full of characters making poor decisions. typically these kind of stories can be written off because they lead the audience to distance themselves from the characters. there is little relatability in characters with whom you constantly disagree, however, agnes' love for joseph is so profound and earnest, it is hard not to identify with her on some level as a romantic. joseph repels agnes' advances for a long time, but eventually succumbs, and the film' s morality gets even cloudier when they run away to paris to live as man and wife .
gwendolyn audrey foster is willa cather professor of english and film studies at the university of nebraska, lincoln. she is co - editor of the new book series quick takes: movies and popular culture from rutgers university press, and the author of many books, articles, and experimental videos .
conventional plot summaries of the film routinely insist that la notte centres around a male author, giovanni pontano (marcello mastroianni), his uncertain career, and his failing relationship with his wife, lidia (jeanne moreau), as well as his flirtations with beautiful socialite valentina gherardini (monica vitti) .
a masterpiece which i saw the night after seeing another wonderful film, sundays and cybele (for which i have also written an amazon review). the films both star the wonderful patricia gozzi, an outstanding child actress who made very few films. the range of emotions this girl could communicate is extraordinary. as for what the film is about, like any great work of art it depends on your interpretation and your own view of the world and how you react, a bit like the old cliché of the portrait' s eyes following you round the room. there is a lot to chew over, and i do recommend you watch the commentary on the disc, well worth it. my only quibble is it is set in france, and yet the actors apart from patricia gozzi are all foreigners, mostly anglo - saxons. so the film is made in english, but all the gendarmes and other secondary actors speak with funny froggy accents. obviously to get ignorant american and british bums on cinema seats where they wouldn' t have to cope with sub - titles. what a pity. the plot derives from a book set in england which was liberally hacked around anyway to orient the film in france. they could have hacked it a bit more and done it in both french and english if necessary, so that the family spoke english at home with the just the occasional scene with real french actors when the outside world obtruded. but despite this do watch this film. i would say that few more beautiful movies have ever been made .
( 1961). rapture brings the melodrama in abundance but the beguiling performances and stunning visuals make it impossible to tear your eyes away. gozzi puts in a powerful performance in the difficult role of agnes. whilst we never get a clear understanding of her developmental skills as inexplicable as they may be, a lot is pointed towards isolation and social or perhaps anti - social conditioning? highly emotive, gozzi’s nuanced and energetic performance is unlike anything you’ve ever seen, which makes one wonder why this treasure has remained buried for so long .
the disc has one major special feature, a commentary track by nick redmon and julie kirgo. redmon and kirgo run twilight time, which released the film on blu - ray in the united states, and are more or less the ones responsible for whatever reputation it may gain from here (even if they admit that they only looked into the film at guillermin’s personal urging, and had never seen it before). that said, this is not a very well - prepared track, often falling into just narrating the events onscreen. there is not a lot that’s been written about the film, though, so for those who fall for it as much as i did, it’s still a very valuable listen to gather what little is known, just go with the flow during their rather tepid analysis. eureka also includes a booklet with an essay by mike sutton, which goes over some of the same information as the commentary, focusing much more on production than analysis .
in reviewing the critical reception of la notte (1961), it strikes me that many observers seem to almost completely miss the fact that the film is, in part, a feminist critique of capitalist society, which centres around women, consumption, and the failure of our ecosystem, and not just the director’s trademark alienation and ennui .
i know not everyone will share this experience, but for me discovering this movie was like coming out of a fog and into the light, more alive than before. george delerue' s score is gorgeous, as is the setting, as are the performances. the film haunts me - - in the best possible way. highly recommended .
modernist in its approach, director john guillermin, occasionally heightens events by filming them from the frenzied and heightened perspective of the teenage protagonist before bringing us back to the disbelief of her fellow characters. the film is romantic in its approach to imagery, making you fall deeply in love with contours of brittany’s coastlines via sumptuous and ambitious crane shots but guillermin wants his audience to know who this film belongs to as he frames the whole shebang with a bout of crazed panic on london’s city streets as the teenager finally gets a glimpse of the world beyond the farm gates. love interest dean stockwell oozes charisma as the scarecrow come - to - life, bringing matinee idol looks and compassion to an otherwise awkwardly complex and predatory character .
from the unsettling opening scene where agnes’ older sister genevieve begins crying on her way to church to wed armand (peter sallis, later to become the voice of gromit) the film is never one where viewers are able to anticipate what will happen next with any degree of certainty albeit i’m sure few at any point would imagine a happy - ever - after ending .
here she is even better as agnes, an unstable, adolescent girl (gozzi was fifteen during the shoot) who is still very much a child as the film opens: she walks around barefoot, talks to her dolls as if they are real and becomes strangely obsessed about building a scarecrow, which she also later talks to as if it is a living thing .
i would argue, rather, that women are both the centre of the film and the mirrors upon which antonioni reflects his dark perceptions and stark conclusions about the human condition. at a launch party for his latest novel, those who celebrate giovanni’s newest book spend precious little time actually reading, opting instead to party all night, while simultaneously remaining oblivious to their own mortality .
hard to add anything to the review by
technoguy
jack
, who has it spot on. this is a wonderfully disturbing film, absolutely brilliantly shot, and superbly acted and edited. it holds its shape and its rich atmosphere from beginning to end. how very odd that the director went on to make consistently mediocre films for the rest of his career. what a performance by patricia gozzi !
this is a treasured movie for those who saw it when it first appeared in the mid 1960s. for those not of the 60s, it may seem dated, but it was a very fine expression of english cinema under the creative influence of the french new wave. patricia gozzi was an extraorduinary young (french) actress. those whe saw her as a child in sundays and cybele were mesmerised by her haunting, fragile presence. rapture was made about two years later, when she was still only 15 years old. her screen presence was again unforgettable. it was a loss to us she made so very few films. this is a restrained and tender love tale, beautifully filmed black and white .
the tragedy of antonioni’s characters is not simply a matter of bored bourgeois ennui; these people are disconnected from the feminine, from the earth, and from life itself. perhaps no critic got it more wrong than pauline kael in her infamous essay “the come - dressed - as - the - sick - soul - of - europe parties: la notte, last year at marienbad, la dolce vita, ” in which kael attacked the film, demanding less ambiguity :
mortality is omnipresent in the opening sequence in a hospital room, where giovanni and lidia visit their dying friend, an author named tommaso (bernhard wicki). tommaso wonders aloud if any of his life’s work is of value, and ironically giovanni himself is battling the same sorts of questions, the central post - war preoccupations of modernism; self - doubt, alienation, and existentialism. giovanni’s self absorption precludes him from a loving relationship with his wife, lidia, who patiently waits for him to grow up during the entire length of the film .
this is when a very young and dashing dean stockwell shows up as an american sailor on the run from the french police. earlier in the film, the doctor witnessed a paddy wagon crash, and saw stockwell' s joseph emerge tussling with a gendarme. they wrestle for a moment before joseph casts off the gendarme who hits his head on a rock and dies. on the lam, joseph dons the scarecrow' s suit and appears to agnes during a storm, agnes instantly decides that her scarecrow has come to life to be with her, and the plot thickens .
the idea of a fifteen year old girl running away to get married to an older man is an uncomfortable one today, but back then it was a scandal. this was an age when the sexuality of teenagers was much more under the covers, and patricia gozzi' s agnes becomes quite forthright with her desires one she decides that joesph is the man she' s been looking for. if it weren' t for this complicated love story, i think the film may have been more of a success, but as it is, it makes for incredibly compelling viewing .
whether or not lidia and giovanni’s marriage is saved at the end of la notte seems insignificant in light of the larger issues raised by the film. antonioni offers us far bigger issues to contemplate. what have humans made of the earth? how do we love one another? what is the value of women, art and love in a world defined by men of commerce? can we wake from our sleepwalking? these are but a few of the questions raised by la notte, a masterwork that only gets better with time, provoking a wakeful regenerative response to 21 st century consumption, devaluation of eros, and our reckless destruction of the natural world .
t here were many earlier action / adventure disaster films in the silent era through the advent of the talkies. some of the most notable were the hurricane (1937) - with one of the most spectacular tropical storm scenes ever shot in film history. and two 50' s films, the high and the mighty (1954) and zero hour (1957) - were the inspiration for all the airplane disaster films of the 70s. [ hitchcock' s foreign correspondent (1940) also contained a harrowing airplane crash sequence. ] the real horrors of world war ii (the holocaust), and the perceived threat of nuclear annihilation and radioactive mutancy during the resultant cold war led to a further onslaught of disaster - related films soon after in the 1950s .
most disaster films have large - scale special effects (especially in the recent past' s mega - budget spectaculars), huge casts of stars faced with the crisis, a persevering hero or heroine (i. e. , charlton heston, steve mcqueen, etc .) called upon to lead the struggle against the threat, and many plot - lines affecting multiple characters. in many cases, the' evil' or' selfish' individuals are the first to succumb to the conflagration. as in any sub - genre, the move to capitalize on the' disaster film' trend has led to many sub - par disaster films, with weak and unsubtle, formulaic plots, improbable circumstances and bad science, poor character development, and laughable acting from third - rate stars portraying cliched characters .
even lindblom, in a relatively straightforward role, turns surprisingly motherly towards the motherless agnes, but not so much that she’s willing to put the child’s needs before her own. she has a very pragmatic sense of sexual attraction, but when one boyfriend visits her, she’s practically begging him for sex the moment he steps into her room. and then there’s dean stockwell, whose role in the story i will say especially little of. i tend to think women make the best film actors, and consequently, that the best male actors have something feminine about them, and so it is with stockwell, whose expression is constantly curious, compassionate, and slightly wounded. he comes into this odd place under rather tough conditions, and quietly deduces those here are not too well off themselves. it’s not a pretty scene, and yet he stays anyway; partially out of necessity, but also because he understand the other three in distinct, fundamental ways that they deeply need, and which have gone otherwise sorely unfulfilled. their interpersonal dynamics are just that – dynamic, constantly changing and revealing .
some parts of this page won' t work property. please reload or try later .
agnes, a lonely teenage girl, and her father befriend an escaped convict, named joseph, who arrives at their farm in brittany, france. when joseph develops an attraction to agnes, her father threatens to break up the union .
jermaine fowler and omari hardwick of sorry to bother you take us back in time to the worst jobs of their careers .
want to share imdb' s rating on your own site? use the html below .
after killing a child when his plane crashes in a vietnamese village, pierre suffers from delayed stress and partial amnesia. returning to france, he lives like a vegetable until he meets a... see full summary »
in 1890, pontus, the starving writer, wanders the streets of christiania, in search of love and a chance to get his work published. all he meets is defeat and suffering while his sense of... see full summary »
during the cold and rainy off - season a man arrives in a seaside town and, giving his name only as pierre, checks into the only hotel which remains open. his arrival arouses curiosity and a... see full summary »
blaise starrett is a rancher at odds with homesteaders when outlaws hold up the small town. the outlaws are held in check only by their notorious leader, but he is diagnosed with a fatal wound and the town is a powder keg waiting to blow .
the editor of an exploitation newspaper commits a murder and assigns his protégé to investigate hoping to divert attention away from himself .
janet is a young student at a private school; her nights are troubled by horrible dreams in which she sees her mother, who is in fact locked in an insane asylum, haunting her. expelled... see full summary »
four men who were involved in the investigation of a german millionaire at the end of the second world war are found murdered with tiny dolls left next to their corpses .
the globe is a small, but visionary newspaper started by phineas mitchell, an editor recently fired by the star. the two newspapers become enemies, and the star' s ruthless heiress charity hackett decides to eliminate the competition .
a hired killer from cleveland has a job to do on a second - string mob boss in new york. but a special girl from his past, and a fat gun dealer with pet rats, each gets in his way .
a young black man is verbally harassed by an older woman on a streetcar, while the other passengers remain silent. he finally exacts his revenge .
when an aging, but gentlemanly stagecoach robber is released from prison, he decides to go to canada to become a train robber .
: but they eat all the seeds. it would keep them from the vegetables .
: your black suit. your old one. the one in the attic .
8 of 13 people found this review helpful. was this review helpful to you? yes no | report this
with jurassic world: fallen kingdom now in cinemas, we take a look at how imdb users rated the films of the franchise. plus, browse exclusive lego® jurassic world playsets, presented by lego .
explore popular sci - fi movies and tv shows available to stream with prime video .
in the french countryside, agnes (patricia gozzi), a withdrawn teenager, lives in relative seclusion with her hermetic ex - judge father, frederick (melvyn douglas). agnes, who longs for male companionship, falls in love with joseph (dean stockwell), an injured escaped convict her family has taken in and nursed back to health .
london late 1940s in colour... georges delerue (v. rare footage )
shielded from the outside world by her widowed father, agnes may be an innocent, but she is far from one dimensional; she’s volatile enough for one character to even call her ‘a little savage’ and she has a manipulative streak too .
her father, frederick larbaud, played by melvyn douglas – who a year earlier had bagged an oscar for best supporting actor in hud – is a contradictory man, a retired judge who rails at the failings of what he sees as his country’s draconian legal system yet is capable of severely beating his daughter and threatening to have her ‘put away’ at a nearby asylum .
the pair live together in a large farmhouse on a remote part of the brittany coast together with karen (gunnel lindblom), an occasionally coquettish live - in housekeeper who acts as something of a mentor for the younger female .
the appearance of wounded american fugitive joseph, played by former child star dean stockwell, adds an interesting twist and he will affect a major impact in the lives of each of these three characters .
joseph, in an attempt to disguise himself from the gendarmes on his trail, dresses in the clothes of the scarecrow and is discovered by agnes who fantasises – or maybe even believes – that he is somehow her scarecrow brought to life .
she is instantly captivated by her ’creation’ and she’s not the only one glad that he’s entered their isolated little world; frederick perhaps subconsciously senses he could be someone who can reinforce his views on the treatment of criminals and also help with the book he is writing on the subject while karen sees him as the latest in a presumably long line of boyfriends .
all words by jamie havlin. more writing by jamie on louder than war can be found at his author’s archive .
html public
- / / w3c / / dtd xhtml 1. 0 transitional / / en
urltoken
posted by cinema retro in dvd / streaming video reviews & news on saturday, september 15. 2012
the american westerns of clint eastwood movie classics special # 5. click on image for information and to order .
cinema retro foto files issue # 1: spy girls of the 1960s & 1970s tribute! now shipping! click on cover image to order .
now you can order twilight time limited edition titles directly from the company web site! click on ad above .
movies and tv shows are certified fresh with a steady tomatometer of 75% or higher after a set amount of reviews (80 for wide - release movies, 40 for limited - release movies, 20 for tv shows), including 5 reviews from top critics .
raised in the country with only her world - weary, cynical father, a former judge, for company, a young woman grows up believing that she too is angry at the world. other than her reclusive father, her only human contact comes from her personal maid and a scarecrow that the girl mistakenly believes has come to life. her life abruptly changes one day when a fugitive criminal shows up and begs the judge for shelter. hating all things having to do with the law, the old man lets him in. the young woman is enchanted by the fugitive' s presence and grows close to him until she discovers that he and the maid have become lovers. the enraged young woman vows to kill the maid, but the latter hastily leaves. with no hindrance, the girl and the fugitive fall in love and head for paris where the girl learns valuable lessons about herself and tragedy ensues .
a young girl kept in the country by an embittered widower has her first experience of love with a fugitive from justice. it comes to an abrupt end when he is killed .
your social account may not have provided your email to us. please confirm or enter it below to complete your profile .
we found your email in our system. please provide your site password to link to your existing account .
forgot your password? enter your email address and we' ll send you instructions on how to access your account .
we have not verified that the email belongs to you. please check your inbox for the verification email .
to resend the verification email, please enter your email address and click submit .
sixteen - year - old agnes considers herself to be retarded. in reality, the lonely girl is normal, her situation a product of her father' s retreat from reality after the death of her mother. he resigned from his post as a judge and lives on the coast of brittany with agnes, who was taken out of school at age 12. agnes has made a scarecrow to be her companion and has dressed it in her father' s old suit. when she finds joseph, an escaped prisoner, wearing the suit, she believes that her creation has come alive. agnes and her father, with karen, their servant, take joseph in and nurse his wounds. joseph becomes part of the household, but when agnes discovers joseph and karen making love, she tries to kill karen. karen then leaves, and soon agnes and joseph are lovers. her father discovers them and beats her. the gendarme whom joseph injured in his escape dies, and so joseph is sought for murder. joseph and agnes run away to the city, which so bewilders agnes that she returns home. joseph is killed by the police when he follows agnes; and agnes and her father resume their life in a new adult relationship .
this is one of those rare movies where you can step inside and stay there. the story, the bracing terrain and maritime weather, the fantastic ...
leonard maltin classic movie guide, copyright 2005, 2010. used by arrangement with penguin group (usa) inc .
tm & © 2018 turner classic movies, inc. a time warner company. all rights reserved. code of conduct for this site | press room | privacy policy | | terms of use
her father, a stern doctor played by melvyn douglas, has lost faith in the workings of the civilized world and has retreated to a rural farm following the early death of his beloved wife. he sees his daughter as a reminder of his wife, but in a melancholy way, rather than as the last remaining flicker of the life he once cherished. he unwittingly infantilizes her, perpetuating her fantasies of childhood. that is, until he opens up and allows her to use his wedding suit to create a scarecrow for the garden, which she then anthropomorphizes and falls in love with to nearly disastrous ends .
is technically superb. the cinematography by marcel grignon is unbelievable, his crisp black and white photography of the french sea coast is absolutely stunning. his use of swoops and interesting camera angles also helps to convey agnes' confusion and her state of mind in the way that only images can. grignon was a very busy working dp, and this makes me interested to seek out more of his work. the only other films of his i' ve seen are
features a splendid score from georges delerue, which is dripping with romance and thankfully available on this disc as an isolated audio track .
is blessed with glorious cinematography and scoring, and both are treated extremely well by twilight time. the black and white photography is amazing, and the transfer supports it beautifully. this is among the finest black and white presentations i' ve yet seen on blu - ray. simply stunning. delerue' s score also gets an uncompressed treatment and sounds beautiful is its original mono. the a / v on this disc is incredible, and another slam dunk for twilight time .
buy this disc. it should be essential viewing, and hopefully now it will be .
do you feel this content is inappropriate or infringes upon your rights? click here to report it, or see our dmca policy .
todd brown, toronto, canada founder and editor peter martin, dallas, texas, usa managing editor ryland aldrich, los angeles, california festivals editor james marsh, hong kong, china asian editor ben umstead, los angeles, california u. s. editor more ...
in a shimmering black - and - white widescreen frame, a young girl reaches for the horizon, some spiritual force binding her to the soil .
there is a girl, agnes (patricia gozzi), clearly in the emotional and physical throes of adolescence, tightly attached to the girlhood that her father, frederick (melvyn douglas), demands she leave behind without allowing her a moment of exploration. they have a housekeeper, karen (gunnel lindblom), who does plenty of exploration on her own. agnes lays in their garden, her arms outstretched, as though grasping for freedom. she tries to sleep, but her body will not allow it, demanding attention from her that she does not know how to give. at church, she clasps and wrangles with her hands during prayer. there’s an asylum near their house on the french seaside that her father walks her by after services, a gentle reminder of where he might throw her, should she completely lose control .
but while another director, in another time perhaps, would be content to let his characters do the talking, guillermin seems incapable of shooting an uninteresting frame, either by virtue of composition, contrast in the editing, or simply catching the right face at the right time. it’s as accomplished visually as it is audacious, from a long tracking shot near the beginning the tours a rollicking party (full of silverware thieves and men’s roaming hands, which the camera captures quickly before abandoning for other acts of debauchery) to the way it swings about to put us firmly within agnes’s confusion about her world and, indeed, very state of mind. it calls to mind murnau’s american era and
kieślowski’s revelatory work in the double life of veronique, all within a story that seems so much like a chamber piece that it could be been written by ingmar bergman .
this aesthetic wonder is spectacularly brought to life via eureka classics new (region b locked) blu - ray release. the grain structure is strong and varying, with only a few traces of damage remaining, totally crisp throughout (almost to a fault, in fact – there is a bit of edge enhancement in a few shots), and the whole thing seems to glisten, really putting the “silver” in “silver screen. ” contrast is superb, and depth is stunning, portraying some of the warping of the anamorphic process (which guillermin and grignon use to their compositional advantage, transforming limbs and bodies) quite well. faces, landscapes, and rooms all have spectacular clarity and density. the screencaps here have been resized and compressed, but very well represent what you’re getting .
enjoyed this review. i should perhaps point out that i wrote the essay before i had heard the commentary so i didn’t know what they were going to talk about .
a podcast network and website for fans of quality theatrical and home video releases .
note: blu - ray discs are in a high definition format and need to be played on a blu - ray player .
instantly receive a £10 urltoken gift card if you’re approved for the amazon platinum mastercard with instant spend. representative 21. 9% apr (variable) .
credit offered by newday ltd, over 18s only, subject to status. terms apply .
this shopping feature will continue to load items. in order to navigate out of this carousel please use your heading shortcut key to navigate to the next or previous heading .
but it was a very fine expression of english cinema under the creative influence of ...
prime members enjoy fast & free shipping, unlimited streaming of movies and tv shows with prime video and many more exclusive benefits .
after viewing product detail pages, look here to find an easy way to navigate back to pages you are interested in.
rapture ( french : la fleur de l'âge ) is a 1965 french-american film directed by john guillermin , and starring melvyn douglas , patricia gozzi , and dean stockwell . 
rapture (french: la fleur de l'âge) is a 1965 french-american film directed by john guillermin, and starring melvyn douglas, patricia gozzi, and dean stockwell.
rapture (french: la fleur de l'âge) is a 1965 french-american film directed by john guillermin, and starring melvyn douglas, patricia gozzi, and dean stockwell.