Dominique

I sussed out who was in it from the start (no spoilers) but then watching whodunnits is almost never about who done it.

It's about atmosphere and acting: in these two departments the film, though dated, is very effective. The acting is particularly excellent with the cast of stars assembled, with Simmons and Agutter absolutely stealing every scene they're in. And Ward is pretty much off the scale.

Some particularly impressive atmospherics involving gravestones and exhumations communicating the terror felt increasingly by the male protagonist very well.

But the pace (editing) is so slow, it puts a bit of a spanner into the whole works.

I adore Jean Simmons and Jenny Agutter, and don't mind Cliff Robertson's masculinity hogging the screen.

But it's Simon Ward here who is the most successful piece of casting for the role. He has a unique facial structure, the eyes naturally conveying depths of hidden emotion and thought, and a sense of disdain for everything and everyone around him, and here they are deployed with deadly effect in the role.

Not the greatest thriller, but definitely worth a look for the performances alone.

Thanks Tubi for extending your range of classic offerings constantly.

It begins with a well to do couple (Robertson and Simmons) at their home in Britain. Through the first portion of the film, you see that the wife seems to be having some memory lapses and might be headed for a nervous breakdown. However, you are unsure if what is really happening or if, perhaps, the husband is orchestrating it—like in the movie "Gaslight". In fact, for quite a while, I thought the film was a remake of this story. However, unlike "Gaslight", the wife kills herself and you realize this cannot be that classic film's plot. From here on, the husband suddenly begins experiencing many of the same manifestations that the wife experienced—and he, too, might slowly be going mad. What's next?

This film is a great example of a movie that is simply over-written. In other words, there are too many plot elements and twists. Because of this, the plot to drive the couple mad is overly complicated and presents MANY opportunities to establish that an outside person or persons are manipulating them. The plot depended too many times on the people reacting one way and if they'd reacted another (which was very plausible) the plan would have quickly come unraveled. As a result, there were several obvious plot holes that kept me second-guessing the writer. Additionally, at the end, there is a murder that simply made little sense. Add to that the amazingly over-restrained performances by everyone (especially Robertson) and you get a movie that should have been excellent but in actuality was only a time-passer. Not terrible but simplicity would have made this one so much better.

**SPOILERS** Cliff Robertson looks like he just walked on the set without knowing what the movie's all about and without a script to cue him in this vary slow and and dark,the movie makers must have saved a mint on the low electricity bill, Ghost/Suspense/Thriller "Dominique is Dead".

Stock-broker David Ballard, Cliff Robertson, is on the verge of going bankrupt in his stock picking and investing business and needs loads of ready cash fast to avoid it. With David's wife Dominique, Jean Simmons, in control of the family fortune he has to work fast to either drive her insane or to suicide in order to inherit her estate and rigs up all kinds of gimmicks to do it.

After a while Dominique is totally unsure if she's losing her mind or if what she's been seeing and hearing in the dead of night are real. Before you know it David finds her hanging in the greenhouse dead, an obvious suicide. Things now seem to look up for the scheming and maniacal David with Dominique's dead and him to be the one to get his hands on her money, and keep his stock business from going under, but instead the exact opposite begins to happen. Strange sounds in the night with the piano playing Dominique's favorite musical piece all by itself and even Dominique herself appearing out of nowhere and haunting David driving him out of his mind like he did to her.

David really gets shaken up when he's called by the cemetery manager where Dominique is buried to find his own headstone next to her's stating that he'll be joining her very soon. At his office David sees this women in black outside in the street watching him, the same woman that was supposed to have paid for his headstone, all hours of the day. The man completely freaks out when later there's an inscription carved on his headstone born. June 14, 1931 and died. October 25, 1977 which is just a few days hence!

Going to the cemetery and digging up Dominique's coffin with his faithful limo-driver Tony Calvert, Simon Ward, both David and Tony are shocked to find the coffin empty! Is Dominique dead or is she really alive? Later having Dominique officially exhumed it's found to the shock of David and Tony that her body is really there! what did Dominique do? go back in her grave after David and Tony dug it up? David gets so crazy that he starts to accuse his housemaid old Mrs. Davis, Flora Robson, of being behind all these ghostly incidents that's appearing to him which makes her leave the mansion in both fear and disgust.

With Dominique popping up every night and spooking him has David empty a fully loaded handgun on her only to find, later with Tony,that the bullets not only went through her but ended up embedded in the walls and door of the house! Now totally insane David is driven to the edge of a balcony of his house and falls to his death in the greenhouse; the very place where Dominique's body was found on the early morning of October 25, 1977! the date of his death inscribed on his tombstone.

With Dominique's last Will & Testament read by her lawyer at the end of the movie we get an idea to who was behind this scam to drive David to his death like he did to Dominique. We have to sit through another ten minutes or so for the culprits to reveal themselves and at the same time fall out by double-crossing each other.

Overlong and at times boring "Dominique is Dead" should have ended some ten minutes earlier leaving the audience up in the air to what really was behind all the strange and unexplained happening in the movie. By awkwardly trying to explain them, very unconvincingly, away the film muddled the plot even more and just self-destructed like the tape-recorder in the TV series "Mission Impossible".

Sorry to say, especially with the supposed talent in front of the camera, the movie was extremely slow, drawn out, and honestly a whole bunch of pretty much nothing...

I don't mind slow burn films at all, but like any good story, it really has to have a decent plot behind it and just as importantly if not more, a decent script and director. And, quite honestly this has none of that.

I swear the director (along with all the supposed 'Performances') were totally sleep walking through this 'Story' Bland, absolutely NO atmosphere what so ever. And, when you are trying to create an effective Gothic Ghost/Haunting tale, strong atmosphere and mood are absolutely essential, and there truly ain't none of that here.

I mean, literally in the first 30 full minutes almost nothing of any note happens other than the obvious plot point of what happens to the wife. Long, drawn out scenes where not only nothing happens, but they are so completely devoid of any mood or atmosphere, it's like the director had no idea at all what kind of movie he was making.

Normally, I really love good, old fashioned Ghost Stories, especially the British kind even though they can be really low key at times. But, not to put too fine a point on it, this was is completely dead on arrival.

Not recommended at all... I gave it a '4'

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ MY PARTICULAR WAY OF RATING:

5 - Flawed, but with some entertainment value.

6. A decently passable story maybe worth a watch.

7. A solid film, well made, effective, and entertaining.

And, obviously, you can probably figure out what above and below these would mean... : )

I have not seen Dominique in years... watching it again after years of no see I find the movie extremely good. If you want a fast-paced, bloody ghost story then this film is not for you. This film is what you might call 'slow' and written well instead of 'fast' and all bloody eye-candy with no solid story. Dominique is my kind of a ghost story - just a damned good story with quality acting.

The story is exactly like the plot summery. Basically, a money-hungry husband and the 'ghost' of a vengeful wife. There is more to this story but I will not tell it because it would ruin the film for those who have not seen it yet. It's a must watch for lovers of older ghost stories.

I remembered the film to be good - but it is so much better than I recalled it to be. This might be a 'boring' ghost story for some - for others, like myself, this is a quality haunting film.

8.5/10