El secreto de Mary Reilly

Mary Reilly is a great film to watch on a rainy afternoon. Often criticized as boring and a low point in Julia Roberts career, I found it to be a great Gothic story. While I can understand and see why people were put to sleep by the film, I think it's a refreshing change of pace from the standard popcorn flick that is only interested in being the number 1 film at the box office Monday morning. John Malkovich turns in a great performance of the Jekyll/Hyde character, and Glenn Close steals the few scenes she's in as a Madame of a brothel. Julia Roberts plays against type as a dour chambermaid, and I think that's what put off so many people. Obviously, most people like their Julia flashing her now $20 million dollar smile. I say, "good for you for trying something different." If you haven't seen Mary Reilly, watch it on the next rainy day and enjoy it.

My grade: 8 out of 10

OK, so this film was trashed by the critics... and I would bet a fortune that the average MTV generation movie-goer will practically fall asleep watching it - but I posit that their trouble with this film says more about them than it does about Frear's Gothic tale.

There are weaknesses - above all the fact that everyone else (including Julia Roberts ) has an accent but Malkovitch refuses to even attempt one. What's an American accent doing in the middle of all this? Malkovitch also seems to be channeling his own performance in Frear's masterpiece, Dangerous Liaisons - but if you haven't seen that film you should love what he does in this one.

But other than that, I found the slow pace to be totally gripping... The entire story is told from the viewpoint of Mary Reilly, and I have never seen Julia Roberts do a better job than here. She is wonderfully effective... it is worth watching this film only for her performance. But it is also worth watching because of the attention to period detail. You really get a feeling of what it must have been like to live in the 19th century. The manners, the utensils, the class differences...the psycho-sexual straight-jacket.

I will not give any details about the film - I'll let those who watch it discover it for themselves. But I would like to say one thing about the pace. This is not an action film, it is not even a horror film in the traditional sense. It is mainly a story of discovery - dealing with the slow realization of hidden desires and uncontrolled motivations; as such it should not - nay, could not be done at a quicker pace. It's really too bad that fewer and fewer people today seem to be capable of watching something that is subtle and slow. The loss is theirs.

In the nineteen century, in London, the dedicated housemaid Mary Reilly (Julia Roberts) is part of the staff under the command of the butler Mr. Poole (George Cole) that works for Dr. Henry Jekyll (John Malkovich). Mary is a traumatized woman that was abused by her father when she was a child and very devoted to Dr. Jekyll. One day, he gathers Mr. Poole and the servants in a room and tells that his assistant Mr. Edward Hyde will be work in his laboratory with free access to the house. Mary Reilly and her mates are unsuccessful to see the mysterious Mr. Hyde. Dr. Jekyll trusts on Mary Reilly and she helps him, delivering letters to the notorious Mrs. Farraday (Glenn Close) that owns a brothel to clean the mess that Mr. Hyde does in the city. Mary Reilly is seduced by the educated Dr. Jekyll and by the reckless and violent Mr. Hyde.

"Mary Reilly" is a dramatic and romantic view of the classic story of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde through the eyes of a housemaid. The plot is developed in slow pace and is not exactly an horror movie and maybe this is the reason that many viewers did not like this movie. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): "O Segredo de Mary Reilly" ("The Secret of Mary Reilly")

Not many movies can get away with keeping Julia Roberts from smiling, but Mary Reilly does so well. It's a movie of subtleties and moods. Its dark themes deal with the oppression of a strict, class-based society in Victorian England as well as the secrets that we all hide inside our hearts. The familiar tale takes intriguing new turns from the viewpoint of the house's servants. John Malkovich, while a tad thin on his English accent, delivers a fantastic performance as both Jekyll and Hyde as he plumbs the depths of morality and the human soul. Hyde is a stark contrast of freedom among the restrained servants of the Jekyll house, and his subtle sexual innuendoes quietly violate the chastity of Victorian stereotypes. Much of the violence occurs off camera until near the climax of the film, which may be one of it's shortcomings. The film is very quiet and slow and may put some viewers to sleep. Another issue I had was the lovely Henson-Workshop-provided effects at the end, which are imaginative, but don't make a bit of sense when compared to the rest of the film. If you can stomach a quiet and very subtle thriller, however, this is a real gem.

I am glad to see a few other reviewers calling this "underrated." I figured I was the only person who actually liked this film. All the national critics sure hated this low-key re-telling of Jekyll and Hyde.

The muted colors with the grey overtones caught my eye and were very interesting to observe. Julia Roberts also was interesting to watch: no makeup, no smile, just sad, somber looks yet still appealing. Despite critics' comments to contrary, I found this an intelligent adaption of the famous story.

People don't care for subtly in films anymore. They want in-your-face smash- ups, gore, violent contrasts....and a lot of it. This movie is extremely low-key and subtle, although there are some bloody scenes.

I have to admit that I agree with one criticism, that it's hard to believe Roberts' character "Mary Reilly" would not recognize Jekyll from Hyde (played by John Malkovich) when he didn't change facial appearances! And, yes, the film, generally- speaking, is a real downer, a depressing tale.

Yet, for some odd reason, despite the above paragraph, I recommend the film to people who enjoy slower films and subtle suspense, even if they have to suspend a little believability. I thought it was oddly fascinating.