Cérémonie secrète

"Secret Ceremony" was critically lambasted on its release - undeservedly so. Having come on the heels of another Elizabeth Taylor/Joseph Losey collaboration - the truly awful "Boom" - I suppose the critics were sharpening their knives again.

Admittedly, "Secret Ceremony" is probably an acquired taste. I first saw it on network TV in its mutilated form, with new non-Losey scenes filmed to supposed "explain" what was happening. Nevertheless, what remained of the original film was good enough that I sought out the uncut original.

The story is bizarre but consistently intriguing, and the Taylor/Farrow combination works. Taylor is very good in this film; I think it's one of her best performances (her scene at the very end is excellent). I highly recommend this film for those with eclectic, adventurous tastes.

This movie is a tad pretentious and muddled, but it'll get under your skin. All the characters are either so deluded (crazy rich girl Mia Farrow), desperate (middle-aged hooker Liz Taylor) or demonic (scummy pedophile Robert Mitchum) that watching it is like spending two hours in a psych ward with no attendants on duty. Also gripping is the atmosphere created by director Joseph Losey, who was considered as a genius in the 60s and is pretty much forgotten today. With wide-angle shots and a minimum of noise, Losey reinforces his characters' isolation and solipsism by making London, one of the most crowded cities in the Western world, seem as empty and quiet as a tomb.

The plot is a psychological inversion of the classic haunted house story -- Liz and Mia take shelter from an outside world that threatens their relationship. And that relationship is, to put it mildly, weird. Mia lures Liz into her huge, empty home because she resembles her late mother. Liz indulges Mia's fantasy because as a homeless prostitute she's in need of shelter, plus, she lost a daughter who looked a lot like Mia. This arrangement could be sweet to the point of treacly if these two grown women didn't enjoy doing things like bathing together and discussing ex-lovers. And Mia has a particularly repulsive ex-lover in Mitchum, her former stepfather who started molesting the girl in her early teens. Though the experience clearly ripped Mia to shreds, the creep still has some power over her and the film becomes a battle of wills between Taylor and Mitchum. Along the way there's a fake pregnancy, a nightmarish seaside holiday and a visit to Mia's two horrid old-maid aunts. The movie isn't particularly pleasant or coherent, but it does pull off the impressive feat of telling its story the way its characters are experiencing it, and that's pretty damn disturbing when you're dealing with a bunch of warped people. See it, then watch a romantic comedy or something so you're able to sleep that night.

I saw "the girl in the park" yesterday and although it featured Sigourney Weaver's moving performance ,I couldn't help but be struck by the similarities with Losey's forgotten movie: Sigourney Weaver was in search of a long lost daughter whereas Mia Farrow is in need of a mother.Farrow is impressive in her performance which was outstripped by the success of "Rosemary's baby" -in which she is terrific too-.As soon as we see her ,we feel how irrational she is.Her smiles,her gentleness ,her tenderness have something spooky.Ther's also an attic where the characters try to invent a brand new past for themselves.Liz Taylor and Robert Mitchum are as good as Farrow and the movie is one of Losey's sleepers,almost in the same league as his overlooked "Monsieur Klein" (another case of mistaken identity)

What an unexpected, odd, treat. Films that travel undetected, spotted by accident - as it was in my case. I was reading about this startling Argentinean writer, Marco Denevi, when I discovered that one of his short stories had been adapted for the screen, directed by Joseph Losey of "The Servant" fame and with a cast to die for. Elizabeth Taylor as a prostitute that takes advantage of a peculiar girl, played with real zest by Mia Farrow who mistakes her for her mother, and Robert Mitchum, as the disruptor. This classy if bizarre production also includes Pamela Brown and Peggy Ashcroft in the cast. I enjoyed the weirdness thoroughly. It unsettled me and made me wonder how this film had been received in 1968. Apparently not very well. The one thing that made people talk about Secret Ceremony at the time was an infamous still with Elizabeth Taylor and Mia Farrow in a bathtub together. For lovers of the odd and unique this is a real treat.

It's hard to find words to describe Secret Ceremony. It's definitely a film that you'd be surprised the likes of Taylor, Farrow, and Mitchum would be interested in being a part of, but their commitment to the material is admirable.

Taylor plays a homeless who has a chance encounter with a creepy young woman played by Farrow who stalks her because she reminds her of her dead mother. Luckily for Farrow, she reminds Taylor of her dead daughter and the two start living together in Farrow's mansion. Needless to say, things just keep getting creepier from there.

The big issue with this film is that we don't know Taylor's character well enough to figure out why she'd ever been desperate or crazy enough to go off and live with a complete stranger, especially one as creepy and obviously disturbed as Farrow. This weak motivation makes everything that happens after it feel unearned and, frankly, boring.

There are some interesting and creepy ideas sprinkled throughout including a dollop, but it's not as interesting as it could have been.