Spotlight

Spotlight Date: 10-December-06
Spoiler Rating: Medium

My Cousin Rachel (1952)

"My Cousin Rachel" begins with a boy and his guardian coming upon a hanged man at a crossroads in 19th century England. The guardian observes that the man had always been a quiet, reserved chap until a single flare-up of passion led to his horrifying demise. Then the opening credits roll and the viewer is panting to know what happens next. And it gets better from there.

The action jumps ahead about a dozen years to when the boy has become dashing swain Philip Ashley (newcomer Richard Burton). He and his guardian Ambrose, who is also his cousin, return to the crossroads to exchange good-byes before the latter travels south for his health. Philip retires to the stately manor which he will inherit on his 25th birthday and starts to receive disturbing letters. First Ambrose writes to say that he has met a distant cousin of theirs in Italy; then he notifies Philip of his marriage; then he sends a couple of hastily scrawled pleas for help, revealing that he is sick and implying that his new wife is trying to kill him. Philip hotfoots it to Florence but arrives too late. After a less-than-satisfactory interview with the widow's lawyer (George Dolenz), he concludes that she's a murderer and vows to avenge his lifelong friend.

The widow has already left Florence, however, so it isn't until weeks later (and 25 minutes into the film) that Rachel finally makes her appearance. There's something marvelous about the late entrance of a character whose name dictates the title and marketing of a film. Here we get a tantalizing glimpse of Rachel's back as she exits a carriage at Philip's Cornwall home, and then we finally meet her as Philip does ... only she's not what anyone expects. Embodied with grace by Olivia de Havilland, she isn't the middle-aged, hard-edged crone that Philip feared nor the angelic opposite. She's a frank, lively, quick-witted woman who doesn't dodge the fact that she has been around the block and is fallibly human. She instantly dashes Philip's aggression, bringing cheer into his underlit mansion, and within days has him madly enamored.

The movie wanes after this gripping setup, yet it maintains enough tension to keep one guessing through the end. The ongoing mystery is of course whether Rachel is good or evil and whether Philip's youthful passion will prove romantic or fatal. The one fault with "My Cousin Rachel" (which is based on a novel by Daphne du Maurier) is that it insists on having it both ways. The ambiguous clues don't lead to any real conclusion and, as if to lessen the stakes, Philip comes equipped with a plucky paramour (Audrey Dalton) who's there to catch him if he falls. Even the murder so wonderfully foreshadowed at the beginning is questionable, which denies full-circle resolution. In short, the movie doesn't live up to its promising start, although the start is so very promising that it propels one through the story with gothic fascination.

Copyright © 2006 The Jujube (M. I. Kim). All rights reserved.