Cérémonie secrète

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.

"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.

Joseph Losey's brilliant psychological drama follows the strange relationship between a prostitute(Elizabeth Taylor) and a waif-like girl(Mia Farrow) who resembles her deceased daughter. Taylor also bears an incredible likeness to Farrow's deceased mother, enabling the two women to create a world of their own where they can live as mother and daughter. Their secret world is disrupted, however, when Farrow's lecherous stepfather(Robert Mitchum) enters the scene. "Secret Ceremony" features expert performances from all, but it is Elizabeth Taylor who walks away with the honors, delivering a truly moving portrayal of an emotionally broken woman searching for some stability in her life. It's one of her most daring roles, and Miss Taylor handles it like the consummate actress that she is. The screenplay is by George Tabori, based on the prize-winning short story by Marco Denevi. (Universal later cut footage from the film and added extra scenes to make the picture acceptable for a television audience. Luckily, the video version is the original, uncut theatrical release).

This is a somewhat weird psychological drama about a mentally troubled young woman (Mia Farrow) who mistakes Liz Taylor's character for her dead mother. The situation is complicated by the fact that Farrow's character also resembles Taylor's dead daughter. Though the premise is a bit contrived, it becomes a bit touching as Taylor eventually becomes protective and concerned about the girl, who is being victimized by her own family. The film does suffer from several major flaws, most notably the appearance of Robert Mitchum, painfully miscast as Farrow's lecherous stepfather. Probably one of Taylor's most daring and least embarrassing roles from this period, she also looks surprisingly good here.

Interesting film about two women who use each other to concoct a fantasy world of instability that ends in tragedy. Mia Farrow is an unstable young heiress whose mother has died. Elizabeth Taylor is a middle aged hooker whose daughter died in childhood. Farrow spies Taylor on a bus and is struck by her physical similarity to her mother. Farrow, in a long brown wig, resembles Taylors daughter. Taylor reluctantly allows Farrow to take her home, feed her tea and sausages, and slowly comes to fill the role of the dead mother, even dressing in the woman's clothes and confronting some thieving elderly aunts. The psychological charade is complicated when the two go on holiday as mother and daughter and happen to encounter Farrow's stepfather, played by Robert Mitchum.

A fascinating psychological study of two damaged women and their own disturbed inner worlds, SECRET CEREMONY is a great movie for anyone looking for something different. Elizabeth Taylor gives a nuanced performance in this film, despite having chomped scenery unchecked in some other films from this era(BOOM, X Y AND ZEE). Highly recommended.