Secret Ceremony

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Blu B Defintely a New Hollywood era film that's for sure. It reminds me of movies like Audrey Rose and Birth though it's not exactly the same subject matter of reincarnation. It's more that it shares the same subject matters explored of loss, grief, and family dysfunction in a very weird and twisted way. While those struggled with interesting characters and had good ideas. This has the exact opposite problem. The characters here are actually pretty interesting, weird, disturbing sometimes, and very unique. Farrow is solid here and the best thing easily playing a child in a very convincing manner physically and emotionally. It's no wonder she'd go on a multi decade run of classics. Everyone else isn't bad here. I wish Taylor & Mitchum got more screentime together. The music is good too. Very weird, disturbing, unsettling, and just unique but not the most catchy thing. Everything else isn't bad here. It jus can meander at times with the characters and doesn't have the most focused narrative in the world. It can give off arthouse type of vibes sometimes but not fully. It is interesting to see these characters interact even when were not sure where the story is going. But it does start to test your patience a bit. I do find it a bit farfetched how Taylor's character just fully opens up embracing the idea of being the Mom with almost no hesitation after a good breakfast. It's so weird but it weirdly fits this weird film. It does feel like stuff just happens a bit and it just ends leaving you think about what you just saw. I'm honestly not sure how to feel. I know it's very strange and very weird. It's like a psycholigcal horror drama in a sense but not really. I think because it walks that line so well the entire time I'm not really sure how process what I felt and watched fully. It's a challenging film for sure and I'm not sure I'm fully up to the task. Anyone who is a hardcore fan of any actors here or the director though maybe should check this out for a very strange and unique movie for them. Rated 3.5/5 Stars •  Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 06/21/25 Full Review Nicholas D An absolutely bizarre, creepy and confusing film. Full of twisted perversions and melodrama. You just have no idea what is going on half the time. Are Leonara and Chenzi ghosts or hallucinations? Is it a dream or psychotic fantasy playing out....And then in ends. Rated 1.5/5 Stars •  Rated 1.5 out of 5 stars 01/19/25 Full Review Audience Member Mia Farrow, as usual, aces it when playing a mentally unstable and manipulative character; Liz Taylor, on the other hand, does not seem to have been in the mood for making a movie as she bares the minimum in performing her role. All in all, Secret Ceremony is worthy of your time as a film lover. Rated 3.5/5 Stars •  Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 01/24/23 Full Review Audience Member A bizarre, twisted tale, directed by Joseph Losey. Excellent cast. Elizabeth Taylor, Mia Farrier and Robert Mitcham. Fascinating and engrossing. Quite controversial in 1968. Rated 4/5 Stars •  Rated 4 out of 5 stars 03/18/18 Full Review Audience Member While this is not a good movie, it has an odd psycho-sexual undertone that makes it surprisingly interesting. Rated 3/5 Stars •  Rated 3 out of 5 stars 02/22/23 Full Review Audience Member A bizzare, ungodly film that has all sorts of nasty behaviours at work. Taylor and Farrow make a love lost pair with stepfather Robert Mitchum making things worse with his incestious prescence. Each Taylor and Farrow think they have been reborn meeting thier supposedly dead loved ones. Slow paced it made me want to leave several times until Mitchum arrives. [img]http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/e/ec/SecretCeremony%2768.jph.jpg/220px-SecretCeremony%2768.jph.jpg[/img] Secret Ceremony is a 1968 film, produced in Britain and released by Universal Pictures. Based on the book by Argentine writer Marco Denevi, it stars Elizabeth Taylor, Mia Farrow, Robert Mitchum, Pamela Brown, and Peggy Ashcroft. Joseph Losey directed, from a script by George Tabori. [img]http://t2.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcTPMyugIKOtUutIWpAep3QZDMmeafONNcbgjpl25d-bXA-83Y1YlQ[/img] Not what it seems, Farrow is childlike here. If you are a fan of Mitchum, you'll have to see him half way through the film and then not too often after that. His role of an incest stepfather, if in fact he was that, is not becoming of the personna of a Robert Mitchum. But Taylor is convinced he is a rat so in the end she does something about it. [img]http://t0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcRMpUu0MmiqNEqKc_FQbzs0VwM9z5wbbS8GsTrIVtk4fQEsUKZq9A[/img] Robert Mitchum as the incestious stepfather SEE the trailer here: http://www.tcm.com/mediaroom/video/353288/Secret-Ceremony-Original-Trailer-.html Worth watching if you can tolerate the very slow pace of the film. A plus for the film is a very young 23 year old Mia Farrow who pretends sex with herself a few times and even having a child. Her stepfather, Mitchum, advises Taylor she is a nut case headed for suicide. SEE the entire film here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CH3gvC1PXY4 [img]http://t3.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcRqT3gDqN5QHMMRV-vW2h2UhL3u-iX5PHSoKHiETHY6V6VlDt-0[/img] Here the two are like mother and daughter in bath NOTES: 1 There are apparently varying versions of the film, the result of Universal Pictures' tampering with Losey's original cut, possibly to de-emphasize the lesbian aspects of the Taylor-Farrow relationship. 2 Critical reception of the film has tended to be mixed, with some critics essentially maintaining that it is a bad film but yet one that can be enjoyed due to a certain camp quality evident in Losey's mise-en-scène and the actors' performances. However, other film analysts regard the film as compelling because of its deep psychological portraits. REVIEWS: 80% Elizabeth Taylor is intriguing as a slightly overweight prostitute. Despite those flaws, her beauty is still beyond compare. I dare anyone to pull off... 50% Now this--THIS--is a weird movie. [img]http://t0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcR-4F0pp-eq7z_kwiu2z7H8d8aDzDon0NaSfhEIlnOx77iXXY3InQ[/img] Farrow is excellent as the rape victum of Mitchum, or so it seems Distributed by Universal Pictures Release date(s) 1968 Running time 105 min. Box office $3 million (US/ Canada rentals) [img]http://t2.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcR5ZYW9eaFl8UBMJ6TZol6tV7Q7oK5pjRMWVhiEuq3HI64VFEpChg[/img] A powerhouse performance by Farrow and Taylor Rated 4/5 Stars •  Rated 4 out of 5 stars 01/19/23 Full Review Read all reviews

Secret Ceremony

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