The Secret Rapture (film)
| The Secret Rapture | |
|---|---|
Original poster
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| Directed by | Howard Davies |
| Produced by | Simon Relph |
| Written by | David Hare |
| Starring |
Juliet Stevenson Joanne Whalley-Kilmer Penelope Wilton Neil Pearson |
| Music by | Richard Hartley |
| Cinematography | Ian Wilson |
| Edited by | George Akers |
| Distributed by | Castle Hill Productions |
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Release date
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29 April 1994 (US) 3 June 1994 (UK) |
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Running time
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97 minutes |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
| Box office | $18,719 (US) |
The Secret Rapture is a 1993 British drama film directed by Howard Davies. The screenplay by David Hare is based on his 1988 play of the same title.
Estranged sisters Isobel and Marion are forced to reunite when their father dies and they must decide how to handle Katherine, their young, alcoholic, mentally unstable stepmother who has been left nothing but the rural home in which they were raised. Isobel and her lover Patrick own a small graphic design company that is struggling to stay afloat. Her sister suggests she and her born-again Christian husband Tom help them expand the business by finding investors and making Katherine a partner responsible for finding new business. Isobel has grave misgivings about the plan, but finally agrees to it when Marion convinces Patrick of its potential success. Before long, the strain of running the expanded business impacts Isobel's relationship with Patrick, who is becoming increasingly dependent upon her, while at the same time Katherine's tenuous hold on sanity begins to unravel.
The film was made on location in Exmoor in Somerset.
The film premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival on 12 September 1993. It opened in one theater in New York City on 29 April 1994 and earned $18,719 during its four-week run there. It went into release in the UK on 3 June 1994.
Stephen Holden of the New York Times thought the film's "emotional texture is considerably richer than the Broadway production. And its wrenching performances and dark, clammy atmosphere cast an unsettling chill." He added, "Much of the power of the film . . . lies in the lurching unpredictability of its story . . . In observing the characters up close, the film exudes an emotional intensity that was missing from the more politically pointed Broadway production. As dislikable as Marion may be, Ms. Wilton's portrayal allows us enough glimpses through her mask of hard self-sufficiency to suggest the fearful, unloved child beneath. Isobel, with her outpourings of concern and conscience, is far more sympathetic. But Ms. Stevenson also doesn't shy away from showing the character's streaks of stubbornness and hysteria. The film's flashiest performance belongs to Ms. Whalley-Kilmer as the impulsive, sexually magnetic Katherine. At moments she oddly suggests a young, tipsy Joan Collins whose bravado cannot conceal her lack of an inner core. The film's biggest flaw is its attempt to compress too much story into too little space, in scenes that shift abruptly from character to character."
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Wikipedia