seen on 10 June 2017
Roger Michell directs Rachel Weisz as Rachel and Sam Claflin as Philip (and his uncle Ambrose) with support from Iain Glen, Holliday Grainger, Pierfrancesco Favino and Simon Russell Beale in this (second) adaptation of Daphne du Maurier's novel.
The film is beautifully shot and composed, but is perhaps a little too conscious of its period splendour to generate the required degree of tension (both in narrative terms and in sexual chemistry). Rachel Weisz is suitably poised and enigmatic as the eponymous cousin - and more significantly widow - of Philip's uncle Ambrose, while Sam Claflin is believably at first boorish and then besotted as the young man who becomes completely infatuated with his mysterious cousin.
The enigma remains to the end - was Rachel a fortune hunter and poisoner, or a spirited woman determined to take what little advantage was available at that time to preserve her independence? It is easy enough to be carried away by Philip's puppyish devotion, and then to be suspicious with him of her behaviour; but her own defence when challenged also seems plausible. The viewer is left to decide; but for me the film was more a pleasant afternoon's entertainment than a truly probing investigation of an ambiguous situation.
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