Customer Reviews

Secret Ceremony [VHS]

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There is something quite fascinating that continues to draw me back to repeated screenings of "Secret Ceremony". Whether it is the interesting and highly successful teaming of Elizabeth Taylor and Mia farrow, the almost surreal settings of the story or its very unusual storyline I'm not sure, perhaps it's a combination of all those things. Without a doubt it contains one of Elizabeth Taylor's finest, most underrated late 1960's performances just at the time when her Box Office standing was beginning to slip. She had only recently completed "Boom" with Richard Burton which was not successful and I feel as a result this film also suffered even though it is a far better production.

"Secret Ceremony" is set in London and tells the strange story of an wealthy but abandoned young girl Cenci (Farrow) who one day on a bus sees a woman who resembles her dead mother. Cenci in her disturbed mind feels it is her mother and "adapts" the middle aged prostitute Leonora as a replacement mother and takes her back to her strange home to play at being her daughter. Leonora has recently suffered through the lose of her own young daughter and sensing the girl's loneliness and her own unstable situation decides to play along with it and becomes actually attached to the girl in the process. Things become more complicated with the arrival first of Cenci's grasping aunts Hannah and Hilda (played by veteran actresses Peggy Ashcroft and Pamela Brown) who regularly come to the house to harrass Cenci and steal valuable items to resell in their run down antique shop, and secondly by the appearance of Cenci's unwelcome step father Albert (played by Robert Mitcham). As pyschological dramas go this is a winner and hints at many things in its story line such as lesbianism, child abuse and mother complexes. It certainly is not for all tastes which probably explains why rather sadly the film was not a success when released in 1968. What it does boast though are some excellent acting performances with great work from Elizabeth Taylor and Mia Farrow in particular. They have a wonderful screen chemistry together and indeed despite being savaged by the critics at the time I feel Robert Mitcham in his small role portraying a highly unlikeable character delivers great work and his confrontation scenes with Elizabeth have a real electricity about them.

Directed with flair by the famed Joseph losey, he enhanced the eerie atmosphere of this story with one of the great house sets that have ever been used in such a drama. Located in a leafy London suburb it is quite bizzare in its interior decoration and design and fits perfectly into the story. All Byzantine arches and coloured tiles and filled with macarbe dolls and music boxes it is both majestic and overdone which fits in perfectly with the bizzare storyline. Joseph Losey in all his productions always placed great emphasis on the settings of his stories to build the correct atmosphere and here he has excelled. It is hard to really fathom what time this story is set in so detached it seems to be from any sort of outside reality. Even the scenes shot at the beach resort in the off-season period have a strange almost funeral quality to them with misty seascapes and a general lack of people present.

Certainly like alot of Joseph Losey productions "Secret Ceremony" is an acquired taste. I can appreciate the fine acting by the leads and the strange offbeat story has alot to hold your interest. If you are interested in a compelling Elizabeth Taylor film from after her main period of Box Office stardom then "Secret Ceremony" is highly recommended.

I first heard about this film on a radio call-in show in 1985, when I was 14 and *obsessed* with movies. Although I was in Illinois, the show was broadcast out of Philadelphia (WCAU-AM). The show was on from midnight to 5 am (CST), and it was hosted by a guy named Stephen Friedman. It was a call-in show where the subject was nothing but movies--and I swear this guy had seen ALL of them! Does anybody recall this show?? I just loved it!

Anyway, I was intrigued by a conversation he had with a caller on this film. They were talking about what a wild psychological drama it was, and that (at the time) there was basically no way to see the film in its original state. The film had not been released on video yet, and the TV print had been notoriously butchered to make it more "acceptable" for TV. The network (ABC?) even went so far as to shoot additional footage with psychiatrists explaining the sordid details of the story (a la "Psycho", perhaps). Well, I finally tracked it down. So after all these years, the wonder is over...

I can only imagine what I would have made of this film as a naive teenager. Even now I find myself creeped out by the horrible secrets of Mia's character, and by the painful emptiness of the soul of Liz's (this film would be considered bold even today; it's not tame by any standards). Mia's character seems a bit over the top, but I do believe there are people like that in the world. Her past traumas seemed to have led her to have a total lack of physical boundaries with people. As for Liz, she was moving at times, rather unpleasant at times (like in the all-too-real breakfast scene), and practically another character in others (like the fake British accent she adopts on occasion).

There is certainly an element of camp in this film. It doesn't dominate the film, so I wouldn't call it camp. But some of the dialog and sets are not to be believed. Liz croaks out some pretty bad lines, with my favorite being "that's too drab for a spring day--that should be worn on a day when it rains like p*ss!". Robert Mitchum, thoroughly repulsive as Mia's stepfather, gets some of the best (worst) lines, like his line to an overweight Liz, "I'm very fond of cows. Moooooo!".

I don't want to give away the plot, because the film is worth the time just to watch the story unravel and to enjoy the creepy atmosphere (full of baroque-y music, Mia's bizarre mansion, and constant dread). If you put the lapses into camp aside, you'll find it's not a bad psychological drama. You won't regret spending the time to check this unique film out.

"Secret Ceremony" is, I think, a fascinating psychological drama that was unjustly savaged by most critics upon it's initial release in 1968. That the film's release came on the heels of another Taylor/Losey project - the awful "Boom" - probably didn't help.

The film chronicles the strange, co-dependent relationship between a childlike young woman suffering from arrested development (Farrow) and a prostitute (Taylor) whose child has died, and who bears a striking resemblance to Farrow's dead mother. Taylor moves into the house and takes on a mothering role to Farrow, thus both women play off each other's needs.

Enter two meddling, thieving aunts (Peggy Ashcroft, Pamela Brown) and Farrow's unscrupulous stepfather (Robert Mitchum, miscast, and the one jarring performance in this film), and the stage is set for tragedy.

I'll be the first to say that "Secret Ceremony" isn't for all tastes. But it does improve with age. Taylor gives, I think, one of her best, most understated performances. Her scene at the very end is excellent. I recommend this film for those with adverturous, eclectic tastes in film.

Hope this comes out on DVD.

Creepy and wonderfully bizarre, "Secret Ceremony" stands to be reexamined today. When it came out in the late 1960's the film was not well received. And in those days Miss Taylor's work after "Virginia Wolff" was for the most part not appreciated. Some thought she had lost touch with the times, some felt her choices were off the wall and just plain bad. Now years later we can look back on such films as "Boom", "Reflections In A Golden Eye". "The Driver's Seat" and this film and see what a brave actress she was. Always willing to take chances and go with a project that challenged her she stepped out of the crystal cocoon of M.G.M. that gave her a career and worked at being more than a manufactured star. She worked at her craft as an actress.
Here an equally gifted cast, Peggy Ashcroft, Pamela Brown, Robert Mitchum, and Mia Farrow support her. Mitchum, scraggily and sinisterly sexy is perfect as the destructor of the fragile dream world of Cenci and Leonora. Ashcroft and Brown as the dykey Aunts who see through the dream but keep silent for what they can get out of it. And, Mia Farrow in a role that is more chilling than the one she gave in "Rosemary's Baby".
Director Joseph Losey serves it all up in a clammy cold blue London light that keeps things on the edge somewhere between madness and comfort. Hot baths, huge overheated beds beckon while outside it is as cold and lonely as a child's grave in winter, a winter that will never end.
It is a film well worth seeing and should be regarded as another job well done in a series of great roles by Elizabeth Taylor.

This is during Taylor's Spate of more experimental film of her long and somewhat uneven career. She is undenieably beautiful even at the balooning of her weight which began with this film. The lesbian aspect of the film is still a bit of a shocker with she and the ever bonish Mia Farrow rolling in a bed naked or sharing a tub. She overacts outrageously just as she does in her other ccult classic with director Losey, "BOOM!" which John Waters has called the best worst film of all time. It too is a cult camp classic. So Liz is puffy but beautiful and Farrow does her spaced out skeleton number with the most sumptuous interiors ever. Beautifully phtographed but a real mind twister. BTW La Liz played another lesbic turn in X<Y & Zee which she eats the screen along with poor Suzannah York and Michael Caine as appetizers. I love Overblown, overdone, over- ripe Taylor! She is definitely the LAST true MOVIE STAR!

having seen few films by either the magnificent ms taylor and/ or ms farrow, i was certainly impressed and would highly recommend this film to anyone who enjoys well-made classical psychological dramas. needless to say, the performances here are nearly flawless and i am actually surprised that neither actress was nominated for anything. i must say first of all that i am a lover of the strangest films and often campy ones too so this really was a true find for me. having read the other reviewers comments here, i can agree only so much with anything anyone has written here thus far. generally speaking, i am not fond of leonard maltin as a critic but i believe perhaps his review of this film comes the closest to carefully examining this exercise in psychological drama. secret ceremony can be disturbing at times in it's almost uncompromising depiction of tragedy and how we tend to cope with unbearable incidents. we find ms farrow here playing a young girl in her early twenties named cenci who has never truly accepted her mother's death. she meets lenora played by ms. taylor whom she almost instantaneously believes is her mother and two form a strange friendship. having lost a loved one in her life as well, lenora tends to feel sorry for the young cenci and agree to play "mummy" for her until the meddling aunts or cenci's sleazy, abusive stepfather appear. i didn't particularly find the breakfast scene between cenci and lenora to be repulsive. in fact, rather felt sorry for lenora off and on throughout the film and was glad to see her receive a nourishing meal. so what ?? ms. talor was beginning to gain a bit of weight but i still believe she looked radiantly beautiful in many scenes here. GREAT FILM AND VERY OVERLOOKED BY MANY.

I finally received my VHS copy of 'Secret Ceremony', a 1968 Joseph Losey film. As a huge fan of the man and his films, especially his decadent, experimental and perverse melodramas of the 60s (The Servant, Boom!, Accident), I was quite excited to finally be able to see it. The film tells the story of Leonora (Elizabeth Taylor), a curiously religious prostitute who, while on a bus, encounters a strange, waifish young woman who thinks Leonora to be her dead mother due to their uncanny resemblance. Cenci, the young woman (Mia Farrow), inherited a large, gorgeous home (with some remarkable-looking Pre-Raphaelite-like stained glass) filled with innumerable trinkets and valuables after her mother, Margaret's, death. Leonora notes the resemblance between Cenci and her own daughter, who died at ten, and so this curious shadow play begins. Retreating to the luxurious home, Leonora and Cenci assume their respective roles. All goes well until American professor Albert (Robert Mitchum), the former husband of Cenci's mother (but only the step-father of Cenci), returns and begins a curious battle for control of their daughter.
Taylor, despite being rather plump, is gorgeous in this, and it was probably her last important film (Losey would go on to direct at least one more masterpiece, 1976's Monsieur Klein). Despite the fact that she plays a prostitute, the wardrobe of Cenci's dead mother provides a good enough excuse for her to strut about in glamorous purples and greens. In one scene, where she visits and lambastes the unscrupulous aunts of Cenci who have been slowly pilfering valuable objects from the mansion, Taylor is at her absolute best. Later, when she confronts Mitchum at a sea-side resort over 'custody' of their disturbed daughter, she is also emotionally powerful. Despite her tendency to chew scenery in other films, her performance is quite nuanced, and I think this may be one of her very best performances.
Farrow, too, acquits herself nicely, especially in a disturbing scene which takes place after an emotional confrontation with Taylor, who she now addresses as Leonora. After attempting to overdose on pills, She, blinded and dying, inaudibly calls for her 'mother' who has once and for all left the house. Farrow was an excellent choice for the deranged, innocent Cenci.
Mitchum is threatening and creepy in the film, where he plays a professor with an unhealthy zeal for fondling and sexually propositioning his step-daughter, an act and ritual which he portrays as quite natural. In one scene, he mentions to Farrow that at this very moment, innumerable fathers are 'bashing' their daughters in the Australian bush (one wonders exactly how Mitchum felt about this seedy dialogue).
The house, with its blue tiles which serve as a backdrop for the credits, is magnificent, and Losey and cinematographer Gerry Fisher, take full advantage. This is a truly complex and fascinating film, and I look forward to subsequent viewings. This is not a 'thriller', by any means, nor is it merely an exercise in stylish camp. Secret Ceremony is a masterful gothic psychodrama.

I saw this film for the first time a few weeks ago, and I still can't stop thinking about it. "Secret Ceremony" is a truly fascinating psychological drama directed by Joseph Losey. It stars my favorite actress, the magnificent Elizabeth Taylor. In "Secret Ceremony", Elizabeth Taylor portrays Leonora, a thirtysomething prostitute who is befriended by Cenci(Mia Farrow), a girl who strongly resembles her deceased daughter. Cenci brings Leonora to her large, luxurious house where she starts calling the woman "mommy". At first, Leonora is opposed to acting as Cenci's mother, but she soon realizes that Cenci is a very troubled girl and decides to stay on and look after her. In time, Leonora starts to develop maternal feelings for Cenci, and the two women are then able to create a world of their own where they can live as "mother" and "daughter". Their private world is disrupted, however, when Cenci's lecherous stepfather(Robert Mitchum) enters the scene. This is a rich, strangely moving film that sticks with you long after it has ended. Elizabeth Taylor gives a stunning performance as the complex, emotionally damaged Leonora. It's one of her most daring roles, and Taylor handles it like the consummate actress that she is. As the waifish, deeply disturbed Cenci, Mia Farrow also delivers a top-notch portrayal.

Here, she is a tired two-bit hustler, or as Liz put it, with typical finesse, "I play a dikey prostitute in this one." For the first time in her career, she plays a character who doesn't like men, a middle-aged woman battered by a life on the streets who has come to regard men as her natural enemies... Given her animosity, this is a Taylor triangle with a twist: her character fights a strong Robert Mitchum for possession of a foolish girl Mia Farrow...

A psychological thriller, the movie depicts the fantasy world created by the young girl and the older prostitute... The girl thinks Taylor is her mother, and she brings her home to her once resplendent, now faintly decayed London town house.... The two women, locked away from the world outside, enact a "secret ceremony" in which fantasy mingles with and reshapes reality, and Taylor is only too willing to exchange her role of streetwalker for that of the mad girl's rich mama...

"Secret Ceremony" is a thickly dark, arty movie, and her role is tricky, complex: the hooker must become a big lady... Nervous, agitated and confused in the face of a supply of illusion and reality, Taylor uses her Virginia Woolf number for a role that needs cunning shadings...

"Secret Ceremony" looks terrific (Joseph Losey again going to work on a magnificent dream like house), but this is no triumph for Liz... The role pushes against Taylor stereotype, but she isn't elastic enough to transcend her new-found image...

When this movie came out in the late sixties, I remember watching it in a freezing little theater in Fargo, N.D. and I was about the only person in there. I was horrified to see my Cult Queen Liz so heavy and plump and in some ways repulsive, when she's gobbling up the huge breakfast prepared by the really repulsive Mia Farrow--yes, Mia, of the simpering, cutesy, little girl, waifish idiot--and then belches. But I enjoyed a millions more when I recently watched it on TV here in Manhattan. I loved the incredibly furnished mansion where most of the action takes place. Liz is terrific--but still looks bloated. Mia is still repulsive--her whining, babyish voice, and halting delivery--inciting one to slap her. This is a haunting movie, though, and once you've seen it, you've got to study it again--primarily for the decor and furnishings of the London mansion and Liz's mod-English outfits. She actually looks like she's suffering from a terrible hangover throughout the filming--and in reality, she probably was.