User reviews

Rapture is a difficult film to explain. Many people will describe it in terms of themes, but those who have seen it can tell that there are many different themes. The story concerns a girl named Agnes (Patricia Gozzi) who acts slightly insane because of her difficulty to grow from a child into an adult. She lives with her distant father (Melvyn Douglas) and housekeeper Karen (Gunnel Lindblom) who do little to understand her. Agnes spends her time playing in the surf whistling with the sea gulls and taking care of her dolls. She desperately wants something of her own so she makes a scarecrow and cares for it like a child. Soon, an escaped criminal named Joseph (Dean Stockwell) comes and dons the scarecrow's clothes, causing Agnes to imagine that her creation has come to life. She convinces the family to take Joseph into their home and quickly becomes enamored with him.

The move stars slowly but gets progressively better. Each character is complex and interesting, namely Agnes and Joseph. Their relationship is intriguing if not a bit disturbing. Physically, they are both very beautiful people. Gozzi is gorgeous despite wearing no makeup and acting like a child; she is reminiscent of Ingrid Bergman. Stockwell also looks like a composite of two classic stars: James Dean and Montgomery Clift.

I have just tracked down this film, through this site, many years after the one and only time I saw it. I saw it as a B film i.e. tagged on to the main feature but it left such a lasting impression I cannot remember what the main feature was.

It was the beginning of the film that made such an impact on me and that I remember most.The idea of a scarecrow coming to life (Joseph in hiding) and Agnes'd reaction which gripped me. The photography was dark and powerful.The developing relationship between Agnes and Joseph and her fathers reaction to it was moving. I do not know what I would make of it now but I hope it would generate the same emotions that I felt as a teenager.

Those who remember kid actress Patricia Gozzi's stirring performance in Sundays & Cybele (1962) will be equally amazed at the remarkable range she displays in this outing. As Agnes (or "Aun-yez", as the French pronounce it) she easily steals the film from headliners Dean Stockwell & Melvyn Douglas. Not a bad feat for a 15-year-old with limited previous film experience -- and none in English language films! Her completely believable performance as the sheltered & confused daughter of an embittered retired judge (Douglas) is nothing less than riveting.

The movies' premise in a nutshell revolves around Agnes' conviction that a scarecrow she has made has come alive after fugitive Stockwell dons its clothes while on the run, and the ensuing relationship that develops between the two. Stockwell, whose fine performances have graced so many films, doesn't have much to do this time around. Film veteran Douglas, on the other hand, gets in some memorable scenes. Georges Delerue provides the gorgeous music he was noted for -- perfect for the film.

Whether this particular movie grabs you or not, at its conclusion you'll no doubt find yourself wondering why Gozzi -- whose career seemed to come to a grinding halt shortly after this -- didn't continue acting into her adult years and become a major star. It's one of those perplexing mysteries of filmdom!

This film is a bit slow and lingering....making me think the director has seen one too many Bergman films. However - it was made in 1965, it's French, and it's shot in beautiful black & white. The world was different back then. The close-ups of the actor's faces are as expressive as the background shots of the rough Brittany coastline. The young girl, Patricia Gozzi, is fascinating. The relationship between her and her father is so complex that, well...I still haven't figured it out. And for pure cinematic beauty....no, it's not the girl....it's Dean Stockwell. The camera caresses his face in every scene. And, in the long shots, he looks like James Dean...as he stuffs his hands in his pockets and leans forward as he walks, with the young girl following him close behind. The father/daughter relationship I don't understand....but the young girl's infatuation with Stockwell makes perfect sense to me.

This was one of only two films that touched me to the deepest (the other was "A Summer place"). For years after I first saw it in 1965, this was my "all-time favourite". It was absolutely perfect in all respects: the cinematography, the incredibly moving Delerue score, the performances by Gozzi (better than her memorable "Sundays and Cybele" of three years previously), who subsequently all but disappeared from view, by Melvyn Douglas, Stockwell, and Ingmar Bergman regular Lindbloom, all of this blended together into such an emotionally satisfying package that even today I think back to it with trepidation (there's just so much one can take)... I really think there should be an Oscar category for "unaccountably neglected masterpieces". "Rapture" would get one hands down. If you have the chance to see it, just watch for the terrific contrasts between the moody seaside cliff and mansion scenes and the vulgar, brash, city noises. They are a splendid metaphor for what you get and what you long for. The experience will haunt you for always.

This film has been showing up lately on Fox Movie Channel. Catch it if you can or have a friend tape it for you. You'll never see another film like it. Delerue's music is probably the one element that makes the film unforgettable, but there's also the screenplay which could almost be a modern day greek tragedy about the torments of adolescence before and after sexual awakening; the central performances by 15 year old Patricia Gozzi, Hollywood veteran Melvyn Douglas, former child actor Dean Stockwell and Swedish Bergman star Gunnel Lindblom that keep the whole thing believable in spite of the overheated plot; the incredible cinematography whose fluidity and composition enhance every word and emotion; the sound design which, although almost entirely post synchronized, is done brilliantly and never feels canned or artificial.

There is so much that's puzzling about the movie, one wonders if we'll ever know how it came to be made. The original treatment that it's based on is by Ennio Flaiano, Fellini's most frequent writing collaborator, but it's written by an Englishman, Stanley Mann. The director never made anything before or after that indicated he had the imagination or sensitivity to create something like it (yes this is the same John Guillerman that made Shaft in Africa and The Towering Inferno). It's shot on location and yet has the look of an A-list film shot on a sound stage. The cast includes two Americans, a Frenchwoman and a Swede, so it was probably dubbed into many languages for international distribution. Produced by 20th Century Fox, it couldn't be less American.

Most puzzling of all: why has it never received the recognition it deserves?

If anyone reading this has background information about its production, please contact me.

I first saw this movie on AMC years ago and have never forgotten it. The cinematography and acting swept me right up into the melodramatic story. Yes, the plot is melodramatic, but life sometimes is melodramatic. And if that's not enough for you, the performances of Gozzi,Stockwell, and Douglas just won't allow me to question its plausibility. They realize their characters so fully that there's no question whether there are three people could actually exist they way they do, where they do, and behave exactly as they do in this film.

The characters of Agnes and her father have such a touching pathos as they blindly find their way to healing through horrible tragedy, mutual loss, and self-discovery, for which Stockwell serves as catalyst. There is such an delicate realism to Gozzi's performance as an emotionally troubled and deluded adolescent that makes the film actually seem far ahead of its time. Trust me--this kid could have been right at home next to Brando in "On the Waterfront" and never been upstaged by him for one second.

Most reviewers seem to believe that it's these three sensitive performances that carry the weight of the plot, but how they stumble into learning about themselves and each other is never contrived. There isn't a single scene, as there is in most Hollywood films, with an overwrought catharsis that changes their world overnight. Rather, these are three people trying to act as their hearts and consciences dictate, sometimes blundering selfishly, other times meeting one another tenderly halfway. A visually beautiful and realistically romantic film.

Plot: "Set against the rugged beauty of the Brittany seacoast, it tells the story of a young girl whose lonely isolation under the watchful eye of her stern and bitter father is abruptly shattered by the arrival of a seductive fugitive from the law."

'Rapture' is a coming-of-age tale, a dark Gothic fantasy, a romance, a bit of a melodrama, and maybe a few other things. Its ability to stay clear from clichés despite the familiar dramatic framework alone is astonishing, which makes the film ultimately pretty uncategorizable, not to say anything about how sensible and dare I say perfect everything else is about this relatively layered production that feels grounded in realism while often being quite magical thanks partly due to the script, and partly due to its beautiful dreamy score and arresting as well as intelligent compositions of its CinemaScope black and white cinematography.

Its nationality isn't easily identifiable either. The spoken language is English, the writer of the source novel is British, as is the director, but he was born to French parents, the film (unlike the novel) is set in France and most of the crew is French, as is the main actress. Its overall feel is predominantly French but it definitely also has British and American touches and there's something Bergmanesque about it as well as it often plays like a chamber psychodrama and with Bergman regular Gunnel Lindblom in the cast providing a direct link to the Swedish auteur. Speaking of actors, although without big stars the main players are all recognizable faces who fit their roles excellently and all of which give very good performances with the memorable standout being French actress Patricia Gozzi as the young girl, she bowed out of acting only a few years later but if you happen to have seen 'Sundays and Cybele' you certainly will remember her from that movie.

There are many films I could compare it to, but no comparison would be exhaustive. The enigmatic stranger who enters a family with each person projecting their own desires onto him and them essentially creating their own image of the man is an important element in the film that recalls Pasolini's 'Teorema'. Then there's an impressive section later in the film in which the girl finds herself in Paris for the first time and she is completely overwhelmed by her surroundings and the situation in general, which has something of the same year's 'Repulsion'. In fact I think I saw Catherine Deneuve rubbing her nose in the background in one of the shots...OK, I didn't. Anyway, those comparisons are just scratching the surface.

I'm not really sure to whom I would recommend 'Rapture', but if my genre description made it sound like your kind of thing you may want to look into it. Especially if you loved Chan-wook Park's 'Stoker', I think there are a few similarities between them with a general oddness that is not only captivating with its complex web of character relationships but also feels perfectly natural to the material, in particular thanks to its mentally troubled young protagonist on the brink of sexual awakening who is like a warmer but also more visibly unhinged version of India Stoker with the actress very much having the same strange appeal as Mia Wasikowska as well as the acting chops to go with it.

Although understandably not the kind of film with a huge mainstream appeal 'Rapture' apparently never even saw all that much of a release back in the 60's. The handful of reviews that I found (all written within the past few years) amazingly enough are unanimously very positive, which strengthens me in my belief that this is a gem still waiting to be discovered by a much wider audience. It's only now that the film sees its first wide home video release by the UK label Eureka, so maybe now its time has finally come.

The plot was banal and over-melodramatic. Gozzi's father was well cast and convincing. In my opinion he was the strength in the film. Stockwell was as good as usual, his expressions were sensitive, they always are in his movies. I feel this one wasn't up to the standard he deserves. The way relationships chopped and changed was unrealistic. What above all ruined my enjoyment was Miss Gozzi. I find her face coarse and ugly, with fat features and cow-like eyes. Whilst I accept that she can act well her looks negate that as far as I'm concerned.

A difficult film to discuss, partly because it is unique and so comparisons seem possible or pertinent. A UK/French co-production, it comes towards the end of the late 50s/early 60s British realist film movement and coincides with the flourishing French New Wave. Elements of both are evident here in a tale centred around a troubled fifteen year old girl living in isolation on the coat of Brittany with her elderly father and home help. The cinematography by Marcel Grignon is tremendous, ranging from beautiful sweeping shots of the coastline to constantly moving shots within the confines of the dilapidated house. Music by the prolific composer George Delerue seems to convey as much as the dialogue in what is an extremely emotional and involving film concerned exclusively with the relationships between the various characters. A very moral film that makes no moral judgement.

This is a film that I've seen twice, the last time in 1972, that has stuck with me all these years. Patricia Gozzi was so alluring and the score so haunting and beautiful...I remember waiting for the credits to role to see the name of this unknown actress and the composer. It's the first I'd heard of Georges Delarue and the first of many times I'd heard a mesmerizing score and later seen Delarue's name. I'd love to see this movie again.

I had the good fortune of being sick and home from work one day about a month ago, thus having the opportunity to see this film for the first time. It had a haunting effect on me and I was able to see it several more times since then, convincing me it is now among my favorite films of all time. Patricia Gozzi's performance was simply mesmerizing with the other 3 principals also turning in fine work. John Guillermin's direction was masterful and the cinematography gorgeous. It's quite representative of small arthouse type films of the mid-60's era, reminiscent at times of the work of Bergman. Melvin Douglas gives a solid performance as the stern father, Dean Stockwell is fine in his role, and Gunnell Lindblom seductive and equally fine. But it is Miss Gozzi who truly captivates. She truly inhabits her character, bringing her to life with utter believability. The nuance of her facial expressions, her manner and timing, indicate an actress at the very highest level of her art. Whatever the reasons this excellent young actress decided to leave the film industry, the world lost something at her departure. I highly recommend this unfortunately little known masterpiece to anyone who appreciates films of high quality.

Anyone can make a coming of age love story so why bother? When a subject is handled with such superior abilities and skill I don't really care what the subject matter is. From the first to the last each scene is given the care and deliberation deserving of such a well picked cast and crew. This film has NOT been given its due and I don't know quite what to say about that. Like the Chalk Garden perhaps, the subject is almost taboo and just fierce enough to shock the main stream movie goer. Whatever the case I hope those of you curious enough to read these notes will with the same zeal find and devour this bittersweet morsel.

Even though this movie was made when I was quite young, I first saw it years later when I was at an impressionable age, and found it to be a very moving story. The movie was changed quite a bit from the book, but both convey the story of a bereft, love-starved young girl who blossoms into a rapturously-fulfilled woman through an unexpected source. A handsome young man comes into her life while trying to escape other circumstances. Although I like both the movie and the book, the book has a much more hopeful ending and I don't know why the story was changed so much for the big screen. Nevertheless, I would very much like to see this movie become available to the public on DVD. Dean Stockwell as the young man is such a wonderful actor, very handsome, and much of his work of this period seems to be missing from publication. Melvyn Douglas is perfect as the domineering, abusive father, and Patricia Gozzi is lovely, vulnerable, and innocent just as is the central character in the book. This is a movie worth enjoying.

Magnificent performance by Patricia Gozzi, with the help of Dean Stockwell and Melvyn Douglas. Brilliant directing by John, Guillermin who admits that he never had to direct a more gifted actress (John Guillermin is also responsible for the discovery of Jessica Lange, introduced in King Kong) The film suffered of a black & white (inspired ) cinematography (by French cameraman Marcel Grigon) at a time when distributors would not accept to release a film other than in color,to fight the TV competition (1965).

Patricia Gozzi is also great in GRABUGE another ill-starred production of Darry F.Zanuck that was a harbinger to the 68 riot in Paris.

i first saw this film about 7 years ago and i still pop it in every now and then. i seem to be the only person that finds the story to be well formed and moving. a young stockwell plays a charismatic fugitive that becomes involved with a tattered young girl and her estranged father. There is some very simplistic yet beautiful foreshadowing techniques that tie the movie together neatly. overall, i think this a great little flick about the trials of human nature and the way our hearts sometimes take us on journeys we are not prepared to undergo.

I wish this title was available on dvd...it is only on blue ray. SIGH!

This is a great film. For some reason this movie really struck a cord with me when I first caught in on tv back when I was a teenager. The lighting, the French location, the novelty [to me] of the film style...I must have watched it a hundred times. Even though I haven't seen it in a few years, I still remember how Agnes is so overwhelmed by everything in her life and seems to like to hide her in childlike world. And Dean Stockwell is actually pretty cute; I was surprised to find out this the same Dean Stockwell that was later on Quantum Leap. My mother told me that he was quite the heartthrob in the Sixties, and one can see why in this film. I also read the book by Phyllis Hasting, and it is a whole lot darker in tone than the film. I think it also explores the father-daughter relationship in more detail than the film. This and some of her other books seem very anti-male.

The stylish, and grossly underappreciated film-fantasist, John Guillermin's intoxicating, visually ravishing, darkly-dreamlike melodrama, 'Rapture' (1965) demonstratively remains one of the more tangibly magical, soul stirringly sensual, earnestly performed, exceptionally exquisite coming-of-age dramas in my extensive film collection. And if that 'aint enough grist for your thrill-craving mill, the delicious weirdness of feral, saucily unkempt, wickedly windswept, dark-eyed young terror-beatnik, Joseph's (Dean Stockwell) fateful union with his no less fascinating paramour, Agnes, affecting played by the fragile ingénue, Patrizia Gozzi, are an irresistible pair of doomed misfits. In summation, if one's heart is not powerfully moved by the film's evocative climax then, quite frankly, all hope for mankind is lost! - Eerie, ethereal, and blissfully sad, maestro, John Guillermin's majestically monochromatic, tantalizingly strange masterpiece makes for uncommonly rapturous cinema, the elegiac 'Rapture' is aptly named!

"Rapture", a haunting portrayal of chastised love set on the Brittany coastline, deserves far more exposure than it initially received. Despite its origins in a best-selling novel, the film suffered from a reluctant UK release, relegated to the back of a double bill with a throwaway sex comedy, and failed to recover its costs. Actor Dean Stockwell, who portrays the escaped prisoner and love interest, dismissed the movie, however director John Guillermin pronounced it his most perfectly realized work, a sentiment gaining support in recent years.

Patricia Gozzi stars as Agnes, a teenager whose sense of rapture manifests in her joyful communion with nature: the birds, the water, the cliffs, her own garden. She is starved for connection but cannot abide the docility her patriarchal environment demands, which has led to her removal from school. Gozzi's magnetic performance captures her raw, uncontainable energy, heightened by a swelling chromatic score and stunning, sweeping cinematography.

Frederick Larbaud (Melvyn Douglas, delivering an excellent performance) plays Agnes's father, a broken former judge who now writes pamphlets on mercy to a silent, uninterested audience of "Christian" "friends". His situation mirrors his daughter's in chastised love, as his humane insights are rejected by the society he once served. Frederick embodies the 'soppy stern' archetype, as described by poet Philip Larkin-both sentimental and severe, an aging Victorian at heart. Their house is filled with locks, and he alone carries the key ring. He's a deadeye at target shooting with his pistol and manhandles his daughter during unforgiving tirades; and yet there is a sheer softness to him at other times. Frederick is a metanoiac, struggling between the austere worldview of his upbringing, and an emerging empathy.

The makeshift family in social exile is completed by handsome Joseph, a sailor on the lam, and a knowing vivacious housekeeper, Karen. Disaster seems all but ensured as the gendarmes comb the district and Joseph must navigate the competing demands of his housemates-serving as both an archetype and protégé for Frederick, and as a love interest for both Karen and Agnes. Joseph brings a liberating influence for Agnes, challenging the perception that she is "ill" for wanting more than her constrained life. However, this idealized view is disrupted by a feral, relentless outburst from Agnes midway through the film, complicating our assessment of her character. While Agnes is a solipsistic misfit, she is authentic, whereas her 'normal' sister, the bourgeois Genevieve, appears repugnant, inauthentic, and grasping.

Gozzi's performance is magnetic; her brief but memorable film career began with Sundays and Cybele, only for her to later step away from acting. In "Rapture", her Agnes radiates a raw energy that the household struggles to contain. Her revels in nature, dancing in the surf are the most beautiful shots in the film. The film's incisive construction of space is typified in the opening shot: a sweeping aerial along a coastal road, closing in on a car packed with discordant family members-freedom and isolation just beyond their reach, separated only by glass and acceleration.

In this remote, windswept perch above the sea, fatalism hangs heavy. Ultimately, "Rapture" serves as a meditation on society's demands and the freedoms it withholds, leading us to ask: what must we sacrifice for acceptance, and is what we gain always worth the cost?