My Cousin Rachel (12A)

three stars

Dir: Roger Michell

With: Rachel Weisz, Sam Claflin, Iain Glen

Runtime: 106 minutes

ANY adaptation of a Daphne du Maurier novel requires a doozy of an opener. One would expect nothing less for the author of Rebecca, and Roger Michell’s picture duly goes for the full tease in those first moments as the camera soars over the Cornish coast, drinking in the azure sea and chalky cliffs. “Did she, didn’t she, who is to blame?” our narrator ponders, leaving the questions hanging in the air like clouds.

Who could resist pursuing answers? One can almost imagine the hands of the target audience being duly rubbed in gleeful anticipation of what is to come. But initial promise fulfilled, the question is whether Michell’s handsome period drama, the second cinematic take on du Maurier’s tale after a 1952 version, delivers. Du Maurier was not just the mistress of the tantalising opener, she could pace a tale devilishly well besides. Can Michell and his cast, led by Rachel Weisz and Sam Claflin, do the same?

Set in the 19th century, My Cousin Rachel opens as Philip, orphaned at a very young age, is taken in by his cousin Ambrose. With little to no memory of his mother, Philip grows up in a household in which the only females present are dogs. He grows up thinking of women as almost another species, one that simply does not figure in his life. He has the countryside, his horses, and his hounds, and wishes for no more.

Life ambles along happily until the day Ambrose falls sick and has to move to the warmer climes of Italy for his health. There he meets yet another cousin, Rachel, who seemingly dotes on him. Philip (Claflin) is not convinced, however. How could Ambrose be happy with a woman? Sure enough, a letter arrives from Ambrose saying he is ill and fears he is being poisoned by Rachel. “For God’s sake come quickly,” he implores.

So begins what we might call the case for the prosecution against Rachel, who later rocks up in England to give Philip the chance to see for himself if she is angel or demon. When, 35 minutes into the film, he comes across her in the kitchen brewing up “Italian tea with infusions” it seems to be an open and shut case, but is it?

Michell, helmer of Venus and Notting Hill, has to keep the audience guessing over the course of 106 minutes. Not an easy task, but fortunately he has a few things with which to distract the audience as they go about the business of wondering what is going on. He has the glorious scenery for a start, not to mention the equally entrancing sight of Rachel Weisz as the titular cousin.

Clad in widow’s black complete with veil, Weisz plays Rachel as a worldly woman of many parts, all of them intriguing. Half Italian and half English, she is the perfect mixture of fire and ice, passion and propriety as she wends her way into the life of the much younger Philip. In the 1952 adaptation of du Maurier’s novel, Rachel was played by Olivia De Havilland with Richard Burton as Philip.

While Weisz’s character must necessarily remain mysterious for the tale to work, Philip, for the same reasons, has to undergo a less subtle transformation as he moves from being incensed by Rachel to becoming intoxicated by her. At times this giddy transformation comes close to tipping the picture into melodrama.

Helping to anchor matters is a solid gold supporting cast of Iain Glen as Philip’s sceptical guardian and Holliday Grainger as his daughter. They, and others, are part of the growing Greek chorus urging Philip to look at what is before him.

In a film that is all about beguilement, Weisz is perfectly cast as Rachel. The audience needs to fall, and fall hard, for her if the story is come alive. That we do is testament to the strength of the original character and the way Weisz gives her so many facets. All will be revealed, all in good, du Maurier, time.