British Actress Blog

My Cousin Rachel (2017)

Score: 8/10

Director: Roger Michell

Stars: Rachel Weisz, Sam Claflin, Iain Glen, Holliday Grainger, Andrew Knott, Poppy Lee Friar, Pierfrancesco Favino.

My Cousin Rachel

Rachel Weisz

Synopsis: A young Englishman plots revenge against his late cousin’s wife, believing her responsible for his death. But his feelings become complicated as he finds himself falling under the beguiling spell of her charms.

Review: The film takes place in both England and Italy. A young orphan named Philip is adopted and raised by his cousin named Ambrose. Once Philip is an adult, Ambrose starts to fall ill and leaves for Tuscany Italy, a warmer climate at the advice of his personal physician. In Italy Ambrose meets and marries Rachel. Shortly before his death, Ambrose writes to Philip and alerts him that his wife is killing him slowly with a poison brew of her special tea. Philip tries to sort out the situation. He travels to Tuscany Italy and finds that Ambrose is already dead and his wife Rachel is gone. He finds Enricho Rainaldi ( Pierfrancesco Favino ), the friend and lawyer of Rachel. Rainaldi tells Philip that all of Ambrose’s personal belongings have been moved to another location. This causes Philip to jump to the conclusion that Rachel is some how responsible for Ambrose’s death.

'Philip'

Sam Claflin (left)

The main character Philip ( Sam Claflin ) receives a letter from his cousin. Philip believes that his cousin Ambrose was murdered by Rachel ( Rachel Weisz ). This is obviously Philip’s way of not accepting death. Instead of him understanding that his cousin Ambrose died of a brain tumor that was inoperable at that point in time in history, he instead projects his anger on another person, which seems very childish for a grown man. He acts as though he need to see a therapist for his mental anguish. Of course that brings us to the real question, is Philip’s suspicions founded? He is of course very young and naïve. He jumps to conclusions but the film is set in such a way that your not sure if his conspiracy theories are true or not.

'Rachel'

Rachel Weisz

Rachel Weisz is great as usual. This is the reason she is one of the top ten British Actresses on this web site. She is very charming, lady like, sophisticated, and opulent which is what you would expect from an top A list British Lady like her self. I love how you are not sure of her character’s intentions through out the film. Could she be completely innocent or is she up to no good. Rachel wants freedom. She does not want to be locked in another relationship. She wants to enjoy life while she still has it. This causes her to be very cautious moving forward. She tries to avoid men that want to marry her or hold her down with another relationship.

Beautiful

Movie

The cinematography is nothing short of excellent. The camera work fits the mood of the characters very well and movie has perfect use of wide shots. This movie has amazing set dressing, scenery, and majestic environments that pulls you in. the lighting and colors are perfect. The musical score fits the characters feelings and invokes a strong mood. This movie looks beautiful. I know that there is a book this story is based upon, but I’m not reviewing the book on this web site, I am reviewing movies with British Actresses in them. The film has no problem moving the plot along from the first frame. This is excellent because the film tells a story and does not stagnate by hyper focusing on the characters, instead the characters serve the plot. Its great that the film keeps you guessing Instead of the typical and predictable story. We are not sure who is lying and who is telling the truth. This is a better than average film. I really enjoyed it.

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