Secret Ceremony

Joseph Losey
1968

Expat American director Joseph Losey offers this psychodrama with a remarkable and compact cast. Two women with deep seated emotional scars, (sad prostitute Elizabeth Taylor unable to let go of her tragically drowned daughter, and mentally stunted incest victim Mia Farrow as a woman-child in a babydoll dress) discover their neuroses perfectly complement each other. Hard up Taylor moves into Farrow's dusty old mansion and takes up the mantle of mommy, adorning herself in the furs and jewelry of her deceased doppelganger. This "Grey Gardens" idyll is threatened by pervy old Robert Mitchum, stalking the grounds in hopes of getting a little sugar from his former stepdaughter, and uncovering the impostor taking residency in his old home . The picture gets a lot of mileage out of it's atmosphere with the big drafty house providing a stage of expansive drawing rooms chock full of upholstery, and a yesteryear sense of decor perfect for arrested timelessness. Farrow's performance is a treat, if a bit campy, and Mitchum creates an expectedly imposing villain. Taylor's turn is less mannered than her costars,' and comes off as merely adequate. It's a decent picture that's sometimes rewarding, but nothing to get hot and bothered about.