Review for Rapture (Dual Format Blu-ray-DVD)

In an isolated area of Brittany France, a teenage girl and her father befriend a man named Joseph who is an escaped convict. Joseph does seem to pose any threat to anyone until he starts a relationship with the daughter and her father does everything he can to break them apart.

Rapture is one of the most beautiful films that I have ever been bored to tears by. I understand that it was a different time, but I watched this film and apart from how it was shot, everything that was happening was so boring. There is very little to the plot of this film so much so that I was aching for something, anything to happen. Sadly, all that they could come up with is a tragic romance that doesn't even make any sense.

Acting from everyone in film in fine in general. Dean Stockwell, who everyone will recognise as Al from Quantum Leap, puts on a great performance, but there is so little for him to do that he gets lost in the tedium of the plot. The rest of the cast just drift in and out of the film with no rhyme or reason or point. Patricia Gozzi as Agnes is supposed to be enigmatic, but it just came across as bland and nothing memorable.

Director John Guillermin's work can be divided into two parts the acting/story and how the film was shot. For the first part, he failed miserably, as this film was just tedious and a chore to get through, but for the latter it is a great success with the film filled with wonderful shots that really take advantage of the areas he was filming in. It is not surprising that he went on to create amazing looking films like Death on the Nile and The Tracker, though the fact he also directed the 1976 King Kong is a little surprising.

The other notable element is the wonderful score by Georges Delerue who went on to create the music for such films as Platoon, A Man For All Seasons and A Little Romance (which won him an Oscar). His score thoughout is epic and almost too good for this film and on another one would have been perfect other than one of the few things to enjoy about it.

Apart from the booklet that comes with it (which I do wish would be transferred to the disk in some way), the only other extra is a Commentary by Julie Kirgo and Nick Redmon. Being both film historians a lot of what they say is very dry and analytical. It is a shame that they could not find someone to talk about the film as though they are very informative it does get a little boring at times.

Rapture is certainly not a film that I would recommend if you are looking for an exciting film. To be honest if you were looking for just any film in general I still wouldn't be recommending this. However, if you want to see how to compose a great shot or indeed to listen to a great soundtrack this film does both of these really well. But then, that's not really what you watch a film for, is it?