Grimossfer Clever and entertaining enough to recommend even to members of the 1%

Sameer Callahan It really made me laugh, but for some moments I was tearing up because I could relate so much.

Raymond Sierra The film may be flawed, but its message is not.

Jerrie It's a good bad... and worth a popcorn matinée. While it's easy to lament what could have been...

dbdumonteil Believe it or not,Patricia Gozzi is virtually forgotten in her native France.Not only "Cybèle Ou Les Dimanches De Ville D'Avray" is NOT available on DVD ,but it's also NEVER screened on French TV!But at least ,it's included in the French Dictionnaire Des Films whereas "Rapture" aka "La Fleur De L'Age" is nowhere to be seen.It was broadcast today on satellite TV.I knew Patricia Gozzi was outstanding,but in "Rapture " she is even better an actress than in "Cybèle".Her decision to call it quits after her marriage was a major loss for French cinema.(Gozzi had made her real debut in Melville's "Leon Morin Pretre" but she only had a supporting part.It's hard to admit that the director who made "Tower Inferno" or "Death on the Nile" made this art house work.But it is so."Rapture" is an exceptionally original movie,with complex characters (one user wrote ,and he was right ,that the relationship father/daughter remained extremely mysterious ,running the whole gamut,from desperate love to hatred and resentment),a gloomy cinematography which takes advantage of the splendor of the landscapes of Bretagne.Some scenes are absolutely phenomenal: the rag doll on the rocks (and the final scene which is its exact equivalent),the fight in the shed,the insane asylum where Agnes is irresistibly attracted ,the chemistry between her and James Deanesque Dean Stockwell .There are similarities between Gozzi's parts in "Cybèle" and "Rapture" :in both works,we find a little girl or a teenager in love with someone much older than her.The endings are very similar too.Both are heartbreakingly beautiful .To write that Georges Delerue's scores are simply magnificent is to state the obvious.He too was never replaced.

lancewalker2005 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.

shane013a-1 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.

Maliejandra Kay 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.