Review of My Cousin Rachel (2017) by Clarisesamuels — 24 Oct 2018

This film is a bit of a noble failure complete with beautiful Cornish landscapes, costumes, and nineteenth-century period sets. Cousin Rachel, played by Rachel Weisz, follows a traditional thriller plot based on the black widow theme. Did she or didn’t she poison her husband Ambrose, whose young cousin Philip loved him like a father? Ambrose, a wealthy English landowner, is sent off to the warmer climes of Italy to recover from what would appear to be a respiratory ailment. A man who never had much time for women, he falls madly in love with a widow named Rachel, whose sweetness and kindness is raved about in letters to Philip (Sam Claflin) back in England. To the family’s surprise, Ambrose marries Rachel in Florence; however, he never makes it home with his new wife because he falls fatally ill with a tumor that affects his brain, making him paranoid and hallucinogenic. His letters now rant about the evil wife who is trying to kill him with her “bitter brew,” the homemade herbal teas she concocts in an attempt to nurse him.

Ambrose dies and his estate is in trust until Philip, his heir, turns 25. As the widowed wife, Rachel should have been made heir, but Ambrose’s last will was never signed. Philip goes to Italy to settle the estate, just missing Rachel, who took off after the funeral. He already hates her, convinced that she is sinister and deadly—a woman who married his cousin for his money and, according to Ambrose’s last letters, perhaps helped to dispatch him at the end. Amid this cloud of suspicion, Rachel finally comes to England to visit her late husband’s estate and family. Philip dreads meeting his wicked cousin, stays out late on the day of her arrival, and orders the servants not to feed her until he comes home no matter how hungry she is.

And then he meets her. Rachel finally enters the story. She is stately, undeniably beautiful, and oddly sanguine. How does Philip confront her? He immediately falls in love and wants first to give her the family jewels to compensate her for the loss of her legacy, and then shockingly decides to hand over the entire estate to her on his twenty-fifth birthday. Rachel flies into insulted anger over the jewels but, in a paradoxical twist, accepts the estate with equanimity. Philip’s about-face is never fully explicated, except that he curiously finds her to be irresistible and even longs to marry her. Unlikely, given he is barely 25 in the story, and Weisz is playing 40ish; considering the culture of the period, she is too old for him. Weisz has to play a woman who is enigmatic, mysterious, and unknowable, sometimes appearing strangely secretive and malevolent, but at other times cheerful, sunny, and innocuous. Weisz nails the enigmatic part but struggles to switch over to the more lighthearted innocence of the alternate persona. Philip is young, romantic, and impressionable. Claflin is believable in the role but the script does not clarify the psychological complexity of his character, which makes his impetuous decisions look absurd. The action is slow. As for the question, did she or didn’t she?, the finale does not leave the question as open-ended as is suggested by Philip’s voiceover narration. The ending resolves the issue in a fashion that is swift and abrupt, and having failed overall to hold the viewer’s interest, the film is disappointing.