Misunderstood innocent or scheming gold-digger? Roger Michell largely keeps you guessing about cousin Rachel (a superb Rachel Weisz).
Intense close-ups, occasional tears, grubby manor houses, surly (and scruffy) servants all add to the uncertainties of Phillip (a doe-eyed Sam Claflin) for her role in the death of his guardian. Infatuation replaces revenge.
It’s a gorgeous potboiler (author Daphne du Maurier was one of Hitchcock’s favourites – that should give you a clue) with one caveat – the truly awful soundtrack (Rael Jones) that is at times cloyingly sweet and generally infuriatingly intrusive.
Rating: 64%
Director: Roger Michell (Notting Hill, Changing Lanes)
Writer: Roger Michell (TV’s The Buddha of Suburbia) – based on the novel by Daphne du Maurier
Main cast: Rachel Weisz (The Constant Gardener, Denial), Sam Claflin (The Hunger Games, Me Before You), Holliday Grainger (The Finest Hours, The Riot Club)
An Opinion or Two 