Plot: "Set against the rugged beauty of the Brittany seacoast, it tells the story of a young girl whose lonely isolation under the watchful eye of her stern and bitter father is abruptly shattered by the arrival of a seductive fugitive from the law."'Rapture' is a coming-of-age tale, a dark Gothic fantasy, a romance, a bit of a melodrama, and maybe a few other things. Its ability to stay clear from clichés despite the familiar dramatic framework alone is astonishing, which makes the film ultimately pretty uncategorizable, not to say anything about how sensible and dare I say perfect everything else is about this relatively layered production that feels grounded in realism while often being quite magical thanks partly due to the script, and partly due to its beautiful dreamy score and arresting as well as intelligent compositions of its CinemaScope black and white cinematography.Its nationality isn't easily identifiable either. The spoken language is English, the writer of the source novel is British, as is the director, but he was born to French parents, the film (unlike the novel) is set in France and most of the crew is French, as is the main actress. Its overall feel is predominantly French but it definitely also has British and American touches and there's something Bergmanesque about it as well as it often plays like a chamber psychodrama and with Bergman regular Gunnel Lindblom in the cast providing a direct link to the Swedish auteur. Speaking of actors, although without big stars the main players are all recognizable faces who fit their roles excellently and all of which give very good performances with the memorable standout being French actress Patricia Gozzi as the young girl, she bowed out of acting only a few years later but if you happen to have seen 'Sundays and Cybele' you certainly will remember her from that movie.There are many films I could compare it to, but no comparison would be exhaustive. The enigmatic stranger who enters a family with each person projecting their own desires onto him and them essentially creating their own image of the man is an important element in the film that recalls Pasolini's 'Teorema'. Then there's an impressive section later in the film in which the girl finds herself in Paris for the first time and she is completely overwhelmed by her surroundings and the situation in general, which has something of the same year's 'Repulsion'. In fact I think I saw Catherine Deneuve rubbing her nose in the background in one of the shots...OK, I didn't. Anyway, those comparisons are just scratching the surface.I'm not really sure to whom I would recommend 'Rapture', but if my genre description made it sound like your kind of thing you may want to look into it. Especially if you loved Chan-wook Park's 'Stoker', I think there are a few similarities between them with a general oddness that is not only captivating with its complex web of character relationships but also feels perfectly natural to the material, in particular thanks to its mentally troubled young protagonist on the brink of sexual awakening who is like a warmer but also more visibly unhinged version of India Stoker with the actress very much having the same strange appeal as Mia Wasikowska as well as the acting chops to go with it.Although understandably not the kind of film with a huge mainstream appeal 'Rapture' apparently never even saw all that much of a release back in the 60's. The handful of reviews that I found (all written within the past few years) amazingly enough are unanimously very positive, which strengthens me in my belief that this is a gem still waiting to be discovered by a much wider audience. It's only now that the film sees its first wide home video release by the UK label Eureka, so maybe now its time has finally come.

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.

This was one of only two films that touched me to the deepest (the other was "A Summer place"). For years after I first saw it in 1965, this was my "all-time favourite". It was absolutely perfect in all respects: the cinematography, the incredibly moving Delerue score, the performances by Gozzi (better than her memorable "Sundays and Cybele" of three years previously), who subsequently all but disappeared from view, by Melvyn Douglas, Stockwell, and Ingmar Bergman regular Lindbloom, all of this blended together into such an emotionally satisfying package that even today I think back to it with trepidation (there's just so much one can take)... I really think there should be an Oscar category for "unaccountably neglected masterpieces". "Rapture" would get one hands down. If you have the chance to see it, just watch for the terrific contrasts between the moody seaside cliff and mansion scenes and the vulgar, brash, city noises. They are a splendid metaphor for what you get and what you long for. The experience will haunt you for always.

I have just tracked down this film, through this site, many years after the one and only time I saw it. I saw it as a B film i.e. tagged on to the main feature but it left such a lasting impression I cannot remember what the main feature was.It was the beginning of the film that made such an impact on me and that I remember most.The idea of a scarecrow coming to life (Joseph in hiding) and Agnes'd reaction which gripped me. The photography was dark and powerful.The developing relationship between Agnes and Joseph and her fathers reaction to it was moving. I do not know what I would make of it now but I hope it would generate the same emotions that I felt as a teenager.