It’s a wonder that 3 big name stars agreed to be in such a dementedly perverted film. Cenci (Mia Farrow) sees Leonora (Elizabeth Taylor) on a bus and due to an uncanny likeness to her deceased mother, adopts her. Leonora is a prostitute in mourning for her dead child and moves into the mansion of the psychologically disturbed child where the two develop a strained mother-daughter relationship with hints of lesbianism until the girls lecherous stepfather shows up. If the ridiculousness of the set-up doesn’t deter you, it’s an enjoyably bitchy, over-the-top camp film, though slightly slow paced. Taylor often borders on her shrieking insanity of Who’s Afraid of Virginia Wolf and Robert Mitchum is great as Cenci’s paedophile stepfather but my favourite characters were the two evil aunts straight out of a Roald Dahl book. The opulent decadence strikes a resemblance to the director’s earlier film The Servant but this is far less restrained.
3.5/5
No comments:
Post a Comment