Secret Ceremony

1968
R
1h 49m

IMDb RATING

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Robert Mitchum, Elizabeth Taylor, and Mia Farrow in Secret Ceremony (1968)

Erotic Thriller Psychological Drama Psychological Thriller Drama Thriller

A penniless woman meets a strange girl who insists she is her long-lost mother, and becomes enmeshed in a web of deception, and perhaps madness.A penniless woman meets a strange girl who insists she is her long-lost mother, and becomes enmeshed in a web of deception, and perhaps madness.A penniless woman meets a strange girl who insists she is her long-lost mother, and becomes enmeshed in a web of deception, and perhaps madness.

See production info at IMDbPro

IMDb RATING

6.2/10

2.8K

YOUR RATING

See production info at IMDbPro

Nominated for 2 BAFTA Awards
- 3 nominations total

Photos41

+ 36

Top cast11

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Elizabeth Taylor

Leonora

Robert Mitchum

Albert

Mia Farrow

Cenci

Peggy Ashcroft

Hannah

Pamela Brown

Hilda

Robert Douglas

Sir Alex Gordon
(uncredited)

George Howell

First Cleaner
(uncredited)

Penelope Keith

Hotel Assistant
(uncredited)

Roger Lloyd Pack

Cleaner
(uncredited)

Angus MacKay

Vicar
(uncredited)

Michael Strong

Dr. Walter Stevens
(uncredited)

Director
- Joseph Losey
Writers
- Marco Denevi
- George Tabori
All cast & crew
Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

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Storyline

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Did you know

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Trivia
When this movie aired on NBC several years later, it was not only heavily edited to sanitize some of the seamier sexual suggestions, but also included newly shot footage (none involving any of the actors or actresses who appeared in the actual movie: Michael Tolan, Paul Rogers), including a prologue and epilogue in which a psychiatrist character discussed the characters' failings and attempted to explain away the truncated movie's many plot holes. Amongst other major changes was the profession of Leonora Grabowski (Dame Elizabeth Taylor), who somehow morphed from a prostitute in the theatrical release to a wig model in the television version.

Of the TV version, director Losey said: "not one person connected artistically with the film was consulted or involved in those changes. They're absurd...completely destroyed the rhythm, intention and content of the film...absolutely reversing the meaning of the film."

Goofs
Moving shadow of the camera on the door-frame as it moves from Lenora's room to Cenci's room at the hotel in the Netherlands.

Quotes
Leonora: They're just little boys that need to have their bottoms wiped.

Alternate versions
Network TV version is eight minutes shorter than the theatrical release, removing some scenes and featuring alternative footage for others.

Connections
Referenced in The Abominable Dr. Phibes (1971)

User reviews53

Featured review

A bizarre fantasy world concocted by two disturbed women

Interesting film about two women who use each other to concoct a fantasy world of instability that ends in tragedy. Mia Farrow is an unstable young heiress whose mother has died. Elizabeth Taylor is a middle aged hooker whose daughter died in childhood. Farrow spies Taylor on a bus and is struck by her physical similarity to her mother. Farrow, in a long brown wig, resembles Taylors daughter. Taylor reluctantly allows Farrow to take her home, feed her tea and sausages, and slowly comes to fill the role of the dead mother, even dressing in the woman's clothes and confronting some thieving elderly aunts. The psychological charade is complicated when the two go on holiday as mother and daughter and happen to encounter Farrow's stepfather, played by Robert Mitchum.

A fascinating psychological study of two damaged women and their own disturbed inner worlds, SECRET CEREMONY is a great movie for anyone looking for something different. Elizabeth Taylor gives a nuanced performance in this film, despite having chomped scenery unchecked in some other films from this era(BOOM, X Y AND ZEE). Highly recommended.