What makes it different from others?

Purely Joyful Movie!

just watch it!

One of the worst ways to make a cult movie is to set out to make a cult movie.

If this movie didn't come out the same year as Rosemary's Baby, I'd wonder what possessed anyone to make it. I'll chose to believe everyone wanted to help launch Mia Farrow's spooky movie by releasing a similar film at the same time. That's my standard for recommending this movie: if you actually liked Rosemary's Baby, rather than just appreciated it, then you can feel free to watch Secret Ceremony.Elizabeth Taylor's daughter is dead, and Mia Farrow's mother is dead. Miraculously, Liz looks like Mia's mom, and Mia reminds Liz of her daughter. Somehow they find each other, bond quickly, and become enmeshed in each other's strange, sick lives. This is a very weird film, with unexplained plot points, melodramatic acting, and mentally-ill characters. Mia repeatedly reenacts a rape scene while she's alone. She calls Liz "Mom" and takes a bath with her, and the two girls giggle about what nuisances men and sex are. Robert Mitchum costars as Mia's stepfather, but unless he, too, wanted to support Rosemary's Baby, I don't know why he agreed to be a part of this movie.This movie is so strange, awful, and convoluted, it makes the 1968 horror flick seem like a Mister Rogers' episode. If I'd cared enough about it, I would have been seriously disturbed, but thankfully, I didn't let the film get the better of me.Kiddy warning: Obviously, you have control over your own children. However, due to some very strange and upsetting content, I wouldn't let my kids watch it.

This is a must see movie. Any film lover cannot miss Elizabeth Taylor's performance. Her portrayal of Leonora is the deepest soul searching look into a mother's love. The added twist of Mia Farrow, before Rosemary's Baby, as her daughter, searching for her mother's love. Each in such desperate need of what the other has, and has lost. If that doesn't wet your appetite, you have no taste buds. This story has stayed with me these many, many years. My favorite line of Ms. Taylor is when she is imitating Robert Mitchum saying, "you could have killed yourself, honey". Mitchum is the perfect male to fear and despise. The delivery is unforgettably a Taylor original! If you appreciate a movie that accentuates a couple of great actors, in an unusual, intense story, this hits it like no other film. I'm only sorry I haven't seen it on TV in I cannot remember how many years, and it is not readily available in my local video stores. If you can find it, you will treasure it as an unheralded gem.

One has to be in the right mood to accept this unusual, moody psychological drama. Taylor plays a low-rent prostitute who still mourns the death of her young daughter. Farrow plays a disturbed, flaky young lady who is having trouble reconciling the recent death of her own mother. Farrow bears a passing resemblance to Taylor's deceased daughter while Taylor is a dead ringer for Farrow's mom. One day, these two meet on a bus and then again at a grave site and strike up a sort of unwritten, even unspoken, agreement that Taylor will assume the identity of Farrow's mother. Taylor can hardly believe her good fortune as the woman was wealthy, lived in a spacious house full of antiques and enjoyed a closet full of designer clothes and luxurious furs. The fun doesn't last too long, however, when Farrow's two meddling aunts (Ashcroft and Brown) stop by to loot the place, followed by the arrival of Farrow's lascivious step-dad Mitchum, who is always on the go, evading the fallout from his many instances of molestation and statutory rape. Things become more and more complicated until death and violence ensues. Taylor, in one of her floundering periods as an actress and looking thick and matronly through much of the picture, gives an uneven and in-cohesive performance. She's always been interesting to watch, even when bad, but this character lacks focus and motivation. This is not helped by the fractured means of storytelling and the spotty screenplay. She is, at times, unintentionally hilarious as she flops around and brays over various things, frequently in cheap-looking, tacky costumes (none so bad as a loud, purple patterned dress with white go-go boots.) She does have one high-glam scene near the end in which she's decked out in pink chiffon with embroidered flowers and a massive Alexandre of Paris hairdo. Watch her woof down a huge longshoreman's breakfast in the blink of an eye! Farrow, while not particularly likable or accessible, at least gives a very strong performance in a challenging part. Her dementia and manipulativeness is excellently presented. Mitchum is all wrong for his role. His accent (or lack there of) wavers hideously and he never seems like someone who would have been wife to Taylor and step-father to Farrow. Most of his acting in the film is atrocious though he begins to rise to the occasion in a heated beach scene with Taylor. Very welcome and solid support is given by Ashcroft and Brown as the vaguely dykish sisters with sticky fingers and selfish hearts. The film has some sordid aspects to it, though it stays reasonably smut-free. Farrow refused to film her big love scene with Mitchum, so it was cut and note how a convenient (and gargantuan) sponge is always floating in front of Taylor in her bathtub scene. It has definite curiosity value and features interesting settings and situations, but it's also challenging to get through and unclear at times. Perhaps multiple viewings will help. The hacked-up TV version should be avoided entirely.

Beautifully dark movie which grants Mia Farrow the freedom to showcase the strange range of her gift. Elizabeth Taylor stays close with a deep and sensitive touch, flashing a legitimate side of herself, oft covered up. Robert Mitchum achieves repulsive perfection lurking in the garden, symbolic of the disgust and fear we share in our hide. The entire cast in breath and stone include every sense in totality, placing the actors and ourselves together to spy on each other from above, and within the ornamental mansion. Intense hallucinogenic 1968 camera shots intimately portray the family by chance's horrific existence. The music tastefully gentle dries the humid landscape making its absurd subconscious logic almost digestible. The story weaved with such expertise, it would be a stab in the back to reveal it any other way. The truth that you always expected was rampant, but waited for the excuse of insanity to reveal. In my opinion, one of the most tragically honest all around performances I have ever witnessed on the screen. A true feat and gutsy effort from the entire bloody pool of talent. Bravo!