My Cousin Rachel Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		4.5
Audio		4.5
Extras		2.5
Overall		3.5

My Cousin Rachel Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman September 29, 2017

Have you ever heard of a Brazilian author named Carolina Nabuco, or her book A Sucessora? I hadn’t either until I started researching British author Daphne Du Maurier in preparation for writing this review, and discovered that what is arguably Du Maurier’s best known work, Rebecca, has long been accused of having been plagiarized by Du Maurier from Nabuco’s earlier work, a book which none other than The New York Times alleged didn’t just have the same premise as Rebecca (i.e., a timid woman marrying a widower, only to discover his first wife has some sort of supernatural hold over the household), but that it actually had some of the same incidents (which the Times didn’t elaborate on). Du Maurier might have been accused of having stolen from herself (or, tangentially, Nabuco again) with regard to My Cousin Rachel, since certain plot elements are at least reminiscent of Rebecca. Both tales involve romances with mysterious undertones, both are set in Cornwall (a favorite locale for Du Maurier), and both wallow in a certain amount of ambiguity where motives are not always immediately clear. The most salient correspondence between the two, however, is the potent subtext both have as to whether a surviving spouse did in his or her now deceased wife or husband. Unlike Rebecca, which took place in (then) contemporary times, My Cousin Rachel is an historical piece, though its timeframe is never explicitly stated (in the film, at least). That aspect gives this latest film adaptation (Olivia de Havilland and Richard Burton, in his American film debut, starred in 1952’s My Cousin Rachel) a visual luster that might seem to be at odds with its paranoiac qualities, but the film actually attains an at least intermittently organic feeling courtesy of a commanding performance by Rachel Weisz in the title role.

A pre-credits sequence deals with a perhaps ungainly amount of exposition and setup, offering background on orphan Philip Ashley (played by Sam Claflin as an adult), who is taken in by his older cousin Ambrose (Deano Bugatti). Ambrose is kind of like a combination between an older brother and father to young Philip, and Philip misses his mentor deeply when health problems send Ambrose off into warmer climates. As a young adult, Philip receives a series from Ambrose, who has settled in Florence, letters he shares with his godfather Nick Kendall (Iain Glen) and Kendall’s daughter Louise (Holliday Grainger), a young woman who more than obviously has eyes for Philip. Ambrose writes excitedly about having met a (distant) cousin named Rachel, and soon enough writes about their impending marriage, but then his missives start to take a darker turn, hinting at nefarious behaviors on the part of his new spouse, something that alarms Philip, who sets off to Florence to investigate.

Philip arrives in Florence only to encounter an unctuous attorney named Enrico Rainaldi (Pierfrancesco Favino), who rather unceremoniously informs Philip that Ambrose has died and Rachel has disappeared. Philip is convinced Rachel is behind Ambrose’s death, perhaps having poisoned him, but his thesis is put to the test when it turns out Ambrose never rejiggered his will after his marriage, and so the entirety of Ambrose’s (large) estate will pass to Philip, not Rachel, upon Philip’s forthcoming 25th birthday. That would seem to take a prime motive off the table for Rachel, but simmering suspicions still linger. When Rachel (Rachel Weisz) shows up in Cornwall, initially Philip is out to harangue her, but sparks of attraction flare, leaving the emotional territory fraught with internal conflicts.

There’s really not much to the underlying plot dynamics of My Cousin Rachel, which boil down (more or less, anyway) to “did she or didn’t she?”, a question which Philip himself asks (more or less, anyway) in some of the film’s introductory narration. Wrtier and director Roger Michell plays up this inherent ambiguity in a number of subtle ways, including framings that suggest Rachel’s subterfuge without ever overtly depicting it (note, for example, in the initial meeting between Rachel and Philip how Michell frames a close-up of Rachel peering over the top of her teacup, which almost subliminally suggests some kind of plot being hatched). One way in which Michell’s screenplay does not exploit ambiguity is in its arguably too fast segue from Philip’s suspicious nature to him being infatuated with Rachel, something that seems to take place more or less overnight.

That sudden change makes a later change back into suspicion mode much less effective, introducing a kind of frustrating “make up you mind, already” feeling into the proceedings. Burton’s take on this character in the 1952 version was certainly more brooding (Burton received an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor for his efforts), and in fact Claflin comes off, perhaps unavoidably, as kind of an action adventure version of Philip, something that makes any supposed psychological turmoil even harder to accept, apart from any unexplained or at least underdeveloped “mood swings”.

There are some interesting ironies with regard to how ambiguity has been handled in various Du Maurier adaptations. Her source novel of Rebecca was actually decidedly less ambiguous than the film (a film of that era couldn’t possibly depict a “happily ever after” with a wife killer, after all), wheras My Cousin Rachel in its original form toed a considerably finer line in clearly stating whether or not its titular character was up to no good. Both feature film adaptations try to have their romantic and suspense cakes and eat them, too, so to speak, and it’s arguable that this aspect is perhaps even more pronounced in the 2017 version, especially with regard to a brief coda documenting Philip’s continued torment.

If narratively My Cousin Rachel isn’t quite able to scale the Gothic heights it seems to be aiming for, both from a production design standpoint as well as from a performance standpoint with regard to Weisz if not so much with regard to Claflin, this version of the tale does tend to work some moody magic that helps to offset other deficiencies.

My Cousin Rachel Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

My Cousin Rachel is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 2.39:1. Digitally captured with Arri cameras and finished at a 2K DI, the film's rather lustrous visual qualities are one of its strongest assets, and they are presented in high definition with generally consistent clarity, sharpness and detail levels. While there are quite a few dimly lit sequences (many that seem to be "naturally" lit by candles), shadow definition is pretty commendable most of the time, and detail levels remain surprisingly high. There are some nice grading effects employed, especially outside, with some scenes having a moody gray or bluish ambience, choices that don't significantly alter detail levels. As is documented in one of the featurettes included on this Blu-ray as a supplement, the film has a perhaps surprising amount of VFX shots in it, and occasionally some CGI (as in a distant view of Florence as Philip is pulled along in a cart high atop a hill) can look fairly undefined and undetailed.

My Cousin Rachel Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

My Cousin Rachel features a nicely immersive if often fairly subtle DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track. A lot of the surround activity comes courtesy of outdoor scenes, where elements like wind whistling through verdant fields or the roar of the sea help to establish lifelike sonics. The film's nicely evocative score by Rael Jones also typically resides in the side and rear channels. While fairly intimate a lot of the time, offering only two characters in frame simultaneously, occasional shots, like some when Philip addresses his estate employees, bristle with a good deal of surround activity. Fidelity is fine throughout.

My Cousin Rachel Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Deleted Scenes (1080p; 12:35)


• Promotional Featurettes include:

  Costumes (1080p; 2:40)

  Daphne Du Maurier (1080p; 2:12)

  Did She or Didn't She (1080p; 1:43)

  Story (Rachel) (1080p; 1:01)

  Story (Sam) (1080p; 1:02)

  Cast (1080p; 2:35)

  West Horsley (1080p; 2:54)

• VFX Progressions (1080p; 2:50) is a rather interesting look at the perhaps unexpected amount of VFX shots in the film (e.g., take a look at screenshot 5, which was actually shot on a bright, summery day).


• Scoring Sessions (1080p; 6:35) is a nicely done piece looking at some of the recording sessions for the score.


• Audio Commentary by Roger Michell and Kevin Loader


• Gallery (1080p; 1:03) offers both an Auto Advance and a Manual Advance option. The timing is for the Auto Advance option.


• Theatrical Trailers (1080p; 4:11)

My Cousin Rachel Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

My Cousin Rachel has a number of outstanding elements, chief among them Weisz and the film's very handsome physical production, but I'm not sure how deeply any of the supposed romance and/or mystery really resonate. It's interesting to note that over the past several years there has been something of a Du Maurier (and/or Nabuco, as the case may be) revival, and yet no one (to my knowledge, anyway) has undertaken an adaptation of one of Du Maurier's other Cornwall set novels, her late sixties' bestseller The House on the Strand. What with current day obsessions with romantic time travel sagas like Outlander, it would seem to have at least as much to offer as an attempt to reboot something that's already been adapted — several times. Despite some shortcomings in clearly articulated motivation, My Cousin Rachel boasts impressive technical merits and comes with some decent supplements. Recommended.