THE RAPTURE
A film review by Anthony Horan
Copyright 1992 Anthony Horan
Written and Directed by Michael Tolkin. Stars Mimi Rogers, David Duchovny, Patrick Bauchau. Rated M, 102 Mins. Screens at the Valhalla from October 2.
[This film has already been available on video in the US for a couple of months; however, it's just (!) gained a theatrical release here in Australia, and I was sufficiently intrigued about the film to want to post this review I wrote originally for Beat Magazine, a Melbourne street paper. Everyone I've spoken to has a different take on this film, so here's mine....]
Writer Michael Tolkin has already made a big splash this year with his hilarious and incisive attack on the Hollywood studio system, THE PLAYER. But just prior to that film, he made his directing debut with another one of his scripts, and the resulting film has finally made its way to Australia.
Sharon is a telephone directory assistance operator who balances the mundanity of her job with a hedonistic lifestyle that encompasses group sex in all its permutations. But even the most creative sexual encounters are becoming as unsatisfying for her as her job, until one day at work when, on a break, she overhears some of her co-workers talking about a shared dream, a dream which is intended to signal the second coming and with it, armageddon. With the sort of routine coincidence that only happens in Tolkin's screenplays, two door-knocking religious evangelists appear at her door, and she lets them in, more out of boredom than anything else, and listens to what they have to say. Soon after, when Sharon is on the verge of suicide in despair at her empty life, she turns to the book the evangelists gave to her, and finds safety in religion--a religion that looks forward to armageddon, as prophesied by a young boy.
Many have criticised this film as being too earnest and fundamentalist. Where that comes from is anyone's guess--THE RAPTURE is, in fact, a strange, bitter and caustic cautionary tale about the dangers of total surrender to organised religion, and the truly extreme lengths to which believers will go on their path to their long-awaited salvation. Tolkin's script seems totally straight on the surface, but has an underlying weirdness and menace that rivals the best of David Lynch's work. Make no mistake, this is an unnerving tale, but it's also rich in humour and wry observation.
As Sharon, Mimi Rogers delivers the performance of her career, in a role that will polarise audiences; the scene in which Sharon--desperate for a manifestation of her beliefs--takes matters into her own hands in the film's penultimate scene, is the most riveting and terrifying piece of cinema seen this year.
The low budget of this New Line produced film results in a relatively special-effect free ending that still works thanks to the fact that it's totally unexpected. Despite money limitations, the film looks great, thanks in no small part to the excellent work of cameraman Bojan Bazelli.
This is one of the most unique films, not only about this subject but *any* subject, seen in a long time. It's intelligent, witty, moving and compelling, and is not to be missed. Superb.
ANTHONY HORAN
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