My Cousin Rachel

In 1830s England, a young man suspects that his beloved cousin has been murdered by his wife (Rachel Weisz), whom he has never met. But when he does meet her, he falls under the spell of her charms. Is she really guilty—and does she plan to make him her next victim? Adapting Daphne Du Maurier’s novel (filmed before in 1952 with Olivia de Havilland and Richard Burton), writer-director Roger Michell makes a low-camp hash of things. His script is coarse, his direction clumsy, with shots ill-composed and out of focus; he misses entirely the atmosphere of simmering Gothic mystery in the story, and the result is often unintentionally comic. Claflin plays a callow character but also gives a callow performance; only Weisz and Iain Glen (as Claflin’s godfather) show signs of having actually read the book. J.L.