#Seance on a wet afternoon movie

When her interpretation of memories clashes with his, it’s quickly clear through Billy’s visible disintegration that this longtime struggle has defeated him. There is one constant amid the pleas and vetos: no matter how the pair advances within the depth-of-field, they always come to a rest with Myra looming over Billy, threatening to swallow him whole. In a minefield waltz, Billy and Myra fidget and pace about the room as this friction grows between them- Billy is clearly not down with the cause. In an early master class scene in blocking, the couple discuss their plans as Myra begins to show signs of instability. The plot is solid and the pacing patient, but the real weight of Séance on a Wet Afternoon lies in its almighty lead performances, marching forth in a parade of codependency. Is she for real, or a charlatan? Regardless, the true horror in Séance is reserved for Myra’s embattled, asthmatic husband, watching the woman he married become a grotesque version of herself. But when Kim Stanley opens her eyes and comes out of her trance, her sudden gaze is strange.

#Seance on a wet afternoon movie

She spends the first two minutes of the movie emoting with her eyes closed, seemingly soothing an upset (and unseen) presence in the séance room while widened sets of eyes watch her every move. Then joined hands around a table, then a disembodied voice-Myra’s voice.

The first image is that of a solitary candle aflame amid a spooky silence. Shane and adapted/directed by Bryan Forbes, Séance On A Wet Afternoon (1964) brings up the rear of the short-lived Allied Film Makers’ (of which Attenborough was also a partner) six-film production run over the early ‘60s. As these elements mingle within a 115-minute runtime, they fuse into a fascinating, messy entry in the pantheon of films concerning one or more leads slowly but surely circling their own drain and reckoning with what they’ve repressed.īased on the 1961 novel by Mark M. Billy prioritizes his wife’s mental stability above all else, even his own integrity. Fame is the green light to Myra’s Gatsby, ever elusive and hopeful only to her. Running on Arthur’s “idea,” Myra concocts a scheme to get the fame she desperately craves-kidnapping the daughter of a wealthy couple and then publicly using her “gift” to locate the girl. Myra’s medium work pays a pittance, but her motivations are driven, she maintains, by the spirit of her late son Arthur.

Billy (Richard Attenborough) and Myra (Kim Stanley) live in a beautiful home inherited from her family, but between his medical issues and her mental state, money is clearly an issue.