Ruth Rendell Movies
The master of French suspense joins forces with the queen of English suspense fiction for this tense tale of the treacherous love affair between a disturbed bridesmaid and an unsuspecting young man. Philippe (Benoit Magimel) lives in a quiet French town with his hairdresser mother Christine (Aurore Clément) and two younger sisters. Soon after the news breaks about a local girl who has mysteriously vanished, Philippe's mother introduces her children to Gerard (Bernard Le Coq) -- a local businessman who may have matrimonial intentions toward the attractive beautician. Soon after receiving permission from her children to present Gerard with a sculpture of a woman's head that had previously adorned the family garden, however, the elusive beau seems to disappear without a trace. Philippe is intent on recovering the captivating piece of art, and after stealthily recovering it in a clandestine mission he places it in his closet without telling the rest of the family. Later, at his sister's wedding, Philippe meets attractive bridesmaid Senta (Laura Smet) and passion between the pair quickly ignites during a stormy seduction. A model and aspiring actress who lives alone in a massive villa inherited from her father, sultry Senta may be physically irresistible, yet she also seems to have a few morbid preconceptions about life, love, and death. As the affair between the pair grows increasingly heated, Philippe at first takes her request to murder a stranger as a means of proving his love as a joke. The more he gets to know her the more that it appears that Senta is in fact deadly serious about her dark request. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi
- Starring:
- Benoît Magimel, Laura Smet, (more)
- 2004
Bruno (Grégoire Colin of Beau Travail) is a troubled art student fascinated with pristine white walls and empty space. A squalid, unhappy childhood has left him angry, reclusive, and obsessive. When his brutish uncle (Etienne Chicot), fed up with Bruno's eccentricities, threatens to kick him out, Bruno calmly murders him. Elise (Julie Ordon) is several years younger than Bruno, just entering adulthood. Her mother was murdered when Elise was a little girl, and Anne (Brigitte Catillon), the psychiatrist who used hypnosis to try to draw out her memory of the event, is now married to Elise's father, Richard (Laurent Grévill). Anne still worries that the mysterious man who murdered Elise's mother will return to harm Elise. She's overprotective to the point of paranoia, and Elise grows increasingly weary of her stepmother's constant meddling. When Bruno gets an interior design job at the upscale shoe store where Elise works, they are immediately drawn to each other. While Elise is quietly determined to draw out the odd, shy young man, Bruno seems to see Elise as some kind of ideal objet d'art. Anne, ever suspicious, suspects that Bruno is up to no good, and tries to keep Elise from seeing him. As Bruno plots to make Elise his, the twisted truth about her mother's murder is revealed. Inquiétudes, based on the novel A Sight for Sore Eyes by Ruth Rendell, was written and directed by Gilles Bourdos. It was shown at the Film Society of Lincoln Center's Rendezvous With French Cinema in 2004. ~ Josh Ralske, Rovi
- Starring:
- Grégoire Colin, Julie Ordon, (more)
A woman's grief and her mother's madness lead to strange and unforeseen consequences in this offbeat drama based on a novel by Ruth Rendell. Betty Fisher (Sandrine Kiberlain) is a promising young writer who has a four-year-old son, Joseph (Arthur Setbon). Betty's mother, Margot (Nicole Garcia), comes to visit her from Spain. Betty's relationship with Margot is difficult at best; Margot is emotionally unstable, and once attacked her daughter with a pair of scissors when she was a child. While spending time with Margot, Betty loses track of Joseph for a while, and the boy is severely injured when he falls out of a window. While Joseph is rushed to the hospital, he never regains consciousness and dies later that day. Betty is understandably distraught, and as she sinks deep in sorrow, Margot snatches Jose (Alexis Chatrian), a boy the same age as Joseph who is the son of Carole (Mathilde Seigner), a waitress with a serious drug habit who often delegates care of her child to her new boyfriend, Francois (Luck Mervil). Margot claims that Jose deserves a better parent than Carole, and she gives him to Betty to care for; while Betty is fully aware of the impropriety of Margot's action, the loss of Joseph has left such a void in her life that she reluctantly accepts the child as a way of dealing with her sadness. Betty Fisher et Autres Histoires was directed by one-time Francois Truffaut associate Claude Miller. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi
- Starring:
- Sandrine Kiberlain, Nicole Garcia, (more)
- 1997
Another entry in the British TV anthology The Ruth Rendell Mysteries, May and June could just as easily have been retitled "A Tale of Two Sisters." Phoebe Nicholls and Christine Kavanagh were cast as siblings May Thrace and June Symonds. Having long been jealous of June's happy marriage and posh lifestyle, May became convinced that she, rather than June, deserved so idyllic an existence. Eventually obsessing on the matter, May decided with tragic finality that she would "become" June, and nothing would stand in her way to accomplish this goal. May and June was offered in two hour-long installments by Britain's ITV service in 1997. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- 1996
Based on a novel by Ruth Rendell, the British miniseries The Secret House of Death got under way when young and attractive Susan Townend (Amanda Redman) paid a visit to her reclusive next-door neighbor, only to find that the man had been brutally murdered. The fact that another man's body was also found at the crime scene prompted Susan to abandon her innocent-bystander status and become actively involved with the murder investigation. Unfortunately, this encouraged the unknown killer to add Susan to his list of potential victims. The two hour-long episodes of The Secret House of Death were telecast in 1996 as part of ITV's Ruth Rendell Mysteries anthology. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Amanda Redman
When Catherine Lelievre (Jacqueline Bisset) hires mousy and taciturn Sophie (Sandrine Bonnaire) as a housemaid, she thinks that she found a treasure. Mr. Lelievre (Jean-Pierre Cassel) seems to agree with her, pointing out that the maid just has yet to learn how to serve dinner correctly. Wealthy liberals, they treat her generously enough and expect diligence and reliability in return. However, Sophie didn't tell her new employers that she is dyslexic, and very soon she has terrible troubles with even such supposedly ordinary things as shopping lists. She befriends outspoken postal clerk Jeanne (Isabelle Huppert), who occasionally helps her with the above-mentioned lists and tells her all sorts of gossip about the Lelievre family. Mr. Lelievre, who suspects that Jeanne opens their mail, tells Sophie that Jeanne was charged with the murder of her four-year-old daughter and though she was later acquitted, he can't believe in her innocence. Thus he forbids Sophie to invite Jeanne to the Lelievre house, and the tension between Sophie and her employers increases. What could have been a thriller in the hands of a different director, in the case of Claude Chabrol has become another witty and observant social commentary about the eternal confrontation between the rich and the poor. Ruth Rendell's novel A Judgement in Stone was previously filmed in 1986 in Canada. ~ Yuri German, Rovi
- Starring:
- Isabelle Huppert, Sandrine Bonnaire, (more)
- 1995
Based on the 1990 mystery-suspense novel by Ruth Rendell, the two-part British miniseries The Strawberry Tree focused on a middle-aged lady named Petra Summers, played by Lisa Harrow. Petra's calm, well-ordered existence was sorely threatened when the spectres of her past caught up with her. Among the supporting players were George Baker (who also scripted) in his familiar guise of Inspector Wexford, Eleanor Bron as Rosario, Simon Ward as Will Harvey, and Tamara Ustinov, daughter of Peter Ustinov, as the District Nurse. The Strawberry Tree was originally broadcast April 21 and 28, 1995 as part of ITV's Ruth Rendell Mysteries anthology. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Lisa Harrow
- 1994
A three-part offering in British television's Ruth Rendell Mysteries anthology, Master of the Moor was set in Dartmoor, the home of a brooding, solitary young man named Stephen Whalby (Colin Firth). Virtually alone since the death of his mother, Stephen wandered the moors day after day, writing dreamy, hallucinatory prose about the beauties of the countryside to the local newspaper. After the mysterious murders of several young, blonde women, Stephen's writings became increasingly bizarre, thereby arousing the suspicions of Detective Inspector Manciple (George Costigan), who felt that the Heathcliffe-like hero knew more about the killings than he was willing to reveal. Master of the Moor was broadcast by Britain's ITV service in 1994. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- 1993
Based on a novel by Barbara Vine (aka Ruth Rendell), this three-part BBC1 miniseries began as a young fellow named Sandor (Paul Rhys) showed up just in time to save another young man named Joe (Michael Sheen) from drowning himself. From this point forward, Joe regarded himself as a "gallowglass," or unofficial indentured servant, indebted to Sandor for life. Joe's devotion to his rescuer led him into a complex plot to kidnap wealthy young heiress Nine (Arkie Whitely), and, subsequently, a baffling murder mystery. Gallowglass first aired in 1993. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- 1989
In this British thriller, a married woman uses her feminine wiles to convince her lover to murder her husband so they can be together forever. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi
- Starring:
- Stephen Dillane
- 1960
Adapted from the book Lake of Darkness, the story concerns an innocent young man who tries his hand at gambling. After winning a bag of loot, he finds himself mixed up with a sorry bunch of undesirables. ~ John Bush, Rovi
This Pedro Almodóvar melodrama examines how several lives are changed by a single gunshot. Adapting the novel Live Flesh by British mystery author Ruth Rendell, Almodóvar has given the material a Spanish makeover with added political thrust. Beginning in 1970 in Franco's Madrid, when a prostitute (Penelope Cruz) gives birth to a son, Victor, the story leaps forward to contemporary Madrid. Wealthy diplomat's daughter Elena (Francesca Neri) is watching Luis Buñuel's The Criminal Life of Archibaldo de La Cruz (1955) while waiting for the arrival of her heroin dealer, and she buzzes Victor (Liberto Rabal) (with whom she made a date, then forgot about him) into the building. In the confusion that follows, two cops, David (Javier Bardem) and Sancho (Jose Sancho) arrive, and a gun goes off. The story then makes another leap to four years later: Victor is in prison, while Elena, no longer on drugs, runs a disadvantaged children's shelter and is married to wheelchair-bound David. After his release, Victor visits his mother's grave and spots David and Elena at the cemetery -- where David meets philandering wife Clara (Angela Molina). Fate interweaves the tangled interrelationships of all into a complex tapestry of destiny and guilt. Shown at 1997 London and New York film festivals. ~ Bhob Stewart, Rovi
- Starring:
- Javier Bardem, Francesca Neri, (more)
- 1992
- R
Anthony Perkins, in one of his last roles, is the sole highlight of this mundane, German-made psychological thriller, based on a novel by Ruth Rendell. Perkins plays Arthur, an obsessive-compulsive English bachelor with a history of far more destructive habits -- the worst of which include his reign of terror as the "Kenbourne Killer," who is responsible for the strangulation murders of several prostitutes. Like a certain legendary Perkins character of yore, Arthur has some Oedipal issues that need working out and fixates his mother fixation on the department-store mannequin he keeps in the secluded boarding house where he spends his "retirement." When this decidedly one-sided relationship is disrupted by the sudden loss of the dummy, poor Arthur goes 'round the bend again... but the blame for the new string of murders falls on one of his neighbors instead. Bogged down by pedestrian direction and a romantic subplot that serves little purpose, this attempt at a detailed portrayal of madness is kept aloft (barely) on the basis of Perkins' brooding, restrained performance. ~ Cavett Binion, Rovi
- 1990
- R
Innocent Victim is a psychological thriller based on the Ruth Rendell novel Tree of Hands. London based, best-selling author, Benet (Helen Shaver), who has just written a controversial novel, lives alone with her young son. Benet's mother, Marsha (Lauren Becall), visiting from the United States, is a manic-depressive who has psychotic episodes. When Benet's young son dies, Marsha kidnaps a local child to serve as a substitute. Benet believes she should return the child but upon investigation she finds out that the child has been severely abused by his parents. After the child's disappearance, the parents are charged with the murder. A more skillful filmmaker might have dealt, as the novel does, with the moral issues of guilt and responsibility and the terrible moral dilemma faced by Benet. Instead, director Giles Foster presents the film in a rather straightforward, nonjudgmental fashion which allows for little character growth and diminishes the impact of what should be an ironic and disturbing ending. Innocent Victim, while at times compelling, and based on an interesting premise, would have been a memorable film if Foster had taken more chances and pushed his actors to give the performances that they are capable of but here are only hinted at. ~ Linda Rasmussen, Rovi
- Starring:
- Helen Shaver, Lauren Bacall, (more)
- 1986
- R
In this mystery-thriller based on a novel by Ruth Rendell, Eunice (Rita Tushingham, wife of director Ousama Rawi) is a housekeeper who gets a job working for an older doctor and his wife in the U.S. Eunice is super-sensitive, rather homely, and illiterate. But she makes friends with a religious fanatic (Jackie Burroughs) who is quite willing to go along with whatever she has in mind. When a murder occurs, could Eunice and her good buddy be a bit more disturbed than first assumed? ~ Eleanor Mannikka, Rovi
- Starring:
- Rita Tushingham, Ross Petty, (more)
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