Based on an award winning short story by the Argentinean writer Marco Denevi and directed by Joseph Losey, this is one bizarre arty flick. An aging, blowsy prostitute (Elizabeth Taylor) still grieving over her dead daughter meets up with a whacked out case of arrested development (Mia Farrow) still grieving over her dead mother. Together, they begin playing house acting out as mother and daughter. Enter Farrow's sexually abusive stepfather (Robert Mitchum). The movie is a disaster and yet it can't be so easily written off. The film is oddly compelling and one keeps hoping it will all coalesce but it never does. The performances are first rate though the actors are unflatteringly made up. Taylor is as beautiful as ever but her tawdry, cheap finery does her a disservice, Farrow (nominated for a best actress BAFTA for her work here) looks like a Morticia Addams wannabe with her long black wig which doesn't sit well with her pale features and Robert Mitchum sports a half beard. There are long stretches of silence which seem self indulgent but Losey does provide an effective gothic atmosphere. The score by Richard Rodney Bennett is disappointingly trite. With Peggy Ashcroft and Pamela Brown.
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