Séance on a Wet Afternoon (1964)

Séance on a Wet Afternoon would be notable if for no other reason than it contains a rare screen performance by the gifted Kim Stanley. Stanley's work is mesmerizing and captivating; there's no sleight-of-hand fakery behind the very real emotions she puts onscreen, creating a disturbing, fascinating, and wrenching portrait of an unbalanced woman whose seemingly indestructible strength and power is built upon a flimsy, shaky foundation. She conveys both the fragility and the brutality of the character with the slightest modulation in voice, and the merest raising of an eyebrow possesses stores of meaning. In her big climactic scene, she pulls out the stops without resorting to the showy and obvious. Stanley is well complemented by Richard Attenborough's finely shaded, delicately subtle characterization; the actor has never given a more finely modulated performance, and his work is crucial to the film's ultimate impact. Director Bryan Forbes has also drawn fine performances from his supporting cast, including a nicely underplayed Judith Donner and a compelling Nanette Newman. He and cinematographer Gerry Turpin use the camera to create a chilling, vaguely menacing atmosphere that hopes to disguise an underlying tone of melancholy, to very fine effect. And Forbes' screenplay is compact and economical, using detail in a telling and cumulative manner. Stanley, Oscar-nominated for her work here, would make only three more big-screen appearances before her death in 2001. ~ Craig Butler, All Movie Guide