Word: isobel
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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After the death of Mr. Coleridge, his widow, Katherine, descends upon the life of her step-daughter, Isobel (Juliet Stevenson.) Isobel's sister Marion (Penelope Wilton) convinces her sister to make room for Katherine in her graphic design business, which she runs with her boyfriend, Patrick. Isobel is uneasy given Katherine's destructive personality, and her disinclination to expand the business. Finally, Marion and her husband, Tom, (Alan Howard) provide the capital to transform the business from a two-person living room operation to a bustling corporate production. The aforementioned knifing scene is the turning point, when both the business...
Katherine is almost too blatant to be believably manipulative. At a business meeting, Katherine introduces herself as Isobel's "inheritance." When Isobel throws a fit because Katherine is planning to sell the family house, Katherine tearfully pours out a sob story about being penniless, and then in an about-face angrily snaps, "Be fair, Isobel...
...Secret Rapture" is plagued with excessively glaring dichotomies. Katherine's demeanor alternates between that of a helpless infant and an angry teen-ager, while step-daughter Isobel, who is in fact her elder, assumes the role of caretaker. Marion and Isobel are the Jekyll and Hyde of siblings; Marion values money, while Isobel cherishes relationships and peace of mind...
Likewise, the characters' interactions are awkward. To remind Katherine that she is a burdensome imposter, Isobel makes violent love to Patrick in the adjoining room. Isobel's weak attempt at self-assertion towards a scheming woman does not resonate well. The scene is not only poorly integrated into the film, it weakens it. A rowdy sex scene merely substitutes graphic detail for a more intelligent treatment of the characters' psychology...
...Isobel Jones, the editor, said she accosted Schulman at the Review and demanded to know if such a letter had been written to the Review's board of trustees or the special investigator of the ongoing probe...