Elizabeth Harvest

Marriage!

The one time in our lives when we make the most important commitment of our lives, to live together with the one you love. But marriage is not easy, you have to work hard to make it work. I know how it can be, being a married man. I am also grateful for being in a relationship. But for those men who are thinking about getting married, i would like to give some good advices.

* Never talk bad about Iceman in Top Gun, played by Val Kilmer. This is one of the most loved characters for all women worldwide. If you do, your future wife will not accept your ring, i guarantee that.

* Women do not want to watch Bridget Jones anymore, this is 2018, so they prefer to watch Gator Boys on Animal Planet. Why ? Because nothing is sexier than watching Alabama men wrestling alligators. Ask any woman and you will see that this is true.

There you go, 2 fantastic advices for a perfect marriage. Should i help married couples in therapy with such fantastic advices ? Yes i probably should, i might actually become a marriage therapist. When it comes to movies that deals with marriage, we have a lot of titles to choose between. We have the usual marriage drama, and we have the marriage thrillers as well. Let´s focus on marriage thrillers for now. And one of the best classics in this genre is of course the 1987 thriller Fatal Attraction. This is one of the thrillers of the 80´s that really shocked a lot of people, especially how brutal the character Alex Forrest ( brilliant played by legendary actress Glenn Close ) is on screen. The boiling rabbit scene is a nightmare for the perfect family image, and shows that cheating is not the best idea. What made Fatal Attraction such a great thriller, was the psychological level of how bad things can turn if you cheat on your wife. Of course you can tell that Alex is a very disturbed woman, who clearly have a lot of personal problems. Legendary actor Michael Douglas also does a really good performance as the cheating husband Dan Gallagher. Another great thriller that takes on marriage as well is the 1992 movie known as The Hand That Rocks The Cradle. The story of a very disturbing nanny named Claire Bartel, played really well by actress Rebecca De Mornay ( one of her most iconic performances on the big screen ). But we have plenty of good actors here as well, such as Julianne Moore, Annabella Sciorra and Ernest Hudson. The Hand That Rocks The Cradle is actually one of the better thriller films where a nanny is included, and a classic from the early 90´s. Recently while looking around what to watch on VOD, i came across a film called Elizabeth Harvest. The first thing i noticed was that actress Abby Lee is in this film. If you don´t know who she is, i suggest you watch her in one of her films, especially The Neon Demon from director Nicolas Winding Refn. The combination of a sci-fi thriller sounded interesting, and that is why i decided to watch Elizabeth Harvest. Is this a film that should be seen by a larger audience, or is this film one of those titles that you won´t remember ?

Newlywed Elizabeth ( Abby Lee ) arrives with her brilliant scientist husband Henry ( Ciáran Hinds ) to his magnificent estate. Elizabeth don´t need to think about anything, her husband Henry have staff named Oliver ( Matthew Beard ) and Claire ( Carla Gugino ), who will serve her. The only thing that Henry demands, is that Elizabeth does not go inside a secret room. Elizabeth have no idea why this room is so secret, but she decides to go inside anyway. What she is about to find, will change her life completely, and give some answers to what her husband is really doing.

One of the things that makes Elizabeth Harvest more interesting than most ordinary thriller dramas, is that the film completely changes the plot after the first 30 minutes. At first it seems to be a story about a young woman, married to a wealthy man. But this is not really the main plot. Instead the film focuses on science instead, and become more complicated. And this is where the strength of this film grows, when we find out what is really going on inside this house. In some ways, i could feel this film might have some similar ideas as from director Nick Hamm´s sci fi thriller Godsend . Not that these films have much in common, but the style of Elizabeth Harvest and the clinical issues do remind me of Godsend, with some differences. The idea of playing God is something that both films have in common, when we break the laws of science to control human lives. Lead actor Abbey Lee ( known from films such as The Neon Demon, Gods Of Egypt and The Dark Tower ) does a great performance as the young woman Elizabeth. It feels like she is a great choice for this character, and she knows how to make Elizabeth look vulnerable. But when we see a completely different personality in Elizabeth later in the film, this also shows that this character is not who you might think she is. Another character i also enjoy in this film is Oliver, played by Matthew Beard ( known from films such as An Education and The Imitation Game, both really good films ). What makes Oliver interesting, is the fact that he is blind and takes care of the house of Elizabeth´s husband Henry ( played by legendary actor Ciarán Hinds from films such as Road To Perdition and Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy ). His character as the millionaire scientist Henry is also interesting, who is clearly carrying a big secret. I don´t want to reveal what the film really is trying to bring up, from a scientific perspective. So i suggest not to read about the real plot and see the film not knowing too much. The thriller influences becomes more clear, when the real story reveals itself. Director Sebastian Guiterrez ( who you perhaps recognize for his film Rise: Blood Hunter with Lucy Liu as a vampire ).  His film Elizabeth Harvest is pretty different from most releases, and he clearly wanted to tell a story that has a deeper meaning than most ordinary releases. I will say one negative thing, some scenes are very slow. Even if Abbey Lee deliver with her performance, she can´t save the slow scenes. Other than that, this is still an interesting movie that dares to go in a different direction. So if you want to see something different now when Christmas is getting closer, give Elizabeth Harvest a chance. Not a film for everyone, but definitely a film worth checking out if you enjoy science. 

Rating: DDD