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The Rapture (1991 film)

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The Rapture
theatrical release poster
Directed byMichael Tolkin
Written byMichael Tolkin
Produced byKaren Koch
Nancy Tenenbaum
Nick Wechsler
StarringMimi Rogers
David Duchovny
CinematographyBojan Bazelli
Edited bySuzanne Fenn
Music byThomas Newman
Production
companies
New Line Cinema
Electric Pictures
Distributed byFine Line Features
Release dates
  • September 6, 1991 (1991-09-06) (Toronto)
  • September 30, 1991 (1991-09-30) (NYC)
  • October 4, 1991 (1991-10-04) (US)
Running time
100 minutes [1]
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$3,000,000[2]
Box office$1,277,404[3]

The Rapture is a 1991 drama film written and directed by Michael Tolkin. It stars Mimi Rogers as a woman who stops being a swinger and converts to a born-again Christian after learning that a true Rapture is upon the world.

Plot

Sharon, a young Los Angeles woman, engages in a swinging, libidinous lifestyle. She comes into contact with a sect that advises her that the Rapture is imminent.

In time, she comes to accept this belief herself and becomes a born-again Christian. She begins a new, pious lifestyle, eventually marrying and having a daughter, Mary. When her husband Randy is killed in a senseless murder, however, she begins to question the benevolence of God. She believes she must wait with Mary in the desert for the coming of the Rapture. A police officer named Foster is concerned for their well-being, but Sharon is persistent that the end is near.

After a period of time Sharon eventually loses patience and at her daughter's urging, decides to hasten their ascendance to heaven. She kills Mary with a gunshot but is unable to take her own life afterwards, afraid she'll be condemned as a suicide. She confesses to what she had done to Foster and is arrested and placed in the local jail.

After an apparition of Mary (accompanied by two angels) in the night, the Rapture occurs. While Sharon sits in her cell early the next morning, a loud trumpet blast is heard all over the world, signaling the start of the Rapture. Later on, Sharon and Foster, after driving out into the desert, are both raptured to a purgatory-like landscape. Foster, who had been an atheist his whole life, accepts God and is allowed entrance to Heaven, but Sharon refuses to renounce her anger at God for His cruelty. Mary pleads with her to accept God back into her heart so she can join her and Randy in Heaven, but Sharon declines, preferring to remain alone in the purgatory-like landscape for eternity.

Cast

Production

The film was made on a $3 million budget and shot in Los Angeles over six weeks.[2]

Casting

Prior to Rogers' involvement, Sissy Spacek, Meg Ryan, and Rachel Ward passed on taking the role of Sharon.[4] Tolkin noted that Rogers' Scientology beliefs played no bearing on her casting: "Mimi's background in Scientology played no role in my casting her, nor did I see it as a problem — we never even discussed it." Rogers added that "my own religious views didn't affect my approach to the picture at all."[5] Although in another interview, she noted that the role was easier by way of not having a traditional view of Jesus: "I don't, for example, have a Jesus Christ definition of God ... and I have no views on heaven or hell. To me they're alien concepts. If I were a practicing Christian or a Jew, with all the hang-ups of those religions, I don't think I could have done Sharon justice."[6]

Reception

The film received average reviews from critics, currently holding a 64% "fresh" rating on review aggregate website Rotten Tomatoes.[7] Rogers especially won praise for her performance, with the Los Angeles Times calling it an "astonishingly stunning performance."[8] Entertainment Weekly noted that Rogers "delivers a subtle and complex performance."[4]

References

Notes

  1. ^ "THE RAPTURE (18)". British Board of Film Classification. 1992-04-15. Retrieved 2012-06-16.
  2. ^ a b Her Salvation? : Mimi Rogers has taken a chance with a role in a movie about faith and sin. The question: Will 'The Rapture' redeem a career bedeviled by typecasting? Los Angelese Times. 6 October 1991
  3. ^ The Rapture at Box Office Mojo
  4. ^ a b Cult Encounters Entertainment Weekly. 29 November 1991
  5. ^ Her Salvation? : Mimi Rogers has taken a chance with a role in a movie about faith and sin. The question: Will 'The Rapture' redeem a career bedeviled by typecasting? Los Angeles Times. 6 October 1991. p/2
  6. ^ Masullo, Robert A. (1991-12-22). "Mimi Rogers Finds Strength in "Rapture's" Heavy Role". Sacramento Bee. p. EN14.
  7. ^ The Rapture at Rotten Tomatoes
  8. ^ The Rapture Los Angeles Times. 28 May 1995

Further reading

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