Elizabeth Harvest
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

''Elizabeth Harvest'' is a 2018 American
science fiction Science fiction (often shortened to sci-fi or abbreviated SF) is a genre of speculative fiction that deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts. These concepts may include information technology and robotics, biological manipulations, space ...
thriller Thriller may refer to: * Thriller (genre), a broad genre of literature, film and television ** Thriller film, a film genre under the general thriller genre Comics * ''Thriller'' (DC Comics), a comic book series published 1983–84 by DC Comics i ...
film written and directed by Sebastian Gutiérrez. The film stars
Abbey Lee Abbey Lee Kershaw (born 12 June 1987) is an Australian model, actress and musician. Following several years of success leading up to the 2011 fashion seasons, '' V'' magazine dubbed her a supermodel, and Models.com has listed her as an "Indust ...
as the titular Elizabeth, a young woman who discovers that her new husband is hiding secrets. It premiered at
South by Southwest South by Southwest (SXSW) is an annual conglomeration of parallel film, interactive media, and music festivals and Convention (meeting), conferences organized jointly that take place in mid-March in Austin, Texas. It began in 1987 and has conti ...
on March 10, 2018, and was released in the United States on August 10, 2018.


Plot

Elizabeth, a new bride, is brought home on her wedding day by her husband Dr. Henry Kellenberg. Henry's house is palatial and only two other people live there; the housekeeper Claire, and Henry's adult son Oliver, who is blind. Henry shows Elizabeth around the house, telling her that she can enter any room except one, which is located in the basement. After Henry leaves for work each day, Elizabeth is left to her own devices. Initially her new clothing and jewellery, and the various luxuries provided by her new home are sufficient to entertain her. But eventually her curiosity gets the better of her and she explores the forbidden room, where she discovers clones of herself. She runs out of the room in a panic, leaving the door open. When Henry returns, he quickly discovers her deceit and brutally murders Elizabeth. Claire and Oliver help him to dispose of her corpse in a shallow grave in the grounds. Six weeks later, another "Elizabeth" is traveling home with Henry after their wedding, exactly as before. The new Elizabeth goes through the same experiences, also discovering the room with the clones, except she manages to kill Henry before he can kill her. When Oliver and Claire find out what has happened and that Henry is dead, Claire has a heart attack and is taken to the hospital. Oliver imprisons Elizabeth and asks her to read Claire's journal to him; he tells her that he will not release her until she does. The journal reveals that the original Elizabeth was Henry's wife, but she died of a rare medical condition. Unable to bear her loss, Henry decided to create clones of her, and hired Claire (a biologist) to help perfect them. The initial attempts were abortive, but eventually they succeeded. From the journal, it is learned that Henry and Claire have awoken six clones in total, including the current "Elizabeth" who is actually the fifth. The journal also reveals Claire's suspicions that Oliver is actually a clone of Henry, and that when she confronted Henry with this revelation he did not deny it. When Elizabeth tells Oliver this, he states that Henry blinded him out of jealousy when he was a child, not liking Oliver's growing friendship with one of the other child clones, and after he had confronted Henry about molesting one of them. Elizabeth attacks Oliver and tries to escape, but suddenly a new (sixth and final) clone appears, holding a shotgun. Confused and disoriented, the new clone shoots and kills Oliver. Elizabeth is also fatally wounded by the new clone, but before she dies she tells the clone to read Claire's journal. The new (and final) Elizabeth reads the journal which tells how Henry and Claire initially met, and details their work together on the cloning experiments. They had a brief intimate relationship at this time, but later Claire discovered that Henry simply wished to relive his wedding night with each new cloned Elizabeth, prior to murdering them, which horrified Claire. Recovered from her heart attack, Claire returns to the house from the hospital. The last Elizabeth clone gives her the journal, and tells Claire to put her research to better use. Then Elizabeth leaves to start life on her own.


Cast

*
Abbey Lee Abbey Lee Kershaw (born 12 June 1987) is an Australian model, actress and musician. Following several years of success leading up to the 2011 fashion seasons, '' V'' magazine dubbed her a supermodel, and Models.com has listed her as an "Indust ...
as Elizabeth * Matthew Beard as Oliver *
Carla Gugino Carla Gugino ( ; born August 29, 1971) is an American actress. After early roles in the films '' Troop Beverly Hills'' (1989), '' This Boy's Life'' (1993), '' Son in Law'' (1993), and '' Snake Eyes'' (1998), Gugino received wider recognition fo ...
as Claire *
Ciarán Hinds Ciarán Hinds ( ; born 9 February 1953) is a British Northern Irish actor from Belfast, Northern Ireland. Hinds is known for a range of screen and stage roles. He has starred in feature films including '' The Cook, the Thief, His Wife & Her Love ...
as Henry *
Dylan Baker Dylan Baker (born October 7, 1959) is an American actor. He gained recognition for his roles in films such as '' Planes, Trains and Automobiles'' (1987), ''Happiness'' (1998), '' Thirteen Days'' (2000), '' Road to Perdition'' (2002), ''Spider-Man ...
as Logan


Release

The film was released in the United States on August 10, 2018.


Reception

Critical reception for the film has been mixed and the movie holds a rating of on
Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review aggregator, review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee ...
, based on reviews. Multiple reviewers compared the film's storyline to the
folk tale Oral literature, orature, or folk literature is a genre of literature that is spoken or sung in contrast to that which is written, though much oral literature has been transcribed. There is no standard definition, as anthropologists have used va ...
"
Bluebeard "Bluebeard" ( ) is a French Folklore, folktale, the most famous surviving version of which was written by Charles Perrault and first published by Barbin in Paris in 1697 in . The tale is about a wealthy man in the habit of murdering his wives an ...
", with ''Variety'' praising the performances of Gugino and Lee. Reviewing for ''
RogerEbert.com ''RogerEbert.com'' is an American film review website that archives reviews written by film critic Roger Ebert for the ''Chicago Sun-Times'' and also shares other critics' reviews and essays. The website, underwritten by the ''Chicago Sun-Times ...
'', Sheila O'Malley gave the movie two stars, criticizing the movie for its slow pace.


References


External links

* {{Sebastian Gutierrez 2018 films 2018 science fiction films 2018 thriller films 2010s American films 2010s English-language films 2010s science fiction thriller films American science fiction thriller films English-language science fiction thriller films Films about cloning Films directed by Sebastian Gutiérrez (director) Films set in the United States Films shot in Colombia Films with screenplays by Sebastian Gutiérrez (director) IFC Films films