(thanks to The Film Doctor)
Salon’s Andrew O’Herir calls Rapt a “Hitchcockian fable.”
The ice-blond “good wife,” Françoise (Anne Consigny, in a classic Grace Kelly part), is in many respects the central character of “Rapt,” and the principal victim of the kidnapping. She is forced to deal with the police, who suspect the whole thing may be a setup; plead with Stanislas’ company’s reluctant board for an enormous ransom payment; face the increasing resentment of their children (who think she’s not doing enough to bring Papa home); and confront the press, which sees an opportunity to peel away her family’s implacable veneer of wealth and privilege. Indeed, as the secrets about Stanislas’ multiple mistresses and gambling debts pour out — for one thing, he isn’t nearly as wealthy as everyone assumed — Françoise has to deal with the fact that her luxurious existence has been built on lies and criminality, which she herself has helped perpetrate…
“Rapt” is both a compelling character study and a handsomely mounted procedural, at various times suggesting Hitchcock, his French acolyte Claude Chabrol, the sadistic TV series “24” and the action movies of Michael Mann.