FILM OF THE WEEK

My Cousin Rachel (Cert 12, 106 mins, Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment, Thriller/Romance/Drama, available from October 16 on Amazon Video/BT TV Store/iTunes/Sky Store/TalkTalk TV Store and other download and streaming services, available from October 30 on DVD £19.99/Blu-ray £24.99)

Starring: Rachel Weisz, Sam Claflin, Holliday Grainger, Iain Glen.

Orphan Philip (Sam Claflin) is raised by his older cousin Ambrose on a sprawling estate nestled handsomely on the Cornish coast. It's a pastoral idyll dominated by men, apart from infrequent visits from pretty neighbour Louise (Holliday Grainger), daughter of Philip's godfather Kendall (Iain Glen).

When Ambrose falls gravely ill, the doctor recommends a trip abroad to recuperate in the balmier climes of Florence. Philip is promoted to man of the house in Ambrose's enforced absence.

Out of the blue, the new master receives a troubling letter from Ambrose, which reveals that he has married a woman called Rachel (Rachel Weisz), who has become his "torment". Further letters suggest that Rachel is poisoning him - "She has done for me at last" - and when Ambrose dies, Philip vows revenge.

Filmed on location in Cornwall, My Cousin Rachel is a handsome adaptation of Daphne du Maurier's text that retains an air of tantalising mystery until the final frame.

Weisz delivers a powerhouse performance as the titular (anti)heroine, who may have murdered her trusting husband with handmade herbal teas. Reputation certainly precedes Rachel, and writer-director Roger Michell's screenplay spends the best part of 30 minutes teasing her as a scheming seductress before she makes her entrance.

Weisz never tips the wink either way and one of the film's lip-smacking delights is trying to glimpse evidence of guilt - if it exists - behind the facade of the grieving widow.

Claflin is no match for Weisz on screen, making it all the more believable that his painfully naive whelp would stumble into her web.

Rating: ****