The Murder Plot That Needed a Murder Weapon for the Script
Dominique is proof that just because you have Cliff Robertson, Jean Simmons, and a stately British estate doesn’t mean you have a movie. What you have here is a sluggish, tea-stained “psychological horror” that’s about as psychologically horrifying as being seated next to someone on a bus who wants to tell you about their stamp collection. Robertson plays David Ballard, a broke American businessman who decides the quickest route to financial stability is to drive his wealthy wife Dominique to suicide. It’s the kind of scheme that should be juicy, but here plays like an amateur theater troupe rehearsing “Dial M for Meh.”
Jean Simmons: Ghost by Appointment Only
Jean Simmons is Dominique, who obligingly hangs herself in the greenhouse to kick off the plot—then returns as a “ghost” to torment her husband. Or so we think. This haunting is about as frightening as a draft under the door. She mostly appears in slow, lingering shots that scream “We have six weeks to shoot and nothing in the budget for a real scare.” If ghosts are supposed to chill your blood, this one just makes you wish she’d hurry up and finish the job.
Cliff Robertson’s Descent into Mild Irritation
Robertson’s David is meant to be spiraling into madness, but he reacts to supernatural torment like a man who’s just realized his tea has gone cold. The “haunting” consists largely of him looking slightly startled, sometimes while wearing a robe. By the time he tumbles to his death, you’re less shocked than grateful the movie has one less character to stand around in well-tailored ennui.
The Twist Ending That Trips Over Itself
The big reveal? No ghost at all—it’s all an elaborate con cooked up by David’s half-sister Ann (Jenny Agutter, doing her best to act like she’s in a better movie) and her lover Tony, the chauffeur. Using her background as an actress, Ann stages a Scooby-Doo-level haunting to scare David into oblivion so she can nab his share of the fortune. It’s a fun idea on paper, but here it’s drawn out so long you half expect the real twist to be that we’ve all been ghosts since the first reel.
A Double-Cross Too Tired to Care
Just when you think it’s over, the film adds another layer: Tony betrays Ann, revealing that Dominique was alive for part of the plan until they killed her for real, and then Ann shoots him. This should be a shocking finale; instead it’s a reminder that the gun, like the plot, has been lying around unused for too long. Ann’s final moment, standing over Tony’s corpse, looks less like triumph and more like someone realizing they left the kettle on.
Atmosphere Without Air
Shot in England with all the gloomy décor and funereal pacing you’d expect, Dominique looks the part of a moody British chiller but never earns it. Michael Anderson directs like he’s waiting for someone else to tell him where the story is going. The house is big, the lighting is dim, and the scares are nonexistent—perfect for viewers who find actual suspense too stimulating.
Final Word: Less a Ghost Story, More a Sleep Aid
Dominique manages to take a premise about murder, greed, and deception and smother it in a wool blanket of polite boredom. The only truly haunting thing about this movie is the nagging sense that everyone involved could have been doing something better with their time.
