Gabriel’s Rapture: Part Three is the long-awaited conclusion in the Gabriel’s Rapture trilogy, and it was worth the wait. Fans of the popular Gabriel books by Sylvain Reynard have been devouring every film in this franchise since Gabriel’s Inferno: Part One came out in May of 2020. Since then, the series has done exceptionally well on the Passionflix streaming service.
The serialized format that Tosca Musk has taken with bringing this series to life has truly been the way to go. If you’re not familiar with the Gabriel franchise, Musk has broken each of the books down into three parts. Doing this has allowed each part of the books to be explored. That’s something readers appreciate.
One of the biggest challenges when turning a book into an onscreen adaptation is determining what stays and what goes. Readers can often be left disappointed that their favorite moments didn’t make the cut. That certainly doesn’t happen with any of the Gabriel films, and that’s why we were really looking forward to Gabriel’s Rapture: Part Three. Parts one and two saw Julia (Melanie Zanetti) and Gabriel (Giulio Berruti) enjoying their newfound relationship, which came to an unexpected end when Julia was summoned by the board of student conduct at the University of Toronto.
She and Gabriel had to face the board after being accused of inappropriate conduct due to their relationship. Julia attempted to explain that their relationship was consensual and that her academic standing was not earned because of this. The board didn’t listen to her, and they just assumed she was a victim of Gabriel’s inappropriate sexual harassment. What they didn’t realize is that Julia and Gabriel knew each other prior to her even attending the university. Of course, Gabriel didn’t realize immediately that they knew each other. But we don’t even know if that would have had any bearing on the board’s decision. Because Gabriel did not want this to shatter Julia’s academic dreams, he fell on the proverbial sword and took the blame for everything.
Gabriel’s Rapture: Part Three picks up in the aftermath of this decision. Both Julia and Gabriel have been majorly affected by this. Julia believed that Gabriel no longer wanted anything to do with her, so she moved on with her life. Though it was painful for her to do so, with the help of her friends Rachel (Julia Barrett-Mitchell) and Paul (James Andrew Fraser), she was able to pick up the pieces. She eventually graduated from the University of Toronto and moved to Boston to continue the rest of her educational career.
Gabriel, on the other hand, was not doing so well.
While Julia was thriving, Gabriel was trying to do some soul-searching. It led him back to Italy, where he stayed in Assisi and spent a whole lot of time helping those who were less fortunate than him. Doing all of this gave Gabriel a new purpose in life and the strength he needed to head back home to try and find Julia. Unbeknownst to Julia, Gabriel had never given up on their relationship. So, when they are reunited with each other, it’s a shock. To say the least.
Julia doesn’t just accept him once again with open arms. It’s been months since they have seen or heard from one another, and for Julia, it’s like opening up an old wound. Gabriel understands that in order to win Julia’s heart back, he has to atone for the sins of his past.
Watching them reunite was emotional, and it was filled with tension. Both Zanetti and Berruti gave amazing performances in those moments. These actors have always impressed us. But we were extremely impressed with how much emotion they brought out for this installment.
Zanetti has always done a great job at embodying everything about Julia, but Berruti’s performance was different than the ones he had previously done in this franchise. He had to go to a different place to showcase Gabriel’s turmoil. Gabriel has always been so sure of himself and extremely cocky, which Berruti nails. It’s an entirely different thing to show the vulnerable side of someone. We’re not embarrassed to admit his scenes in Assisi and his moment with Grace and Maia brought us to tears.
Gabriel’s Rapture: Part Three runs a little on the longer side in comparison to the previous films, but we do understand why. Musk and screenplay writer Mary Pocrnic wanted the audience to really experience the loss that Julia and Gabriel were feeling. They wanted us to sit there and ask when they’d finally reunite. That way when they were, we felt that pay off.
At least I did. The moment they saw each other again, I was back in my feels.
Gabriel’s Rapture: Part Three is a love story through and through. It’s about two people who would do anything to be together. Most importantly, it’s a story about finding yourself so that you can be the best person for your partner. While it was heartbreaking to watch Julia and Gabriel separated, it was something they both needed. Julia and Gabriel have had their fair share of issues and being apart helped them re-discover who they were. Once they found their way back, they were even stronger than before. That’s what love is all about, and Musk captured it beautifully.
Gabriel’s Rapture: Part Three releases August 12 on Passionflix. We highly recommend streaming Gabriel’s Rapture: Part One and Gabriel’s Rapture: Part Two before watching the final installment. We also recommend checking out all of Gabriel’s Inferno because that’s where it all started. Something else we should point out is that the franchise doesn’t end here. Gabriel’s Redemption, which is based on book three in the series, starts filming this fall.
