Gabriel's Rapture Part 3 review: Passionflix movie hits all the right notes

NOTE: There are no spoilers for Gabriel's Rapture Part 3 in this review.

Talk about saving the best for last. Gabriel’s Rapture Part 3, the final installment of the Gabriel’s Rapture trilogy, is everything fans could have hoped for. Stars Melanie Zanetti and Giulio Berruti take an emotional journey of self-discovery as Julia and Gabriel, overcoming obstacles and personal demons to find their way back to each other. 

If you’ve never seen a Passionflix movie, it’s important to understand that the goal of founder Tosca Musk and her team is to bring romance novels to life as faithfully as possible. The experience of watching movies like the Gabriel’s Rapture trilogy is enhanced if you’re familiar with author Sylvain Reynard’s bestselling Gabriel Series. You don’t need to read the books to understand what’s happening, but it’s helpful. 

In some cases, Passionflix develops books into single movies while others are transformed into series. With the Gabriel Series, each book has been divided into three full-length movies. To fully understand what’s happening in the third movie, you need to watch the first two Rapture movies — and you should also watch the three movies in the Gabriel’s Inferno trilogy, too. 

Gabriel’s Rapture Part 3 begins shortly after the events of the second movie. Julia, a grad student studying Dante, and Gabriel, a professor of Dante studies, have been torn apart by a University of Toronto student conduct investigation. Though they’re consenting adults with a long history between them (they first met ten years prior, which Gabriel was unaware of until fairly recently), university policy is unforgiving and designed to prevent professors from taking advantage of their students. The only option is for them to never see each other again.

Julia was stunned to learn that Gabriel actually shut her out of his life, telling her the relationship is over. While she’s busy picking up the pieces of her broken heart, he’s working to make himself a better person. What she doesn’t know (and what readers know all too well) is that Gabriel is trying to protect her and has no intention of leaving Julia and their relationship behind. He can’t be with her until enough time passes and he manages to battle his demons once and for all. 

While he’s sorting his life out, Julia seeks comfort from those closest to her, including best friend (and Gabriel’s sister) Rachel, played by Julia Barrett-Mitchell. She also gets closer to fellow Dante student Paul (James Andrew Fraser), who is eager to move their friendship to the next level now that Gabriel is out of her life. 

Watching the former couple heal while they’re separated is moving and powerful. You can see Julia’s pain in Zanetti’s eyes; as always, she captures every emotion in her facial expressions. Fraser delivers a memorable performance as he plots to move out of the friend zone. 

Of the six total movies, though, this is by far Berruti’s most inspired performance. Gabriel experiences so much personal growth in this movie and Berruti brings it all to life beautifully. Berruti has come so far over the course of six movies.  

Gabriel’s Rapture Part 3 just barely beats out Gabriel’s Inferno Part 1 as the longest movie of the two trilogies. Mary Pocrnic’s script manages to capture so much of the dialogue that fans hold dear while keeping the story moving forward at a comfortable pace. 

Visually, the movie is pure eye candy. From the heart of Boston to the sweeping Italian countryside, you’ll need a passport to keep up with all of the locations — yet another testament to Musk’s dedication to the source material. 

Of course, this isn’t the end of Julia and Gabriel’s journey. Their story will continue in the  Gabriel’s Redemption trilogy, which starts filming this fall. 

Gabriel’s Rapture Part 3 arrives on Passionflix on August 12.