Rent Fatal Attraction (1987)

An incredible & tense pot-boiler with a brilliant script & seismic Close - Fatal Attraction review by Timmy B

Fatal Attraction is one of those movies whose name alone conjures up many different mental images. It catapulted Glenn Close into superstardom, and despite her massively varied career, Alex Forest is the role most people associate with her, so powerful & psychotic was her performance. But Fatal Attraction is also iconic because it was a really, really good film. And as a three-hander, few films come close to it.

Dan Gallagher is a hotshot lawyer who is married to Beth, a beautiful & loyal wife, with a sweet daughter (Ellen.) They live in a stunning New York apartment and are happy. One night at a party, Dan has a brief interaction with Alex, the beautiful & highly sexual new editor. This turns into a filthy weekend when Beth & Ellen go away. But whilst Dan thinks of the tryst as nothing more than a one night stand, Alex becomes completely obsessed with not only being with Dan, but destroying anything which gets in her way.

Whilst I could go in many different directions with this review, the main thing which stuck with me, over and above Close's performance, which just how perfectly this whole film is made. And by that, I mean that it is one of those rare big Hollywood films which is so stripped down in its approach that less emphatically becomes more. These types of films, even today, want to fill the screen with special effects, images, CGI and every other type of manipulation you can think of. But what the director Adrian Lyne has done is to craft with extreme care the shots/setup, and then let the actors act and trust that the script is good enough to keep the audience engrossed.

So we have scenes where tension is built in extremely simple but brutally effective ways, whether with natural lighting or sound effects. The camera work is also great, switching between smooth establishing shots and frantic handheld when the tension ratchets up.

But for me, as for so many others, Close is the main draw. She makes Alex an extremely layered & complicated person. Whilst it is easy to simply write her off as a total psychopath (and don't get me wrong, there is plenty of evidence of her craziness,) she is also a character who you start to wonder how she came to be how she is. And she also makes extremely valid points about how, in the late 80's and still happening today, women are used almost as playthings to be enjoyed and then discarded, especially by extremely wealthy men.

But despite my praise for Close, Douglas & Archer absolutely hold their own. Douglas in particular is amazing at playing a man whose life is slowly destroyed due to one night thinking with his penis instead of his brain. The looks of horror on his face when he is confronted with the latest crazy action by Alex are extremely satisfying to say the least.

Whilst a different ending was originally written & tested poorly with audiences, I have to be honest and say I am glad that the re-shot ending is the one used. Fatal Attraction is many things, but most effectively it is a thriller which knows exactly what it is. And the final confrontation is a scene for the ages, which is still referenced today (such as in Bridget Jones.)

One final thing I loved was how absolutely unchained this film was in terms of its rating & content. This was a no-holds barred film which was unafraid to show not only frank sexuality, but also psychological trauma. From it's opening moments, it gripped me and didn't let go. And my God is Glenn Close scary when she turns on the psycho...

Famous Erotic Thriller - Worth a Revisit. - Fatal Attraction review by GI

One of the more famous erotic thrillers that came out of the 80s. Narratively it's very similar to Clint Eastwood's Play Misty For Me (1971), his directorial debut, both of which feature a plot surrounding a mentally disturbed woman who once scorned by a lover becomes a psychopathic killer. Here Michael Douglas plays Dan, a lawyer, married to Beth (Anne Archer) and they have a six year old daughter. One weekend when Beth is away Dan has a sexually charged affair with Alex (Glenn Close), whose company he represents. Dan sees this as a one off situation, for him a relief from the stresses of marriage and family. However he is unprepared for Alex' reaction when he reiterates it's a one off situation, and she begins to stalk him, her actions becoming evermore unpredictable. There's a complex set of issues at play in this film over and above a simple 'pyscho killer' plot and it can be argued the climax partially obscures the themes that are on offer in the narrative. Perhaps controversially the ending of the film is not the original one which had a different conclusion for the characters and from reports may have allowed the film's ideas to be more evident. But in short the film looks at the issue of infidelity and its effects on those involved with the demarkation falling between the attitudes of men as opposed to women. Dan enters the affair with a clear notion of taking a safe chance to have sex with a beautiful and above all very willing woman and then walk away. He assumes that is a view they both share. Alex, who the film doesn't shy away from showing has a mental health illness, doesn't see it that way and accuses Dan of not taking her feelings into consideration. That of course may well be true, there are significant clues to various readings of these issues throughout the film. It is an effective and tense thriller and the final climax unequivocally paints Alex as the film's villain and she certainly has indulged in acts that are dangerous and violent. However Dan too has pushed the boundaries of morality and the film does not seek to exonerate him. But he is forgiven! Archer is the heart of the film as the cuckolded wife who eventually has to be the family protector. Her performance is rather good. This is an interesting film that is open to interesting discussion especially for a modern day audience. It's worth a refreshing look to see if earlier impressions of it may have changed.