When preparing for research for this movie I found out some very recurring themes when it comes to director Adrian Lyne. See Adrian Lyne is a british born writer,director and producer. He began his career in the 1970's directing television commercials,he then went on to make well received short films that are entries in The London Film Festival. He would begin making feature films in 1980 his movies are known for sexually charged stories and characters. Which brings me to the topic of today's movie Review.
"Fatal Attraction" is a psychological thriller directed by Adrian Lyne(who directed Flashdance in 1983 and 9 1/2 weeks in 1986 and would go onto direct movies such as Jacob's Ladder,Indecent Proposal and Unfaithful) The film stars Michael Douglas as Dan Gallagher,Glenn Close as Alex Forest and Ann Archer as Beth Gallagher. Released on September 18,1987 The film's budget cost $14 million to make and made $320 million at the box office worldwide. A Huge Box Office Success.
The movie plot centers around Dan Gallagher(Michael Douglas) having a weekend fling with Alex Forest(Glenn Close) while his wife Beth (Anne Archer) and kid were out of town. Well once the wife and kid return,Dan ends the affair,but Alex becomes obsessive refusing to let the affair end. Then Alex drops the bombshell to Dan that she is pregnant with HIS child. Fearing for the worst he changed his phone number so that she can't get to him,suddenly she shows up at his apartment which is up for sale to meet Beth. Well Dan did not take that too well and confronted Alex about it. She tells him "She will not be ignored" So Dan relocates the family out of his Manhattan apartment into a beautiful house in Bedford but did that dissuade Alex? No she stalks him pouring acid on his car,delivered a tape recording of herself filled with verbal abuse. Then she had the gall to follow him home where she can see the sight of his family and it made her sick that she ended up throwing up. The final straw was when Dan,Beth and their kid were away Alex snuck into the house killed the little girl's pet rabbit and boils it on the stove. That horrified Beth and then Dan comes clean and says the woman who killed the rabbit is the same woman he had an affair with and confesses she's pregnant and that enraged Beth who ordered him to leave. Dan then calls up Alex and tells her that he told Beth everything,Alex didn't buy it until Alex got on the phone and warned her she will kill her is she persists in harming her family. Than Alex really crosses the line where she takes Ellen(Dan and Beth's daughter) out of school and takes her to an amusement park,when Beth learns that she is not in school she frantically looks for her all over town and she ends up getting into a car accident which required hospitalization. Once Dan learns of what Alex did by kidnapping Ellen and Beth had been in the hospital he became enraged and busts into Alex's apartment and attempted to strangle her,suddenly he stops short of killing her,she then grabs a kitchen knife and lunges to him,but he disarms her and departs fearful for his life knowing that she is psychotic. He then goes to the police as they search for Alex. Well Since that day Beth forgave Dan and welcomed him back home. Well just before Beth was about to take a bath Alex appeared out of nowhere and she attacks her,Dan appears after hearing Beth's screams from downstairs gets a hold of Alex and drowns her in the bath water. Suddenly Alex emerges from the water and attempted to stab Dan until a gunshot pierced the air and Alex is seen bleeding from her chest. Beth shot Alex and she died. After Dan gave his statement to the police he embraces Beth in the living room and we see the photo of the happy family and then the rolling credits.
"Fatal Attraction" was adapted by James Dearden with assistance from Nicholas Meyer from Diversion a short british film done in 1980. Now there was an alternate ending other than the one we got. You see Alex was originally supposed to take her own life at the film's end with the knife Dan had left on the counter framing Dan for her murder. After Dan gets arrested by police Beth finds some incriminating evidence the cassette tape filled with verbal abuse you know the one calling Dan a "cocksucking sonofabitch" and she threatened to kill herself. Upon this revelation Beth takes the tape to the police and Dan is cleared of all charges. The last scene shows a flashback of Alex taken her own life by slashing her throat while listening to "Madame Butterfly"After doing test screenings Joseph Farrell who does all the final screenings suggested a new ending be shot where Dan drowns Alex,but Alex would emerge only for Beth to shoot her dead in sel defense.
My overall rating of this movie is an 85/100 This was one of the first of many great films Michael Douglas has done throughout his career and he has done some remarkable movies before this like Romancing the Stone and Jewel of the Nile and latter movies like Wall Street and Basic Instinct. I rank this somewhere in the top 5 best movies of 1987.
No comments:
Post a Comment