Film: Fatal Attraction

Director: Adrian Lyne
Genre: Thriller
Source: USA (1987)
Rating: R
Location/Format: Netflix Streaming
Grade: B

Though the twists and turns of this movie had been spoiled long ago, and though I have never and will never cheat on my wife, it still managed to be a fairly taut little thriller. Glenn Close portrays increasingly psychotic desperation effectively--it's clear that she sees the tragedy and finds the empathy in her Alex Forrest rather than playing her as a villain. It's a surprisingly unself-conscious performance as well, as Alex is unrestrained and free with her body in a way that both highlights her need for attention as well as her matter-of-fact physicality. Douglas is also pretty good. He is increasingly becoming the consummate 80s man in my mind, between this and Wall Street--and that hair. Still, he's not as stiff as he sometimes seems to me, and he vacillates nicely between guilt and angst and anger. The fact that I don't really have much sympathy for him doesn't change the awfulness of the position he finds himself in. 

Though I often have trouble seeing past the 80s-ness of 80s movies, there were a few nice moments that really stood out. Of course there are the well known boiling bunny and knife-wielding maniac scenes, but even more effective was a motif of shifting light that Lyne develops. Early on, during the affair, Alex and Dan lie in bed together, a ceiling fan spinning over head, the light seeming to rotate with it as a shaft of light spills across the bed, then leaves them in shadow, then spills across them once again. The moment is echoed late in the film, as Dan attacks Alex, the light behind him swinging wildly, leaving them first in shadow, then illuminating them, then losing them in shadow again before rotating back the other way. The light and dark really reflect Dan's psyche, alternating between pleasure and guilt, honesty and deceit. Similarly, their fight takes place in the kitchen of her apartment, the water running in the sink--the same place they consummated their lust the first time. These little parallels elevate the film and bring a little bit of art to what could otherwise just be basic thriller fare.

One last thing: I would be remiss if I didn't call out the adorable Ellen (though with her cropped hair, it took me several minutes to realize it wasn't Alan). I'm not sure what the director did to make her cry when her parents were fighting, but she was genuine and genuinely cute. 

Too bad about her bunny though.

Alternate Film Title: "Monogamy: Not So Bad!"