About a year ago, I watched and reviewed a 1970s film titled A Touch of Class about a married man pursuing an affair with another woman. In that review, I complained that there were no consequences for his actions aside from a miserable weekend with his intended mistress. That film made me angry over that lack of punishment for a man violating what I consider to be the sacred bond of marriage. I have no sympathies for men, or women for that matter, who cheat on their spouses, especially if they don’t get their just desserts in the end.
Going into Fatal Attraction, I was expecting the opposite. I knew the basic story and had even seen it once decades ago, so I thought I remembered all the beats. What I didn’t expect is that, aside from one scene where the cheating partner is shouted at by his wife, there are no real consequences to his marriage, at least none we see in the film. We can infer things that may happen after the film ends, but that is all just speculation on our part. There are other consequences he faces, of course, but as far as his marriage goes, the wife seems pretty forgiving after all is said and done.
Michael Douglas is playing Dan Gallagher, an attorney from Manhattan. He is seemingly in a loving home with his wife, Beth (Anne Archer), and daughter, Ellen. While at a business party, he meets Alex Forrest (Glenn Close), an attractive woman who has just recently been hired as an editor for the publishing firm Dan works for. The two hit it off, and while Beth and Ellen are gone for the weekend visiting her mother, he and Alex spend a weekend together having a steamy affair.
Things turn south quickly, though, when he tries to leave at the end of the weekend and go back to his life. First, Alex cuts her wrists in an attempt to keep him with her. Then she begins stalking him, calling him repeatedly at work and home. Things escalate to the point that he ends up changing his phone number and actively avoiding her. From there, it gets violent; forcing Dan into a position where he has to confess the affair to Beth. When Alex shows up at Ellen’s school and takes her away, Dan knows he will have to do something drastic to get out of the mess he’s gotten himself into.
This film came out in 1987, right at the heart of the Reagan era and the disintegrating nuclear family idealism. Women’s lib and the rise of women entering the workforce were taking a toll on traditional family values, and that was starting to be reflected in cinemas. Fatal Attractionis considered the beginnings of the Erotic Thriller genre, which led to such unsavory celluloid as Basic Instinct, Sliver, The Color of Night, and Body of Evidence. It spoke to a populous that had fears of a changing world, one that they no longer understood. This recognition propelled the film into a genuine phenomenon, earning more than twenty times its budget in ticket sales and the second-highest box office of the year. When the Oscars rolled around, the strong word-of-mouth translated over to the Academy voters, and it had a strong presence at that year’s ceremony, though in the end it lost in every category it was nominated for.
But the film everyone was seeing was not the one that was intended for release. The movie, based on a short film written and directed by James Dearden entitled Diversion, was supposed to be an homage to Madame Butterfly, a story about a Japanese woman and an American soldier that ends with the woman committing suicide. This was the original ending to Fatal Attraction and the one that attracted Glenn Close to the project. She was not the studio’s choice for the role and had to lobby hard for it, overcoming her image of not being a sexy seductress. Her suicide was meant to be a powerful moment in the climax of the film, designed to frame Dan for her murder. That ending was extremely polarizing when it screened for test audiences and, even though it is the right beat for her character, money talks and the studio mandated changes.
The new ending feels exactly like what it really is: tacked on and ill-conceived. Roger Ebert compares it to Friday the 13th and he’s not that far off. It jettisons the thriller tone for one more fitting Michael Myers, complete with a final jump scare. This ending is lousy and poorly executed. It also doesn’t feel of a whole with the rest of the picture. So much of Fatal Attraction is mood and that is completely lost in the final ten minutes.
One of the reasons we can go with this film for as long as we do is that Dan’s motivations to have the affair remain mostly a mystery. He’s not in an unhappy marriage, nor is Beth a homely or overly reserved woman. They seem to have a great marriage, which makes his pursuit of Alex seem random and out of nowhere. This paints him in a bad light, which he never escapes from. He tries to justify things by saying he was always honest and upfront with Alex about his marriage, but that does not shield him from our judgment. I’ve heard some deconstructing arguments that try to shift the blame over to Beth because it is her idea to move out of the city and into an expensive home that needs even more expensive renovations. This act supposedly emasculates Dan by taking him out of his big-city environment. I don’t agree with this assessment and place the blame firmly on Dan. The closest thing we get to him being frustrated in his marriage is a brief scene where he wants to take her to bed but has to walk the dog first. When he gets back, Ellen has climbed into their bed, effectively blocking any chances for romance. This is hardly sufficient reason to be looking for love elsewhere.
Glenn Close is literally the best thing in this film. She has to convince us to side with her when Dan starts trying to distance himself from her. When she suddenly slices her wrists, though, just to keep him from leaving for the day, we get a real sense that not all is right with her. Things just get more and more insane from there, and we cannot be on her side, even though we do feel sorry for her. He did, after all, use her for a weekend fling and then kick her to the curb. Our sympathies only go so far, and by the time she has moved on to killing one of their pets, we are more afraid of her than understanding. Glenn Close has been nominated for the Oscar several times, including here, but to date she has yet to secure a win.
Fatal Attraction comes so close to being a truly great film. But sometimes studios have to make a choice between releasing a great film and releasing a profitable one, and they usually opt for the latter. In this case, it paid off with ticket sales, but the film itself is lesser for it. Still, the film has its fans, many of whom will defend the ending, flaws and all. Once Alex is dispatched, though, I would argue that Dan and Beth, despite having reconciled, will not stay together much longer. The specter of infidelity coupled with the trauma of dealing with Alex has surely put the kibosh on their marriage. Without a sequel, and after these many years, one is unlikely. I guess we will never know for sure.
Academy Award Nominations:
Best Picture: Stanley R. Jaffe and Sherry Lansing
Best Director: Adrian Lyne
Best Actress: Glenn Close
Best Supporting Actress: Anne Archer
Best Screenplay - Based on Material from Another Medium: James Dearden
Best Film Editing: Michael Kahn and Peter E. Berger
____________________________________________________
Release Date: September 18, 1987
Running Time: 119 Minutes
Rated R
Starring: Michael Douglas, Glenn Close, and Anne Archer
Directed By: Adrian Lyne
Comments
Post a Comment