Fatal Attraction
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''Fatal Attraction'' is a 1987 American
psychological thriller Psychological thriller is a genre combining the thriller and psychological fiction genres. It is commonly used to describe literature or films that deal with psychological narratives in a thriller or thrilling setting. In terms of context and co ...
film directed by
Adrian Lyne Adrian Lyne (born 4 March 1941) is an English film director, writer and producer. Having begun his career directing 1970s television commercials, Lyne made well-received short films which were entries in the London Film Festival. He started mak ...
from a screenplay by
James Dearden James Dearden (born 14 September 1949) is an English film director and screenwriter, the son of Scottish actress Melissa Stribling and English film director Basil Dearden. He directed nine films between 1977 and 2018. His film '' Pascali's Isl ...
, based on his 1980 short film '' Diversion''. Starring
Michael Douglas Michael Kirk Douglas (born September 25, 1944) is an American actor and film producer. He has received numerous accolades, including two Academy Awards, five Golden Globe Awards, a Primetime Emmy Award, the Cecil B. DeMille Award, and the AF ...
,
Glenn Close Glenn Close (born March 19, 1947) is an American actress. Throughout her career spanning over four decades, Close has garnered numerous accolades, including two Screen Actors Guild Awards, three Golden Globe Awards, three Primetime Emmy Awards ...
, and
Anne Archer Anne Archer (born August 24, 1947) is an American actress. Archer was named Miss Golden Globe in 1971, and in the year following, appeared in her feature film debut ''The Honkers'' (1972). She had supporting roles in ''Cancel My Reservation'' (1 ...
, the film centers on a married man who has a weekend affair with a woman who refuses to allow it to end and becomes obsessed with him. ''Fatal Attraction'' was released on September 18, 1987, by
Paramount Pictures Paramount Pictures Corporation is an American film and television production company, production and Distribution (marketing), distribution company and the main namesake division of Paramount Global (formerly ViacomCBS). It is the fifth-oldes ...
. It received positive reviews from critics, but generated controversy at the time of its release. The film became a huge box office success, grossing $320.1 million against a $14 million budget, becoming the highest-grossing film of 1987 worldwide. At the
60th Academy Awards The 60th Academy Awards ceremony, presented by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS), took place on April 11, 1988, at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles beginning at 6:00 p.m. Pacific Time Zone, PDT. During the ceremon ...
, it received six nominations:
Best Picture This is a list of categories of awards commonly awarded through organizations that bestow film awards, including those presented by various film, festivals, and people's awards. Best Actor/Best Actress *See Best Actor#Film awards, Best Actress#F ...
,
Best Director Best Director is the name of an award which is presented by various film, television and theatre organizations, festivals, and people's awards. It may refer to: Film awards * AACTA Award for Best Direction * Academy Award for Best Director * BA ...
,
Best Actress Best Actress is the name of an award which is presented by various film, television and theatre organisations, festivals, and people's awards to leading actresses in a film, television series, television film or play. The first Best Actress awar ...
(for Close), Best Supporting Actress (for Archer), Best Adapted Screenplay, and Best Film Editing.


Plot

Daniel "Dan" Gallagher is a successful, happily-married
Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...
lawyer whose work leads him to meet Alexandra "Alex" Forrest, an
editor Editing is the process of selecting and preparing written, photographic, visual, audible, or cinematic material used by a person or an entity to convey a message or information. The editing process can involve correction, condensation, orga ...
for a
publishing company Publishing is the activity of making information, literature, music, software and other content available to the public for sale or for free. Traditionally, the term refers to the creation and distribution of printed works, such as books, newsp ...
. While his wife, Beth, and daughter, Ellen, are out of town for the weekend, Dan has an affair with Alex. Although it was initially understood by both as just a fling, Alex begins to cling to him. After leaving unexpectedly in the middle of the night, Dan reluctantly spends the following day with Alex after she persistently asks him over. When Dan attempts to leave again, she cuts her wrists in a manipulative ploy to force him to stay. He helps her bandage the cuts, stays with her overnight to make sure she is all right, and leaves in the morning. Although Dan believes the affair to be forgotten, Alex shows up at his office one day to apologize for her behavior and invites him to a performance of ''
Madame Butterfly ''Madama Butterfly'' (; ''Madame Butterfly'') is an opera in three acts (originally two) by Giacomo Puccini, with an Italian libretto by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa. It is based on the short story "Madame Butterfly" (1898) by John Luther ...
'', but he politely turns her down. She then continues to call him at his office until he tells his secretary that he will no longer take her calls. Alex then phones Dan's home at all hours, claiming that she is
pregnant Pregnancy is the time during which one or more offspring develops (gestation, gestates) inside a woman, woman's uterus (womb). A multiple birth, multiple pregnancy involves more than one offspring, such as with twins. Pregnancy usually occur ...
and plans to keep the baby. Although he wants nothing to do with her, she argues that he must take responsibility. After he changes his home phone number, she shows up at his apartment (which is for sale) and meets Beth, feigning interest as a buyer. Later that night, Dan goes to Alex's apartment to confront her, which results in a scuffle. In response, she replies that she will not be ignored. Dan moves his family to
Bedford Bedford is a market town in Bedfordshire, England. At the 2011 Census, the population of the Bedford built-up area (including Biddenham and Kempston) was 106,940, making it the second-largest settlement in Bedfordshire, behind Luton, whilst ...
, but this does not deter Alex. She has a tape recording delivered to him filled with verbal abuse. She stalks him in a parking garage, pours acid onto his car, ruining the engine, and follows him home one night to spy on him, Beth, and Ellen from the bushes in their yard: the sight of the family makes her sick to her stomach. Her obsession escalates further when Dan approaches the police to apply for a
restraining order A restraining order or protective order, is an order used by a court to protect a person in a situation involving alleged domestic violence, child abuse, assault, harassment, stalking, or sexual assault. Restraining and personal protection or ...
against Alex (claiming that it is "for a client"). The lieutenant claims that he cannot violate her rights without
probable cause In United States criminal law, probable cause is the standard by which police authorities have reason to obtain a warrant for the arrest of a suspected criminal or the issuing of a search warrant. There is no universally accepted definition or f ...
, and that the "client" has to own up to his
adultery Adultery (from Latin ''adulterium'') is extramarital sex that is considered objectionable on social, religious, moral, or legal grounds. Although the sexual activities that constitute adultery vary, as well as the social, religious, and legal ...
. At one point, while the Gallaghers are not home, Alex kills Ellen's pet rabbit, and puts it on their stove to boil; Beth finds the pot and screams in terror. After this, Dan admits the affair and Alex's supposed pregnancy to Beth. Enraged, she tells Dan to leave. Before he goes, Dan calls Alex to tell her that Beth knows about the affair. Beth gets on the phone and warns Alex that she will kill her if she persists. Without Dan and Beth's knowledge, Alex picks up Ellen from school and takes her to an amusement park. Beth panics when she cannot find Ellen. She drives around frantically searching and rear-ends a car stopped at an intersection which causes her to be injured and hospitalized. Alex drops Ellen off at home unharmed, asking her for a kiss on the cheek. Dan barges into Alex's apartment and attacks her, strangling her and coming close to killing her. He stops himself, but as he does, she lunges at him with a kitchen knife. He overpowers her but decides to put the knife down and leave, while Alex is leaning against the kitchen counter, smiling. The police begin to search for her after Dan tells them about the kidnapping. Following Beth's release from the hospital, she forgives Dan, and they return home. Beth prepares a bath for herself when Alex suddenly appears with the kitchen knife and explains her belief that Beth is standing in the way of having Dan to herself, before proceeding to attack her. Dan hears the screaming, rushes in, wrestles Alex into the bathtub, and seemingly drowns her. She suddenly emerges from the water, swinging the knife, but Beth arrives with Dan's
revolver A revolver (also called a wheel gun) is a repeating handgun that has at least one barrel and uses a revolving cylinder containing multiple chambers (each holding a single cartridge) for firing. Because most revolver models hold up to six roun ...
and shoots Alex in the chest, finally killing her. The final scene shows police cars outside the Gallaghers' house. As Dan finishes delivering his statement to the police, he walks inside, where Beth is waiting for him. They embrace and proceed to the living room as the camera focuses on a picture of the family.


Cast

*
Michael Douglas Michael Kirk Douglas (born September 25, 1944) is an American actor and film producer. He has received numerous accolades, including two Academy Awards, five Golden Globe Awards, a Primetime Emmy Award, the Cecil B. DeMille Award, and the AF ...
as Dan Gallagher -
husband A husband is a male in a marital relationship, who may also be referred to as a spouse. The rights and obligations of a husband regarding his spouse and others, and his status in the community and in law, vary between societies and cultures, ...
of Beth, father of Ellen, and a
New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
lawyer A lawyer is a person who practices law. The role of a lawyer varies greatly across different legal jurisdictions. A lawyer can be classified as an advocate, attorney, barrister, canon lawyer, civil law notary, counsel, counselor, solic ...
that has an affair with Alex Forrest and later regrets doing this. *
Glenn Close Glenn Close (born March 19, 1947) is an American actress. Throughout her career spanning over four decades, Close has garnered numerous accolades, including two Screen Actors Guild Awards, three Golden Globe Awards, three Primetime Emmy Awards ...
as Alex Forrest - who becomes obsessed with Dan after a very brief affair. *
Anne Archer Anne Archer (born August 24, 1947) is an American actress. Archer was named Miss Golden Globe in 1971, and in the year following, appeared in her feature film debut ''The Honkers'' (1972). She had supporting roles in ''Cancel My Reservation'' (1 ...
as Beth Rogerson Gallagher * Ellen Hamilton Latzen as Ellen Gallagher * Stuart Pankin as Jimmy *
Ellen Foley Ellen Foley (born 1951) is an American singer and actress who has appeared on Broadway and television, where she co-starred in the sitcom '' Night Court'' for one season. In music, she has released five solo albums but is best known for her colla ...
as Hildy *
Fred Gwynne Frederick Hubbard Gwynne (July 10, 1926 – July 2, 1993) was an American actor, artist and author widely known for his roles in the 1960s television sitcoms ''Car 54, Where Are You?'' as Francis Muldoon and as Herman Munster in ''The Munsters'' ...
as Arthur, Dan's boss *
Meg Mundy Margaret Anne Mary Mundy (January 4, 1915 – January 12, 2016) was an English-born American actress and model. She was born in London, and in 1921, at the age of six, emigrated to the United States with her family. Personal life Mundy was born ...
as Joan Rogerson, Beth's mother * Tom Brennan as Howard Rogerson, Beth's father *
Lois Smith Lois Arlene Smith (née Humbert; born November 3, 1930) is an American character actress whose career spans eight decades. She made her film debut in the 1955 drama film '' East of Eden'', and later played supporting roles in a number of movies ...
as Martha, Dan's
secretary A secretary, administrative professional, administrative assistant, executive assistant, administrative officer, administrative support specialist, clerk, military assistant, management assistant, office secretary, or personal assistant is a w ...
*
Mike Nussbaum Myron G. Nussbaum (born December 29, 1923) is an American actor and director. Early years Nussbaum was born to a Jewish family and grew up in the Albany Park area of Chicago. He married soon after he returned to Chicago following military ser ...
as Bob Drimmer *
J. J. Johnston J.J. Johnston (born James William Johnston, October 24, 1933 – November 4, 2022) was an American theatre and film actor, boxing historian and writer. Johnston served eighteen months in prison for drug-related offenses before turning to acting ...
as O'Rourke * Michael Arkin as Lieutenant *
Jane Krakowski Jane Krakowski (; ; born October 11, 1968) is an American actress, comedienne, and singer. She is best known for her starring role as Jenna Maroney in the NBC satirical comedy series ''30 Rock'' (2006–2013, 2020), for which she received four ...
as Christine, the babysitter


Production


Writing

The film was adapted by
James Dearden James Dearden (born 14 September 1949) is an English film director and screenwriter, the son of Scottish actress Melissa Stribling and English film director Basil Dearden. He directed nine films between 1977 and 2018. His film '' Pascali's Isl ...
(with assistance from
Nicholas Meyer Nicholas Meyer (born December 24, 1945) is an American writer and director, known for his best-selling novel ''The Seven-Per-Cent Solution'', and for directing the films ''Time After Time (1979 film), Time After Time'', two of the ''Star Trek'' ...
) from '' Diversion'', an earlier 1980 short film by Dearden for British television. In Meyer's book ''The View from the Bridge: Memories of Star Trek and a Life in Hollywood'', he explains that in late 1986 producer
Stanley R. Jaffe Stanley Richard Jaffe (born July 31, 1940) is an American film producer, responsible for movies such as ''Fatal Attraction'', ''The Accused (1988 film), The Accused'', and ''Kramer vs. Kramer''. Background Jaffe was born to a American Jews, Jew ...
asked him to look at the script developed by Dearden, and he wrote a four-page memo making suggestions, including a new ending. A few weeks later Meyer met with director
Adrian Lyne Adrian Lyne (born 4 March 1941) is an English film director, writer and producer. Having begun his career directing 1970s television commercials, Lyne made well-received short films which were entries in the London Film Festival. He started mak ...
and gave him some additional suggestions. Ultimately Meyer was asked to redraft the script on the basis of his suggestions, which ended up being the shooting script.


Casting

Producers
Sherry Lansing Sherry Lansing (born Sherry Lee Duhl; July 31, 1944) is an American philanthropist and retired film studio executive. She is a former CEO of Paramount Pictures and president of production at 20th Century Fox. In 1996, she became the first woman ...
and Stanley R. Jaffe both had serious doubts about casting Glenn Close because they did not think she could be sexual enough for the role of Alex.
Barbara Hershey Barbara Lynn Herzstein, better known as Barbara Hershey (born February 5, 1948), is an American actress. In a career spanning more than 50 years, she has played a variety of roles on television and in cinema in several genres, including weste ...
was originally considered for the role. Several actresses auditioned for the part, but they were almost all turned down. Close was persistent, and after meeting with Jaffe several times in New York, she was asked to fly out to Los Angeles to read with Michael Douglas in front of Adrian Lyne and Lansing. Before the audition, she let her naturally frizzy hair "go wild" because she was impatient at putting it up, and she wore a slimming black dress she thought made her look "fabulous" to the audition. This impressed Lansing, because Close "came in looking completely different...right away she was into the part." Close and Douglas performed a scene from early in the script, where Alex flirts with Dan in a café, and Close came away "convinced my career was over, that I was finished, I had completely blown my chances." Lansing and Lyne, however, were both convinced that she was right for the role; Lyne stated that "an extraordinary erotic transformation took place. She was this tragic, bewildering mix of sexuality and rage—I watched Alex come to life." To prepare for her role, Close consulted several psychologists, hoping to understand Alex's psyche and motivations. She was uncomfortable with the bunny boiling scene, which she thought was too extreme, but she was assured on consulting the psychologists that such an action was entirely possible and that Alex's behavior corresponded to someone who had experienced incestual sexual abuse as a child.


Alternate ending

Alex Forrest was originally scripted slashing her throat at the film's end with the knife Dan had left on the counter, so as to make it appear that Dan had murdered her. After seeing her husband being taken away by police, Beth finds a revealing cassette tape that Alex sent Dan in which she threatens to kill herself. Upon realizing Alex's intentions, Beth takes the tape to the police, who clear Dan of the murder. The last scene shows, in flashback, Alex taking her own life by slashing her throat while listening to ''Madame Butterfly''. After doing test screenings, Joseph Farrell (who handled the test screenings) suggested that Paramount shoot a new ending. In the 2002 Special Edition DVD, Close comments that she had doubts about re-shooting the film's ending because she believed the character would "self-destruct and commit suicide". Close eventually gave in on her concerns, and filmed the new sequence after having fought against the change for two weeks. Close has described how protective she was of her character, whom she "never thought of as a villain", stating that: "I wasn't playing a generality, I wasn't playing a cliché. I was playing a very specific, deeply disturbed, fragile human being, whom I had grown to love." However, though the ending made Alex into a "psychopath" against Close's wishes, she has also acknowledged that the film would not have experienced the enormous success it did without the new ending, because it gave the audience "a sense of catharsis, a hope, that somehow the family unit would survive the nightmare." The film's first Japanese release used the original ending. The original ending also appeared on a special edition VHS and
LaserDisc The LaserDisc (LD) is a home video format and the first commercial optical disc storage medium, initially licensed, sold and marketed as DiscoVision, MCA DiscoVision (also known simply as "DiscoVision") in the United States in 1978. Its diam ...
release by
Paramount Paramount (from the word ''paramount'' meaning "above all others") may refer to: Entertainment and music companies * Paramount Global, also known simply as Paramount, an American mass media company formerly known as ViacomCBS. The following busin ...
in 1992, and was included on the film's DVD release a decade later.


Home media

A Special Collector's Edition of the film was released on DVD in 2002. Paramount released ''Fatal Attraction'' on
Blu-ray Disc The Blu-ray Disc (BD), often known simply as Blu-ray, is a Digital media, digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 2005 and released on June 20, 2006 worldwide. It is designed to supersede the DVD format, and c ...
on June 9, 2009. The Blu-ray contained several bonus features from the 2002 DVD, including commentary by director Adrian Lyne, cast and crew interviews, a look at the film's cultural phenomenon, a behind-the-scenes look, rehearsal footage, the alternative ending, and the original theatrical trailer. In April 2020 a remastered Blu-ray Disc was released by
Paramount Home Entertainment Paramount Home Entertainment (formerly Paramount Home Media Distribution, and originally Paramount Home Video) is the home video distribution arm of Paramount Pictures, a division of Paramount Global. The division oversees PPC's home entertainme ...
under their Paramount Presents series. Included was a new interview with the director titled Filmmaker Focus, previous rehearsal footage but excluding some of the extra features from previous releases. Paramount released the film on 4K
Ultra HD Blu-ray Ultra HD Blu-ray (4K Ultra HD, UHD-BD, or 4K Blu-ray) is a digital optical disc data storage format that is an enhanced variant of Blu-ray. Ultra HD Blu-ray discs are incompatible with existing standard Blu-ray players, though a traditional Bl ...
in the U.S. on September 13, 2022.


Reception and legacy

''Fatal Attraction'' spent eight weeks at number 1 in the US where it was the second-highest-grossing film of 1987, behind ''
Three Men and a Baby ''Three Men and a Baby'' is a 1987 American comedy film directed by Leonard Nimoy. It stars Tom Selleck, Steve Guttenberg, and Ted Danson as three bachelors as they attempt to adapt their lives to de facto fatherhood with the arrival of the love ...
''. In the UK it grossed a record £2,048,421 in its opening week and spent ten weeks at
number one Number One most commonly refers to: * 1 (number) Number One, No. 1, or #1 may also refer to: Music Albums * ''Number 1'' (Big Bang album), and the title song * ''No. 1'' (BoA album), and the title song * ''No.1'' (EP), by CLC * ''n.1 ...
. In Australia, it was the first non-Australian film to gross A$2 million in its opening week, second to ''
Crocodile Dundee ''Crocodile Dundee'' (stylized as ''"Crocodile" Dundee'' in the U.S.) is a 1986 action comedy film set in the Australian Outback and in New York City. It stars Paul Hogan as the weathered Mick Dundee, and American actress Linda Kozlowski as rep ...
''. It grossed $320.1 million worldwide, making it the year's biggest film. This success led to similar psychological thrillers being made in the late 1980s and 1990s.
Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...
gives the film a rating of 75% based on reviews from 55 critics, with an average rating of 6.80/10. The site's consensus reads, "A potboiler in the finest sense, ''Fatal Attraction'' is a sultry, juicy thriller that's hard to look away from once it gets going." On
Metacritic Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...
, the film has a rating of 67/100 based on reviews from 16 critics. Audiences polled by ''
CinemaScore CinemaScore is a market research firm based in Las Vegas. It surveys film audiences to rate their viewing experiences with letter grades, reports the results, and forecasts box office receipts based on the data. Background Ed Mintz founded Ci ...
'' gave the film an average grade of "A" on an A+ to F scale. ''
Time Time is the continued sequence of existence and events that occurs in an apparently irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequence events, to ...
'' magazine film critic
Richard Corliss Richard Nelson Corliss (March 6, 1944 – April 23, 2015) was an American film critic and magazine editor for ''Time''. He focused on movies, with occasional articles on other subjects. He was the former editor-in-chief of ''Film Comment' ...
said " he film bringshorror home to a place where the grownup moviegoer actually lives." ''
The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
’''
Janet Maslin Janet R. Maslin (born August 12, 1949) is an American journalist, best known as a film and literary critic for ''The New York Times''. She served as a ''Times'' film critic from 1977 to 1999 and as a book critic from 2000 to 2015. In 2000 Maslin ...
said the film would become a long-standing favorite with audiences, writing "Years hence, it will be possible to pinpoint the exact moment that produced ''Fatal Attraction'', Adrian Lyne's new romantic thriller, and the precise circumstances that made it a hit." ''Fatal Attraction'' engendered discussion of the consequences of infidelity as some
feminists Feminism is a range of socio-political movements and ideologies that aim to define and establish the political, economic, personal, and social equality of the sexes. Feminism incorporates the position that society prioritizes the male poi ...
did not appreciate the depiction of a strong career woman who is a
psychopath Psychopathy, sometimes considered synonymous with sociopathy, is characterized by persistent Anti-social behaviour, antisocial behavior, impaired empathy and remorse, and Boldness, bold, Disinhibition, disinhibited, and Egotism, egotistical B ...
.Remembering Fatal Attraction 2002 DVD Special Features Author
Susan Faludi Susan Charlotte Faludi (; born April 18, 1959) is an American feminist, journalist, and author. She won a Pulitzer Prize for Explanatory Journalism in 1991, for a report on the leveraged buyout of Safeway Stores, Inc., a report that the Pulitze ...
discussed the film in '' Backlash: The Undeclared War Against American Women'', arguing that major changes had been made to the original plot in order to make Alex wholly negative, while Dan's carelessness and the lack of compassion and responsibility raised no discussion, except for a small number of men's groups who said that Dan was eventually forced to own up to his irresponsibility in that "everyone pays the piper". Close was quoted in 2008 as saying, "Men still come up to me and say, 'You scared the shit out of me.' Sometimes they say, 'You saved my marriage.'" Critic
Barry Norman Barry Leslie Norman (21 August 1933 – 30 June 2017) was a British film critic, television presenter and journalist. He presented the BBC's cinema review programme, '' Film...'', from 1972 to 1998. Early life Born at St Thomas’s Hospital ...
expressed sympathy for feminists who were frustrated by the film, criticized its "over-the-top" ending and called it inferior to
Clint Eastwood Clinton Eastwood Jr. (born May 31, 1930) is an American actor and film director. After achieving success in the Western TV series '' Rawhide'', he rose to international fame with his role as the "Man with No Name" in Sergio Leone's "''Doll ...
's ''
Play Misty for Me ''Play Misty for Me'' is a 1971 American psychological thriller film directed by and starring Clint Eastwood, his directorial debut. Jessica Walter and Donna Mills co-star. The screenplay, written by regular Eastwood collaborators Jo Heims and Dea ...
'', which has a similar plot. Nonetheless, he declared it "strong and very well made, excellently played by the three main characters and neatly written". ''Fatal Attraction'' has been described as a
neo-noir Neo-noir is a revival of film noir, a genre that had originally flourished during the post-World War II era in the United Statesroughly from 1940 to 1960. The French term, ''film noir'', translates literally to English as "black film", indicating ...
film by some authors. ''Fatal Attraction'' was the first foreign film to be distributed by
United International Pictures United International Pictures (UIP) is a joint venture of Paramount Pictures and Universal Pictures that distributes their films outside the United States and Canada. UIP also had international distribution rights to certain Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer an ...
. In September 1988, Korean film distributors protested this release by "releasing snakes, setting fire in the theatres, and tearing off the screens." The character of Alex Forrest has been discussed by psychiatrists and film experts, and has been used as a film illustration for the condition
borderline personality disorder Borderline personality disorder (BPD), also known as emotionally unstable personality disorder (EUPD), is a personality disorder characterized by a long-term pattern of unstable interpersonal relationships, distorted sense of self, and strong ...
, The character displays the behaviours of impulsivity, emotional lability, frantic efforts to avoid abandonment, frequent severe anger,
self-harm Self-harm is intentional behavior that is considered harmful to oneself. This is most commonly regarded as direct injury of one's own skin tissues usually without a suicidal intention. Other terms such as cutting, self-injury and self-mutilatio ...
ing, and changing from idealization to devaluation; these traits are consistent with the diagnosis but not to this degree, generally, aggression tends to be towards the self rather than others. As referenced in Orit Kamir's ''Every Breath You Take: Stalking Narratives and the Law'', "Glenn Close's character Alex is quite deliberately made to be an
erotomania Erotomania, also known as de Clérambault's Syndrome, named after French people, French psychiatrist Gaëtan Gatian de Clérambault, is listed in the DSM-5 as a subtype of a delusional disorder. It is a relatively uncommon paranoia, paranoid cond ...
c. Gelder reports that Close "consulted three separate shrinks for an inner profile of her character, who is meant to be suffering from a form of an obsessive condition known as de Clérambault's syndrome" (Gelder 1990, 93–94). The term "bunny boiler" is used to describe an obsessive, spurned woman, deriving from the scene where it is discovered that Alex has boiled the pet rabbit.


Accolades and honors

American Film Institute The American Film Institute (AFI) is an American nonprofit film organization that educates filmmakers and honors the heritage of the motion picture arts in the United States. AFI is supported by private funding and public membership fees. Leade ...
recognition * AFI's 100 Years...100 Thrills—#28 * AFI's 100 Years...100 Heroes & Villains: Alex Forrest—Villain—#7


Adaptations


Play

A play based on the movie opened in
London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...
's West End at the
Theatre Royal Haymarket The Theatre Royal Haymarket (also known as Haymarket Theatre or the Little Theatre) is a West End theatre on Haymarket in the City of Westminster which dates back to 1720, making it the third-oldest London playhouse still in use. Samuel Foot ...
in March 2014. It was adapted by the movie's original screenwriter
James Dearden James Dearden (born 14 September 1949) is an English film director and screenwriter, the son of Scottish actress Melissa Stribling and English film director Basil Dearden. He directed nine films between 1977 and 2018. His film '' Pascali's Isl ...
.


TV series

On July 2, 2015,
Fox Foxes are small to medium-sized, omnivorous mammals belonging to several genera of the family Canidae. They have a flattened skull, upright, triangular ears, a pointed, slightly upturned snout, and a long bushy tail (or ''brush''). Twelve sp ...
announced that a TV series based on the film was being developed by ''
Mad Men ''Mad Men'' is an American period drama television series created by Matthew Weiner and produced by Lionsgate Television. It ran on the cable network AMC from July 19, 2007, to May 17, 2015, lasting for seven seasons and 92 episodes. Its fict ...
'' writers
Maria Maria may refer to: People * Mary, mother of Jesus * Maria (given name), a popular given name in many languages Place names Extraterrestrial * 170 Maria, a Main belt S-type asteroid discovered in 1877 * Lunar maria (plural of ''mare''), large, ...
and
Andre Jacquemetton Andre Jacquemetton is an American television writer and producer. He served as a producer for the first season of ''Mad Men''. He and Maria Jacquemetton co-wrote three episodes of the first season. Alongside his colleagues on the writing staff, he ...
. On January 13, 2017, it was announced that the project was canceled. On February 24, 2021, it was announced that
Paramount+ Paramount (from the word ''paramount'' meaning "above all others") may refer to: Entertainment and music companies * Paramount Global, also known simply as Paramount, an American mass media company formerly known as ViacomCBS. The following busin ...
planned to reboot the film as a series for their platform. It would be written by
Alexandra Cunningham Alexandra Cunningham (born 1972/73) is an American playwright, screenwriter, and television producer. Biography From 1998 through 2000, she attended the Lila Acheson Wallace American Playwrights Program at The Juilliard School. Her plays inclu ...
and Kevin J. Hynes and produced by Cunningham, Hynes, Justin Falvey and Darryl Frank of
Amblin Entertainment Amblin Entertainment, Inc., formerly named Amblin Productions and Steven Spielberg Productions, is an American film production company founded by director and producer Steven Spielberg, and film producers Kathleen Kennedy and Frank Marshal ...
,
Stanley Jaffe Stanley Richard Jaffe (born July 31, 1940) is an American film producer, responsible for movies such as '' Fatal Attraction'', ''The Accused'', and ''Kramer vs. Kramer''. Background Jaffe was born to a Jewish family in New Rochelle, New York. ...
, and
Sherry Lansing Sherry Lansing (born Sherry Lee Duhl; July 31, 1944) is an American philanthropist and retired film studio executive. She is a former CEO of Paramount Pictures and president of production at 20th Century Fox. In 1996, she became the first woman ...
. On November 11,
Lizzy Caplan Elizabeth Anne Caplan (born June 30, 1982) is an American actress. Her first acting role was on the television series ''Freaks and Geeks'' (1999–2000). She received wider recognition with roles in the films ''Mean Girls'' (2004) and ''Cloverfi ...
was announced to play Alex Forrest in the new series and
Joshua Jackson Joshua Carter Jackson (born June 11, 1978) is a Canadian-American actor. He is known for his starring role as Charlie Conway in '' Mighty Ducks'', as Pacey Witter in The WB teen drama series ''Dawson's Creek'' (1998–2003), Peter Bishop in the ...
joined as Dan Gallagher.


See also

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Carolyn Warmus Carolyn Warmus (born January 8, 1964) is an American former elementary schoolteacher who was convicted at age 28 of the 1989 murder of her lover's wife, 40-year-old Betty Jeanne Solomon. After a hung jury at her first trial in 1991, Warmus was co ...
*
List of films featuring home invasions There is a body of films that feature home invasions. Paula Marantz Cohen says, "Such films reflect an increased fear of the erosion of distinctions between private and public space... These films also reflect a sense that the outside world is mo ...
*
Mental illness in film This is a non-exhaustive list of films which have portrayed mental disorders. Inclusion in this list is based upon the disorder as it is portrayed in the canon of the film, and does not necessarily reflect the diagnosis or symptoms in the real wor ...
* ''
Basic Instinct ''Basic Instinct'' is a 1992 neo-noir erotic thriller film directed by Paul Verhoeven and written by Joe Eszterhas. The film follows San Francisco police detective Nick Curran (Michael Douglas), who is investigating the brutal murder of a wealt ...
'', a 1992 film exploring similar themes * ''
Fatal Instinct ''Fatal Instinct'' is a 1993 American sex comedy thriller film directed by Carl Reiner. A parody of the erotic thriller genre, which at the time had reached its commercial peak, as well as being a pastiche of 1940s film noir and psychological t ...
'', a 1993 film parody


References


External links

* * * * * * * {{Authority control 1987 films 1987 thriller films 1980s American films 1980s English-language films 1980s erotic thriller films 1980s pregnancy films 1980s psychological thriller films American erotic thriller films American pregnancy films American psychological thriller films American remakes of British films Borderline personality disorder in fiction Features based on short films Films about adultery in the United States Films about lawyers Films about self-harm Films about sexuality Films about stalking Films directed by Adrian Lyne Films scored by Maurice Jarre Films set in Manhattan Films set in Westchester County, New York Films shot in New York City Home invasions in film Paramount Pictures films