Posted on 04/26/2023 7:59:02 PM PDT by nickcarraway
The '80s thriller demonised women seen as a 'threat' to the nuclear family – and gave rise to a particularly harmful phrase. Now as a TV remake begins, not much has changed, writes Leila Latif.
In a world where Super Mario films and sexless Marvel sequels reign supreme at the box office, it's hard to imagine a return to 1987, where the highest-grossing film in the world was a psychosexual thriller about an extra-marital affair. Adrian Lyne, the king of the erotic thriller, directed Fatal Attraction, which grossed $320 million globally and was nominated for six Oscars. Now Paramount Plus is hoping to replicate some of that success with a new small-screen adaptation starring Joshua Jackson, Lizzy Caplan and Amanda Peet as the central trio.
In the original, Michael Douglas played Dan Gallagher, a married lawyer with an adorable daughter and perfect wife, Beth (Anne Archer). He meets Alex Forrest (Glenn Close), a successful book editor and they embark on a brief affair, but when Dan tries to end things, Alex does not take no for an answer and, among other things, famously boils the family's pet rabbit in retaliation. The film ends with Beth shooting Alex dead, after she turns up at their family home with murderous intent, but this was not the original plan. The first cut of the film saw Alex kill herself and frame Dan for her murder, but test audiences wanted to see her most resolutely punished, resulting in an ending that film critic Karina Longworth described in the Erotic '80s series of her podcast You Must Remember This as "bigger but stupider". "Audiences needed some kind of big blowout at the end," Longworth tells BBC Culture, expanding on her point. "They couldn't accept a more low-key ending with more empathy for the Glenn Close
(Excerpt) Read more at bbc.com ...
Does this demonize all women? Does almost every movie that Michael Douglas was in demonize men philandering jerks?
I never saw the movie, but it seems like it’s a morality tale - if you cheat on your wife, it may have horrible unintended consequences.
I suppose "Enough" demonizes all men and "Nightmare on Elm Street" demonizes all parents trying to protect their kids from a killer.
Leila Latif has issues that her therapist probably finds lucrative but they just bore the rest of us.
The Maoists strike again.
All I know was Holy Cow, that was a TERRIBLE movie. Looking back, I should’ve abandoned hope for America when that was so bloody popular.
It was also a shockingly bad year for movies.
That was a ridiculous article. Crazy, obsessive women DO exist, as do crazy, obsessive men. Men more often react violently, while women, usually, take a more psychological approach. That divide is obvious to a high-schooler, although there are always exceptions.
When someone wants to end a relationship and the other doesn’t and then reacts badly - welcome to real life. Actions have consequences; think sh¡t through before you do it.
I am shocked.....SHOCKED that they didn’t do a Hollywood remake featuring a Black couple and reversing the sexes with the psycho being a White man the Black wife had an affair with. That would be typical for Hollywood today.
I always viewed Fatal Attraction as a scared straight experience for married men. I bet the result of FA is that men became more devious and dishonest with their casual lovers. I think ghosting was invented after FA.
Note to the Beeb: Considering who you lot are helping to install as queen, I really don’t think you wanna go there...
“Crazy, obsessive women DO exist, as do crazy, obsessive men. Men more often react violently”
They don’t make many movies about men who stalk and murder their spouses and girlfriends, in spite of restraining orders. You have go go to a true crime outlet to see that.
(Why can’t people just settle in their minds that “it’s over”, and move on?)
Why can’t people just settle in their minds that “it’s over”, and move on?)
Because love and passion change the brain with prolactin and other hormones.
Love has always been dangerous. Not rational.
The way our western culture is treating love and relationships will ultimately harm and kill many.
The only difference between Fatal Attraction and any of a hundred Lifetime movies is the cast.
Otherwise it’s a predictable boilerplate story, from the idyllic family to the ratcheting insanity to the twice-dead climax (that’s where you think the monster’s dead and suddenly it’s not).
You have to suspend credibility as the fully adult, shoelace rated protagonist takes it on the chin, time after time, passively getting chumped by a crazy person. He needs remedial education even to learn to avoid taking unwanted phone calls. The lunatic slashes her wrists, stalks him, chats up his wife, and yet he thinks he can hide his wife from the oncoming truth of his affair with this madwoman. So even if you initially had some sympathy for this lecher, it’s gone when he demonstrates his low IQ and continued duplicity. His child is endangered, his wife is injured — reality bites him repeatedly and in the end the monster is still one step ahead of him. She’s upstairs fixing to chop up his wife and he’s downstairs working the tea kettle.
If your spouse puts you through what his Mrs. got, would you just give him a big hug in the end? Don’t think so.
LMN = Loser Men Network.
Lifetime - Where every white male depicted is either a murderer, thief, scoundrel or rapist. Or any combo there of.
You’re not missing anything literary, but Lifetime actually has dozens of flicks about men who stalk and murder women despite restraining orders.
LMN does keep a lot of good actors fed between more glorious assignments. Less taxing than soap opera. There’s that.
Lifetime does that? I have to admit I haven’t watched that station for about 15 years now. Mostly crap, from what I remember. And Hallmark ... stopped that about two years ago.
they made Obsession- Idris Elba, married to Beyonce, but coveted by Ali Larter (white girl) Larter is crazy but Beyonce wins in the end-
Yep. Such films do teach. They show some of the dark side of casual sex. You can't discern a hot stove at first sight, and there are a lot of them out there.
It beats an army training film about hygiene and loose women.
A series? How many times can you boil a bunny?
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