Fatal Attraction ***** (1987, Michael Douglas, Glenn Close, Anne Archer) – Classic Movie Review 1002

British director Adrian Lyne’s absorbing, nerve-jangling and rather nasty psychological thriller film Fatal Attraction was a much discussed blockbuster hit in 1987. Despite its thriller and horror elements, and the controversy it generated, it is plainly a morality tale.

It is cleverly written by English film-maker James Dearden, whose script was based on the screenplay for his 1980 50-minute short film Diversion. But his ending is totally changed and the film adopts a sexist, unsympathetic attitude to its female protagonist that doesn’t exist in the script, treating her like a harridan, then a monster, while making the slick, slimy sinning ‘hero’ the sympathetic character.

Michael Douglas stars as happily married New York lawyer Dan Gallagher, who enjoys what seems like a perfect life. But, when his nice wife Beth (Anne Archer) and little daughter (Ellen Hamilton Latzen) go away for the weekend, his evening out with a colleague turns into a weekend of betrayal of the wife. Dan hooks up with the seductive but disturbed book editor Alex Forrest (Glenn Close) and he cheats on Beth by sharing a couple of torrid nights of passion with Alex.

Then Dan callously tosses Alex aside and goes back to his wife. But Alex refuses to be dissed and will not let go of him, and their weekend affair leads to terror when the scarily huge-haired Close tries to pursue the relationship and insinuate herself into Dan’s life. It seems that she will stop at nothing to have him for herself.

Exercising a powerful hold, Fatal Attraction is everything you would hope for and more, gripping, frightening, unpleasant and manipulative. Its mounting tension, sudden shocks and chilling spurts of violence are all adroitly orchestrated by on-fire director Lyne. The infamous bunny-boiling scene is its still-shocking climax and there is a re-shot all-stops-out horror movie ending that delivers the crowd-pleasing revenge thrills.

Fatal Attraction motors on bravura, show-stopping performances from the three stars, all of whom are on their best form, with Douglas perfectly cast in one of his most iconic roles, and Close making her seemingly unstoppable movie monster at least partly human and partly sympathetic.

This quintessentially Eighties movie has perhaps started to look a tiny bit dated and now seems very slightly talky and prolonged in places. But then the talky and quiet moments in the films are some of its best, and the film still exercises a hugely powerful hold, is enormously entertaining, and is a potent icon of the culture of the time.

Fatal Attraction was released on 18 September 1987 by Paramount Pictures. It grossed $320.1 million on a $14 million budget, becoming the highest-grossing film of 1987 worldwide. It had six nominations at the 60th Academy Awards: Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actress (for Close), Best Supporting Actress (for Archer), Best Adapted Screenplay, and Best Film Editing.

The director’s cut with Lyne’s first original ending, which was hastily re-filmed after bad previews, was released on widescreen video in 1992 as the Director’s Cut.

A stage version adapted by James Dearden opened in London’s West End at the Theatre Royal Haymarket on 26 March 2014, with Natascha McElhone, Mark Bazeley and Sex and the City’s Kristin Davis as the wife.

Ellen Hamilton Latzen was chosen from well over 1,000 children at an open call at age six to play Douglas’s daughter. She continued acting full-time until she left for a Vermont boarding school at age 15. After graduation, she began studies in glass at an art school in Oakland, California. She appeared as Ruby Sue Johnson in National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation (1989).

The film propelled Close to international stardom and provided her with one of her most iconic roles too, but she had to fight for the part. Close flew to Los Angeles to audition with Michael Douglas in front of Adrian Lyne and producer Sherry Lansing. Close let her naturally frizzy hair go wild and wore a slimming black dress she thought made her look fabulous. Lyne recalled: ‘An extraordinary erotic transformation took place. She was this tragic, bewildering mix of sexuality and rage. I watched Alex come to life.’

Close consulted psychologists to understand Alex’s psyche and motivations. She was uncomfortable with the bunny boiling scene but she was assured by the psychologists. ‘Bunny boiler’ has even been added to dictionaries.

During the re-shoot of the ending, Close suffered a concussion from one of the takes when her head smashed against a mirror. In hospital, she found she was a few weeks pregnant with her daughter.

By 2022, Glenn Close (born 19 March 1947) has been nominated eight times for an Academy Award, holding the record for the most acting category nominations without a win (tied with Peter O’Toole).

Paramount Pictures tried to destroy all copies of Diversion when they bought the rights to the story to remake it as Fatal Attraction, but some copies survived.

The cast are Michael Douglas as Dan Gallagher, Glenn Close as Alex Forrest, Anne Archer as Beth Rogerson Gallagher, Ellen Hamilton Latzen as Ellen Gallagher, Stuart Pankin as Jimmy, Ellen Foley as Hildy, Fred Gwynne as Dan’s boss Arthur,  Meg Mundy as Beth’s mother Joan Rogerson, Tom Brennan as Beth’s father Howard Rogerson, Lois Smith as Martha, Dan’s secretary, Mike Nussbaum as Bob Drimmer, J J Johnston as O’Rourke, Michael Arkin as Lieutenant, and Jane Krakowski as the babysitter Christine.

© Derek Winnert 2014 Classic Movie Review 1002

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