Review of Fatal Attraction (1987) by Classye 1 — 05 May 2012

I made a promise to watch more Oscar-nominated performances from Glenn Close after ALBERT NOBBS (2011), the first one is this notoriously famous thriller-drama from the genre hotshot Adrian Lyne. The narrative is straightforward and rather inevitable.

First of all, the film never fail to keep the appearance engaging and captivating while bypassing a severe flaw in its avowed mantra, it always takes two persons to exert an immoral affair, but eventually the punishment usually always falls on the woman, even grants a pretext of psychopath, a tacky happy ending does fling an anticlimax and one might find himself stuck in a moot situation, who we should feel more sympathetic?

So, the moral support is preferably unstable, the film fulfills an educational motive and emblematizes itself as an immaculate prototype of monogamic conformity and a wake-up call to warn all the horny married-man. However the real gem lies in the sterling cast, which has been against all odds to generate a great deal of fidelity to stimulate the flares of lust, possession and destruction (frilled with a somewhat pretentious family value). Close and Archer both received their Oscar nominations, Lyneâ(TM)s female fixation works out properly and both actresses manage to wrestle with their largely conventional roles and excel themselves in a better-than-expected anticipation. Close is on her best form in portraying the maniac other woman, with a menacing charisma until the breakdown. Douglas is typecast and stays put in his comfort zone.

The set pieces are sturdily devised even though it seems to be a lowdown trick involving an ambiguous pregnancy, nevertheless the finale showdown is masterfully done, the bathroom confrontation has a thoroughgoing suspense and marks the genuine craftsmanship from director Adrian Lyne.

So a 6/10 is a medium rating which is hampered by an outmoded moral criterion judging by the opinions of today, but still a pleasant piece of work worthy of more attention.