Review of Single White Female (1992) by Filipeneto — 03 Dec 2020

This film became very famous, but I don't know how much it deserves its fame. In fact, I found it quite banal and with almost nothing to set it apart from all other psychological thrillers. In this case, it's the story of a young woman looking for a roommate, in order to rent a room and share the expenses of the apartment. She ends up renting it to the only person she should never open the door to: a young woman who is apparently innocent, but who is totally psychopathic and can put her life at risk. The plot is good, but it cannot avoid a sense of mediumship that prevails throughout the film. Despite this, there are some scenes (such as the death of the dog for example) that work wonderfully and leave us suspended and intrigued.

The cast is good enough, but too bland and develops average performances in characters that are generally uninteresting or despicable. The cast (and also the script) lack a palatable character that the audience can connect with. Bridget Fonda achieved some notoriety with this film, but left us a very uninteresting heroine with little personality. Steven Weber, who gave life to the heroine's treacherous boyfriend, is hampered by the fact that the character is horrible, very ambiguous and characterized by a lack of morals. Even more unpleasant and worthy of our disgust is the character of Stephen Tobolowsky who, despite this, was good enough to give him credibility. Much more interesting was the performance of Jennifer Jason Leigh, in the role of the villain, harmoniously combining sweetness, an innocent aspect and seemingly endless doses of coldness and calculus. The film also has a very good interpretation of Peter Friedman in the role of a friendly lonely neighbor.

Technically, it is an uninteresting film. With a very regular rhythm, there is no brooding over events or dead moments. Cinematography is the standard of the time, and it does not differ from the look it had at the time. There are some good action scenes and several more violent scenes, but they work really well. The sets, costumes and effects are within what we could expect and are not surprising, nor the soundtrack.