Review of To Die For (1995) by Ian P — 05 Jan 2008

Shock and awe; a Gus Van Sant film I actually liked.

The DVD case tries to make To Die For out to be some kind of erotic thriller, trying to seduce a male demographic into buying because they want to get an erection from supposed Nicole Kidman nekkedness. Thank goodness Gus Van Sant, a gay director, was attached to the project; if anything, Joaquin Phoenix shows more skin than Kidman does. What we have here is a wicked satire of vapid television culture, made even better by what is possibly Nicole Kidman's greatest performance, and some smart direction from Van Sant.

It is impossible to stress how stunning Kidman is here; she plays Suzanne Stone as quite possibly the most ruthless, driven, shallow human being in history, and it is a flawless performance. Without her, the film would be nothing. Matt Dillon plays a dim bulb well, although I imagine he didn't have to do much actual acting in order to seem such. The trio of teens are all fine, and the sympathy Van Sant views them with, illuminating how empty their lives are, is touching, and we feel for them when Suzanne cruelly cuts them out of her life after they have outgrown their usefulness. The ending is almost poetic in its outcome, although I still can't help but wish that Suzanne, ever-ruthless Suzanne, had triumphed - so completely seductive is Kidman's performance, that not only does everyone in the film fall under her spell, but so does the viewer.