Her clothes.
Her boyfriend.
Her life.

Distributed by

Columbia TriStar

Cat.no: CDR 94588

Cert: 18

Running time: 103 minutes

Year: 1992

Pressing: 1998

Region(s): 2, PAL

Chapters: 35 plus extras

Sound: Dolby Digital 2.0 (Dolby Surround)

Languages: English

Subtitles: English, Polish, Czech, Hungarian, Icelandic, Hindi, Hebrew

Widescreen: 1.85:1

16:9-Enhanced: Yes

Macrovision: Yes

Disc Format: DVD 5

Price: £19.99

Extras : Scene index, Theatrical trailer

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Director:

Barbet Schroeder (Before and After, Desperate Measures, Kiss of Death, Reversal of Fortune)

Producer:

Barbet Schroeder

Screenplay:

Don Roos (based on the novel "SWF Seeks Same" by John Lutz)

Music:

Howard Shore

Cast:

Allie Jones: Bridget Fonda (The Assassin, Bodies Rest and Motion, Camilla, City Hall, Doc Hollywood, Frankenstein Unbound, The Godfather Part III, Jackie Brown, The Road to Wellville, Singles, Strapless, Touch)
Hedra Carlson: Jennifer Jason Leigh (Backdraft, The Big Picture, Dolores Claiborne, The Hitcher, The Hudsucker Proxy, Kansas City, Mrs Parker and the Vicious Circle, Rush, Short Cuts, A Thousand Acres, Washington Square)
Sam Rawson: Steven Weber (Dracula: Dead and Loving It, Jeffrey, Leaving Las Vegas, Sour Grapes)
Graham Knox: Peter Friedman (Safe)
Mitchell Myerson: Stephen Tobolowsky (Basic Instinct, Bird on a Wire, The Glimmer Man, Groundhog Day, Memoirs of an Invisible Man, Mr Magoo, Where the Day Takes You)

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Several girls come and go as they apply for the room, but when Allie is at her lowest ebb, mousy Hedra Carlson (Jennifer Jason Leigh) walks into the flat and into her life. Through the events that follow, the girls bond and after Hedra seeks reassurance on the permanency of her tenancy, Allie promises her that Sam will not be making a reappearance in the flat.

However, as time passes and Sam makes calls to the flat, our first signs that Hedra isn't quite all there come when she wipes his calls from the answerphone before Allie gets to hear them, she buys an expensive puppy for the flat then pretends he was given away at the market and to cap it all, pretends that she was one of a pair of twins, her sister having died at birth, when we know from the opening titles that this wasn't the case. If all that seems odd, it's nothing compared to the stunts she gets up to later, including dressing up and altering her appearance to look like Allie.

Yes, Hedra is completely hat-stand and it's going to take a little while before Allie finds out...although it may be too late by the time she does.

The word is that the American release of the film was censored for nudity - which is displayed from both Leigh and Fonda at times - and Leigh displays a certain sexy charm throughout, or maybe it is that she just reminds me of an ex-girlfriend. In either case, my ex certainly didn't want to use me for a shoe rack...

There's also welcome support from the prolific Stephen Tobolowsky who has always appeared in secondary and tertiary roles and, for my money, is as deserving as the late, great J.T. Walsh, as one of the few supporting actors who deserves to have had their name above the title on a regular basis.

This isn't a film about lush visuals, but all scenes in the film from the New York cityscapes to the drab flat interiors are free of artifacts and a joy to watch. The film is presented in its original widescreen ratio of 1.85:1 and is enhanced for 16:9 widescreen televisions - thus allowing for 33% higher resolution - and the average bitrate is a good 4.93 Mb/s, occasionally peaking over 7Mb/s.

The film was only made in Dolby Stereo - which translates to Dolby Surround or ProLogic in the home given the requisite equipment - and is presented in Dolby Digital 2.0 to give as much clarity as possible to the dialogue and creepy sound FX as Hedra goes on the trail.

Jennifer was to ensure that Bridget would get the point...

Extras :

Chapters :

Languages/Subtitles :

Subtitles are available in English, Polish, Czech, Hungarian, Icelandic, Hindi and Hebrew.

Menu :

Upon selecting the "Start Movie" option, you just see the copyright info before the film starts. There's no DD helicopter demo this time.

This is a hugely entertaining thriller and if you've only seen the trailer, you'll wonder how Allie gets in so deep without realising that Hedra is a complete fruitcake. However, the build-up is carried out with style and at a steady pace, the initial signs of madness being brought in at just the right time, giving the viewers no chance to take their eyes off the ball.

If I had any complaints it would be the music used over the end credits. The cover version of "State of Independence" fades in as the film ends and it really doesn't fit in in any way.

There's not a lot in the way of extras, but there's nothing the American DVD has that this one doesn't and given the great picture quality, it's well worth a look.

FILM	 		: ****½
PICTURE QUALITY		: *****
SOUND QUALITY		: *****
EXTRAS			: *
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OVERALL			: ****

Review copyright © Dominic Robinson, 1999.