At one point Alex Forrest (Glenn Close (Jagged Edge))
asks Dan point blank what he’s doing with her when he’s got a wife at home but
Dan deflects and the subject is dropped.
Maybe this guy is so sex crazed and/or deprived that he can’t help
himself. Maybe he has a serious
problem. He’s clearly not in love with
Alex otherwise he would want to continue seeing her. Instead he’s adamant about the encounter
being a two day fling.
If you step back for a moment Dan should be the bad guy
here. His dick brained impulsiveness
crippled his marriage, scarred his daughter emotionally and put his family’s
safety at risk. But because Alex is such
a deranged, mentally disturbed, seriously dangerous person our priorities shift. Suddenly having an affair doesn’t seem so bad
compared to kidnapping and attempted murder.
Ironically Dan commits some crimes of his own with breaking and entering
and several counts (!!) of attempted murder.
Yet we’re still on his side.
Apart from the frenzied choking and stuff Dan can be cruel in
other ways. For instance he fakes a
heart attack in front of Alex as a GOTCHA! hahaha moment. Alex immediately returns the favor by
pretending she witnessed her father die of heart attack when she was
little. I’m not saying tit for tat is
really a good idea in most situations but I have to admit Dan sorta had that
coming.
I wonder how the original ending would’ve changed my
feelings. It was completely different
where Alex kills herself and gets Dan’s fingerprints on the knife framing him
for the deed. The film concludes with
his arrest. While it’s tempting to say
Dan would’ve gotten his comeuppance I think going to prison, or being executed,
for being an adulterous bastard is a punishment that’s too extreme. Not only that but Alex would’ve won in this
scenario. She utterly destroyed the man’s
life (and the lives of those closest to him) who rejected her and she doesn’t
have to ever feel guilty about that because she’s not breathing anymore. On paper this seems like an unsatisfying
conclusion but then again refusing to give Dan a motive for cheating seems like
it wouldn’t work either.
A particular highlight is the creepy tape Alex leaves for
Dan where she rambles about how much she hates him in a cool and collected
tone. And the twists and turns of the
finale are just fantastic as well.
But I don’t know what set decorator George DeTitta (Death
Wish, Saturday Night Fever) was thinking with so many pictures on the walls
in the Gallagher’s homes. They have a
lot of shit around the house in general (which may not be as bad as the
Harfords from Eyes Wide Shut) but damn, they sure like to nail those
photos to the wall. Even the bathroom at
their upstate house is littered with them.
With all those eyes staring at you it’s like there’s no privacy at all
in that room.
Alright, this was an unusual type of write up but most of
you out there already know how good this picture is so I wanted to bring up
something that maybe you hadn’t thought about before. A little change from the usual format. But that’s it. This is a one time deal. Two ships passing in the night and all
that. You understand.
Before I go I’ll leave you with two things. First is a picture I took at a wax museum I visited
when I went to Niagara Falls in 2013. They had a Fatal Attraction display and
it’s hilariously awful, especially the Michael Douglas figure who looks
emaciated and twenty years older than he’s supposed to.
The other item is a track some friends and I did many years
ago where we sampled some audio from this film.
I think the song is funny bad but I don’t blame you if you think it’s
just bad bad.
I really like your post. I actually re-watched this film yesterday. I saw it when it was first released in 1987. As you get older, you see different things. I really noticed that Dan was into this fling with Alex. He had lot of ideas about his intentions and what her intentions should be at the restaurant scene. So much so, that I realised this is not the first woman he has had a fling with. He knew exactly what he was doing and he had probably done it numerous times before. Alex even gave him the answers he was looking for before they get down with it. Then he goes back for seconds when his wife is going to be away an extra night. A lot of people and critics call it a one night stand. It wasn't. What he didn't plan for was Alex's change of heart and that she was actually not going to give him up. I think the whole pregnancy thing is a little too convenient and not actually believable - after a couple of days, really! I also don't like the ending where he is vindicated because Alex is a "crazy bitch" and his wife kills her defending her family and Beth goes back to him. It lets him off the hook; like it's not his fault that he had casual sex with a crazed woman. After all, if Alex hadn't stalked him, Beth would have been none the wiser. And Dan would have kept on having his flings. Dan simply get's away with it in the end, and he is the real villain in the film.
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