‘Fatal Attraction’ — A Tale as Old as Time but New as They Come
The 1987 classic Fatal Attraction starring Glenn Close and Michael Douglas became the second highest gross film of the year, garnering 320 million in the box office alone. In times of Halloween, I always love to go back and see what creeped people out back then and determine why it is still a classic makes it scary more than 30 years later. With numerous of reference’s being dropped within pop culture in shows like Fresh Prince of Bel Air, Gilmore Girls, Will and Grace and too many others to mention. I pondered on what could possibly be so frightening about this movie. Launching Michael Douglas career and leading Glenn Close to her fourth Oscar Nomination the following year, this movie has become iconic and unforgettable to anyone who has seen it. A psycho-thriller film about a man that commits adultery one weekend his family is away turns into a violent course of events of women not willing to accept unrequited love. SPOILER ALERT- This movie is available on Amazon prime with a prime membership and Hulu.
With divorce rates at an all time high in the late seventies, “Reasons for Divorce and Recollections of Premarital Intervention: Implications for Improving Relationship Education” a study based of interviews on fifty-two divorce individuals showed the number one reason for divorce is lack of commitment, infidelity and conflict/arguing. In the film, Dan (Michael Douglass) a successful lawyer first encounters female fatale, Alex Forrest (Glenn Close) at a publishing -business party. Upon meeting the two had instant chemistry though it was discussed among the flirting over dinner that Dan was married Alex persisted to sleep with him. What seemed to be a purely sexual relationship grew into something that was only Alex could see. The film dedicates nearly forty minutes to develop the relationship in two perspectives. Dan feels light airy as he enjoys another woman’s company for a change and Alex is flirtatious and gives the notion that she is a free spirit. But she quickly grows accustomed and fond of Dan’s presence in her life, the mere thought of him leaving causes her to cut her own wrist to buy more time with him. As the day bleeds into next, the stain of yesterday remains when Alex appears in his office unexpectedly. She apologized for the way she acted and invites him to see their favorite Opera, Madame Butterfly, in which he declines to politely end the affair.
Dan’s wife, Beth (Ann Archer) and daughter Ellen (Ellen Hamilton Latzer) have returned and everything seems back to normal when we are shown juxtaposed scenes of Alex flickering lights alone listening to the opera and Dan bowling with his friends, to let us in on Alex’s mental state at the end of this relationship. For the following weeks Alex begins to call his work and home phone and eventually shows up to view his apartment as he prepares to move into the suburbs. Alex is caught off guard and shocked and admits she is in love with him and is pregnant with his baby. Repeating the infamous line, “I won’t be ignored Dan” nothing is going to get better from here. The no strings attached notion Dan had thought the weekend affair would be, only turned out to be an ‘entanglement’ of misunderstood feelings. Alex’s behaviour escalates when she purposely trashes Dan’s car following him to his new home, boils his daughter’s pet bunny and kidnaps Ellen, takes her to an amusement park and returns her home safely. Beth unaware, continues to worry about Ellen’s whereabouts and drives around the neighborhood frantically until she gets into a car accident. At this point Beth’s parents cognizant about Dan’s infidelity when he visits her in the hospital. In a fit rage Dan breaks into Alex’s apartment to attempt to kill her but leaves without finishing the job. Upon Beth’s return from the hospital, Alex attacks her with a knife before Dan rushes in nearly drowns Alex in the bathtub she approaches from the water to strike her former lover, Beth takes the final shot and kills Alex.
Fatal Attraction can be seen as a cautionary tale for men living with the temptations of cheating but it also serves an injustice to the mentally ill community. The ending of the film was originally shot twice with two different endings one being Alex committing suicide and framing Dan which did not satisfy test audiences. The Hollywood Reporter stated former Paramount exec Ned Tanen said “They want[ed] us to terminate the bitch with extreme prejudice.” Close fought with the studio to not turn Alex into a psycho-murder, studying her role with psychiatrist she felt that it would do a disservice to kill Alex the way it was portrayed. In an interview with The Mercury Times, Close said, “In my head I tried to give her a dimension that was subconsciously more intriguing, but who knows? I think it’s very tricky to portray mental illness faithfully. It’s so easy to make someone with a mental illness a villain.” The key to Fatal Attraction comes from how uncomfortable the situation would be for anyone navigating how to end an affair with a person struggling with mental illness. Over thirty years after its release, the film helped establish the “Crazy” Women trope instead of exploring and seeking help for the character, death has been normalized to be the only solution for the mentally ill. The significance in this film relies on the consequences of betrayal and the stigma that mental illness is a villainous trait that must be stopped, not treated.
