This article is part of the column Reviewed today
You liked it Baby Reindeer? Fatal Attraction it’s better. Has Baby Reindeer caused you unprecedented anxiety? Fatal Attraction it’s worse. Do you fondly remember the golden age of 1990s erotic thrillers, when Joe Eszterhas churned out screenplays full of sex and death with the ease with which Nicolas Cage accepts bizarre and senseless roles? It’s all thanks to Fatal Attractiona film which is very difficult to talk about without getting into slippery and controversial discussions, but which we have to speak because it is in the spirit of this column. Let’s try, hoping to get out alive.
LAWS – Fatal Attraction canceled after just one season by Paramount+
Fatal Attraction: an objective summary
Fatal Attraction it’s the story of a hot night that degenerates first into stalking, then into violence – which is a bit like what could be said of almost all the erotic thrillers that came in the following years. It is the story of Dan Gallagher, a successful lawyer with an adorable family and many friends who respect and love him, but who, having the face of Michael Douglas, he can never have enough. The film makes us understand that he harbors a bit of frustration due to the fact that he cannot have sex with his wife whenever he wants, given that he has a small daughter and a dog to take out to, as they say, “get dirty”. ” at the most unlikely hours; but he doesn’t insist too much on these details, preferring to present the Gallagher family as a united nucleus full of mutual affection and love.
Fatal Attraction it is also the story of Alex Forrest, an equally successful editor in a publishing house who, however, does not have a lovely family and, it seems, not even many friends. She has no one, in reality, even though she is beautiful, charming, intelligent, seductive and reasonably rich: one of the aims of the film is to make us know her well enough to convince us that all this is possible. And the film is the story of when, faced with a temptation, Dan is unable to resist, and gets involved in the most classic of one night stand from Alex. He is convinced that the agreements are clear and the friendship proverbially long, but she has a completely different idea, and when she understands that he has no intention of continuing their relationship she doesn’t take it very well, so to speak. That’s all: Fatal Attraction she starts from this very simple assumption to build her entire story, slipping in at a certain point, a bit treacherously, an unwanted (or desired, depending on who you ask) pregnancy.
The two-body problem
The problem is precisely discussing these assumptions, and consequently everything that happens in the two hours of film. In this book, Susan Faludi argues that Fatal Attraction is a powerfully misogynistic film because it paints Alex as an entirely negative character, while the fact that Dan lacks compassion and a sense of responsibility is never problematized. It is a vision that can be shared in some way, especially considering that it dates back to the 1990s, but which in our opinion does not take into account a fundamental detail, which should perhaps be re-discussed in light of the changed sensitivity regarding casual sex. The detail lies in the dialogue that Dan and Alex have at the bar before heading to her apartment to consummate their (fatal) attraction: the fact that Dan declares “we are two adults” and Alex agrees.
This is no small detail. It is certainly possible to argue that Dan is insensitive and that he has not taken into account the different situations in which he and she find themselves: he with a wife and a daughter and a life to return to, she alone with her loneliness. And one could also say that certain things should be discussed more carefully and without leaving room for misunderstandings. But the point is that Dan wants to get across the concept “what we’re about to do is a one-night stand, with no consequences and no future”, and Alex seems to agree with him. It is from this misunderstanding that all the conflict arises Fatal Attraction: between the two there is apparent consensus on the nature of their (forgive us the term) affair, which however is contradicted by her behaviour. It’s as if for once it was the man who said “no which actually means yes”, and the woman who (mis)interpreted it for her benefit. Are we saying that Dan does nothing wrong? This depends, but it depends on your opinion on extramarital sex, not on how the two approach it.
Fatal Attraction and the little rabbit
After that, since it is an erotic thriller film and not a news one, what happens after this, let’s say, small misunderstanding soon abandons the boundaries of normality to degenerate into a quasi-horror that has several points in common with other films of the past, one in everyone Shiver in the night by Clint Eastwood. Fatal Attraction it takes little to transform a fragile character in need of therapy and attention more than sex into a frightening and unscrupulous monster: everything Glenn Close does after the first night with Michael Douglas is over the top, absurd, even unpredictable and an almost admirable cruelty. The famous boiled rabbit scene becomes almost a cherry on the cake rather than a turning point: the way in which Alex persecutes, manipulates, tortures Dan is consistently distressing, and in this sense Fatal Attraction it quickly sets aside the erotic part of the “erotic thriller” equation.
In this sense, we were struck by a review from the time which praised the “wonderfully calibrated descent into madness of Glenn Close’s character”, because it seemed out of focus: there is nothing calibrated in Alex’s actions, who after the first meeting Dan immediately hits the accelerator and never for an instant gives the impression of being a multi-faceted character and not as bad as he seems. And that’s not a criticism of Fatal Attraction, On the contrary! Alex Forrest is not Catherine Tramell, she is not ambiguous and seductive: she is a force of nature, an avenging angel of real or imaginary wrongs, and she is terribly scary precisely for this reason. We won’t go so far as to say that the progenitor of erotic thrillers has never been surpassed in terms of intensity and psychological violence, but we won’t go too far either.
