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| Nicole Kidman |
TO DIE FOR (1995). Director: Gus Van Sant.
"
You're not anybody in America unless you're on TV." -- Suzanne Stone.
Suzanne Stone (Nicole Kidman of
Eyes Wide Shut) is determined to have a career in broadcasting, and using her perch as weather girl for a local channel, works with some young people on a documentary that she hopes will get attention. Suzanne is beginning to believe that her loving husband, Larry (Matt Dillon), will only hold her back from her ambitions. Beginning an affair with the boy Jimmy Emmett (Joaquin Phoenix of
The Village), Suzanne tells Jimmy that the only way they can be together permanently is if Larry is out of the picture ...
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| Joaquin Phoenix |
To Die For was inspired by the real-life Pamela Smart case as seen in the earlier telefilm
Murder in New Hampshire. It may seem in bad taste that this story -- although the names have been changed along with certain incidents, and Suzanne is much more over-the-top than the real Smart -- is played as a very dark comedy, but the film has a serious undertone throughout, and "Larry's" death is in no way made fun of. The one person who comes in for drubbing is Pamela/Suzanne, who is depicted as a self-absorbed and narcissistic monster. The audience laughs
at her and her outrageousness, not with her. Based on Joyce Maynard's novel, Buck Henry's screenplay delves into celebrity, sociopathology and other trenchant topics in very entertaining fashion.
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| David Cronenberg |
Nicole Kidman is perfect as Suzanne, and there is also good work from Phoenix as her young lover; Dan Hedaya as Larry's father; Holland Taylor as Suzanne's mother; Illeana Douglas as Larry's sister; Casey Affleck as one of Jimmy's murdering buddies; Alison Folland as Lydia, a friend of Jimmy's; and an uncredited George Segal as a slimy newsman who gives Suzanne some sexist tips. David Cronenberg, who directed many of his own movies, shows up at the end as a hit man pretending to be a Hollywood producer. Suzanne's final fate in this movie is perhaps more satisfying than what happened to Pamela Smart, who is still in the penitentiary as of this writing!
Verdict: Absorbing, very darkly amusing film with a strong lead performance. ***.
4 comments:
Great movie! The first one where I was impressed with Miss Kidman, who has turned out to have a leading lady career as long as Miss Joan Crawford! Phoenix is also great, as well as Matt Dillon, and I love the darkly humorous take on the story.
- Chris
Kidman is great. What I love is the serious undertone beneath the humor and the fact that justice is not denied -- love what happens to Kidman at the end!
I saw this movie back in the 90s at some point. Kidman had earned much praise and the movie's underlying themes were much discussed. So I finally got around to catching it on cable. It definitely lived up to the hype.
After Buck Henry died earlier this year, I was reading about his work and I learned for the first time that he had written To Die for... Whoa! That man had range!
I think Henry specialized in comedy and satire but you're right that he had range, everything from "The Graduate" and "Candy" to creating "Get Smart" and doing screenplays for "The Nude Bomb" with Maxwell Smart and the yet-to-be-completed "Get Smart 2." He did a few screenplays but I think most of his work was for television.
I had not seen "To Die For" in years and I approached it with trepidation, not remembering exactly what I thought of it and being familiar with the real case it was based on, but I was pleasantly surprised, especially that it was the murderer who was made fun of and not the victim.
Thanks for your comments, Jacob!
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