Almost There: Linda Fiorentino in "The Last Seduction"
Wednesday, August 4, 2021 at 8:00AM 
Since last month, the Criterion Channel is offering a collection of neo-noirs, modern films from the 70s onwards that perpetuate the tradition of 1940s and 50s crime pictures. Freer to explore matters of sex and violence, these versions of film noir tend to be more visceral, updating old archetypes into vicious evocations of misanthropic cinema. For actressexuals, the evolution of the femme fatale is especially enticing. From Kathleen Turner's oversexed take on a Phyllis Dietrichson type in Body Heat to Nora Zehetner's mysterious high-schooler in Brick, this immortal character has gone through an infinite myriad of transfigurations. Maybe none of them caused as much hubbub during her awards season as Linda Fiorentino in John Dahl's The Last Seduction…
We hear her before we see her, a contemptuous voice spitting abuse at a measured pace. Her targets are male subordinates, sweaty, desperate fellows trying to make a sale while she puts pressure on them. It's a marvelous opening, finally punctuated by Fiorentino's face. Appearing on-screen at long last, sleek-haired and red-lipped, she's an obstinate seductress of classic noir displaced in a 1990s erotic thriller. Bridget Gregory is a telemarketing manager living in New York City with her husband Clay. He's a drug-dealing loser who needs money fast to pay a loan shark. As soon as he's acquired $700,000, Bridget absconds with the loot. On her way to Chicago, she stops in a small town, Beston, and ends up forging a fake identity, finding a job and a fuckboy for her pleasure.
One of The Last Seduction mysteries is how much of Bridget's plan is premeditated and how much is a spur-of-the-moment scheme. She's adept at thinking on her feet, weaseling her way out of tricky situations by weaponizing sexuality and manipulating simple-minded men. However, throughout the story, the motive for this woman's life-changing evasion is continuously traced back to when Clay turned violent in reaction to one of Bridget's insults. He hits her, she acts shocked and hurt, but the surprise quickly melts into performative quiet. Fiorentino keeps us at a distance, letting us guess how much the domestic altercation's indignancy shook the character. In any case, her following actions are swift, oriented around a straightforward impulse – get the money and run.
The sight of Clay's little fortune, its touch, and tangible promise make her shift gears. It's difficult to parse out what actions are organic and what behaviors are calculated measures, but there's genuine wantonness in how Bridget relates to hard cash. She licks the bills for Clay's horny amusement, but her relationship with the dough is more serene, reverent, and ecstatic when alone. She smells it, intoxicated in a moment of intimate pause that's only for us, the camera and the audience. There's no similar instant for contemplation in the ensuing narrative, seeing as Bridget is constantly on the alert, seducing and tricking, lying and setting the pieces on her mental chessboard that will result in a most astonishing checkmate. For her part, Fiorentino is brilliant at this kind of opaque character construction.
That's partially what attracts every man in the film to her Bridget. She feels superior and impenetrable, a challenging impossibility that harkens back to how audiences once upon a time regarded bigger-than-life movie stars. She's out of this world, but instead of alienation, this personal quality produces intractable attraction. Consider the seduction of her Bestonite lover, Mike Swale. Cocksure and touched by a hint of self-aggrandizing intoxication, he's ready to try his tricks on a beautiful stranger from out of town. Before he knows it, the power dynamics of the interaction have been rudely switched around, with her taking control. The way she does it is practiced, effortless, with a touch of blunt aggression and a direct stare. She tosses off her commands in a husky voice, molded by many cigarettes and whiskeys, aloof but never completely uninvested.
If he's hung like a horse, why doesn't he show his dick to her? She's not a girl who's likely to purchase something without seeing it first. Cupping Mike's junk to make sure he's as gifted as he promised, smelling her fingers, and smirking disaffectedly at her bemused bar mate, Bridget looks like a cat playing with a rat. She's a growly predator who enjoys nibbling at her prey, finding pleasure in the squirms, the shock. Moreover, the femme fatale never hides her contempt for the lesser creatures at her feet, letting them bask in the hateful gaze and become all the more eager to get a sign of unachievable approval. All that, and there's the way she moves. Fiorentino embodies a physical demeanor characterized by so great a confidence that it's difficult to regard Bridget as a sexual object. Of course, she invites such readings to dominate the prey better, but there's complicated strength to the on-screen presentation.
Underestimate her - objectify her - at your own risk. That's the great lesson of The Last Seduction, a film that's as in love with the abject amorality of its lead character as any film can be. The truth is that for as nasty as Fiorentino's Bridget is, one cannot ignore her nor defend oneself against her magnetic pull. You see, The Last Seduction is a nasty film, so its relationship to the anti-heroine is more akin to devotion than revulsion. We're not meant to balk at Bridget's villainy but to love her for it. What's more, this is not something that happens around the performer, for Fiorentino is clearly in the know regarding Bridget's silver screen power. The actress was the one who came up with such beats of ill-intent as the putting out of a cigarette in a grandma's homemade pie. That also manifests in how she plays the femme fatale's more overt manipulations.
Seeing her put on a benign mask during a job interview, phoning a wronged wife, or giving the police a false testimony, is a spectacular performance within a performance. It's especially beguiling when Fiorentino does it with a knowing audience, like Mike, nearby. She's having devilish fun playing with people while also putting on a show. It's dangerous, revealing her game so openly. In the end, though, it's all part of the bigger picture, creating a sense of false intimacy. Within the universe of The Last Seduction, Fiorentino's Bridget is both actress, writer, and director, a criminal artist using her wits so that people do everything she wants. Illustrating all this and making it fun, making it perceptible for the viewer, just complicated enough so that she's always two steps ahead, is an astounding accomplishment. It's the type of mastery that puts Linda Fiorentino in the pantheon of the greatest femme fatales in film history.
Now, one can't talk about Fiorentino's performance in the context of Oscar without mentioning that she was never eligible for the award. As in 1974 with Liv Ullmann, the porous membrane separating TV and cinema became a central issue in the actress's pursuit of industry awards. Let's make one thing clear, The Last Seduction was made for cinemas. The picture went through the festival circuit searching for distribution, even getting a screening at the Berlinale. Unfortunately, it was difficult for the movie's producers to get theatrical distribution, and, seeing an opportunity, they allowed it to be shown one July night on HBO. That ended up being a fatal mistake. Once The Last Seduction got a theatrical run later in 1994, critics went wild for it and soon started talking about Fiorentino as the Best Actress of the cinematic year.
Unfortunately, that HBO showing made the movie ineligible for Oscars. Outraged, many critics rallied around Linda Fiorentino, with such big names as Roger Ebert openly condemning AMPAS' ruling. At a certain point, the makers of The Last Seduction even tried to sue the Academy, though they dropped the case soon enough. Nevertheless, Fiorentino was nominated for a BAFTA, numerous critics prizes, and she won a couple of big ones like the NSFC and NYFCC awards for Best Actress. The famously "weak" Oscar lineup comprised Jodie Foster in Nell, Jessica Lange in Blue Sky, Miranda Richardson in Tom & Viv, Winona Ryder in Little Women, and Susan Sarandon in The Client. Lange ended up winning for a film that waited years for a release after its studio's bankruptcy. Fiorentino is better than all of them in my book, delivering a genre performance for the ages.
The Last Seduction is streaming on the Criterion Channel, Hoopla, and Tubi. You can also rent it on other platforms.
Reader Comments (50)
Brilliant performance. She’s easily better than any of the Oscar nominees that year, though I personally don’t think she would have won even if she’d been eligible. My feeling is that she probably would have gotten nominated, likely replacing Susan Sarandon in the lineup, but Jessica Lange would still have won.
On a side note, I believe Jodie Foster was actually the frontrunner early on that year, but her film started getting a lot of backlash, plus there was the idea that maybe 3 Oscars in 7 years was a bit overkill. And then the narrative for Jessica Lange started taking hold.
Truth be told, she would have never won.
I also think she wouldn't have won,she was notorious for not playing the fame game either and when a woman knows her own mind that often leads to a lack of roles following that first flush of goodwill.
94 is almost awful Lange is on fire in a bad movie,Ryder's fine but not doing anything much different with Jo,Sarandon is solid when is she not but had been more Oscar worthy a few years prior when Jodie won a 2nd and in 88,Richardson's only good scene is her final one where she's not playing it as the Madwoman of Chalot.
That leaves Foster who out of that line up should have won but 3 in 7 is a bit much,if only Glenn had won in 88 she may just have won a 2nd.
Better nominees IMO are
Sigourney Weaver Death and the Maiden though this is on of her divisive performances
Jamie Lee Curtis category confusion probably hurt her and it's comedy
Meg Ryan very touching and she was mega that year
Crissy Rock one of the most real performances your ever likely to see
Whatever happened to Linda Fiorentino? She appears to be an actress made for the mid-to-late 90s, following up The Last Seduction with Jade, and then making the shift to comedy with Men in Black and Dogma, but then seemingly disappeared right after that. Evidently she's had some stalled projects and some bad relationships, but, other than that, nothing else from her in the last 20 years other than a couple of direct-to-video projects.
As for whatever role she might have played in the 1994 Best Actress lineup, I think it was overhyped, as it was an independent "sexy" role that AMPAS usually ignores unless absolutely forced to fill a category, which it almost did that year. Cláudio already linked to his article of many other contenders that years that were probably closer and I've always been surprised that it wasn't nominated for any Emmys or even any ACE awards after being hyped enough for Oscar consideration. Now, at a time when film festival acquisitions can be "Television Movies" and a short film collection can be a "Limited Series," the same "stigma" doesn't exist, although the "rules" still aren't as clear as they could be.
I remembered it being the Body Heat of the 90s.
Jodie won the inaugural SAG that year so I have to imagine she’s runner up here. Fiorentino could easily have replaced a number of these nominees, but I disagree on the win — I think she could’ve taken it. I remember Lange’s wins that season being sorta indifferent.. “oh who do we give it to, not many strong contenders.. I guess another one for Lange..”
1994 is such an awful best actress year. The thing is there were SO MANY amazing performances that just weren't in "oscar movies" and so what we end up with is just a whole lot of nothing. Even Ryder, my pick of the ballot, had a better performance the exact same year in Reality Bites. It's one of those rosters that you can point to offhandedly if you want to bash the oscars.
Linda Fiorentino, as others have said, would probably never have won anyway. But she is so head and shoulders above the entire roster it's crazy.
Regardless of whether or not she would have won, replacing Lange, Sarandon or Richardson with her makes the lineup 20 times more exciting.
Replace another one of them with Weaver, and suddenly you've got an entirely different narrative. Instead of "Where are all the roles for women?" we get then infinitely more interesting "Why are women so angry?"
Talk about an actress shading a character and doing more with it than what's on the page.
There was a similar push for Liv Ullmann to be made eligible for SCENES FROM A MARRIAGE back in the 70s. There was an open letter signed by a lot of big stars including Gena Rowlands and, I think, Jane Fonda. But rules are rules and the film had played on television first. Ullmann then gets nominated a couple of years later for a much more controversial performance in FACE TO FACE as something of a make up nomination.
Jodie Foster is awful in Nell.
Was she Globe eligible?
What's the story with the Emmys?
Did the later theatrical run somehow make it ineligible?
It seems like a great narrative for them to award Fiorentino and the film.
I'm suprised the Globes didn't nominate her in either film or tv. Seems like the kind of press they would have loved!
I agree that Sigourney should absolutely have been nominated. The silent shots at the string quartet alone are nomination-worthy!
How about Jennifer Jason Leigh as Dorothy Parker or Amy Archer in The Hudsucker Proxy?
To follow those performances with Selena in Dolores Claiborne and Sadie in Georgia in 1995 and still not getting nominated is baffling! What a run!
People conveniently leave out the transphobic subplot. It was more shocking to me than how dull the overall movie was.
Same thing happened to Liv Ullmann for Scenes from a Marriage. There's a letter signed by some of our fav actresses asking the Academy to reconsider.
Too bad we didn't have more from Linda Fiorentino....
/3rtful-
Yes you are correct. I had completely forgot about that random plot point.
Linda Fiorentino is quite good, but I can't say her non-nomination was a big deal. The film is ludicrously bad outside of her performance. My fanatical support that year was for Crissy Rock (another candidate for whatever happened to ...?) in Ladybird, Ladybird. It's a searing performance that ripped my heart out. Jessica Lange may be my least favorite Best Actress whom I would have voted for ever. Only Susan Sarandon is as worthy. Miranda Richardson may be excellent, but the film so unwatchable, all I wanted was for it to be over Winona Ryder was pleasant and nothing more. Jodie Foster was hilarious for all the wrong reasons. I certainly couldn't take my eyes off her, try as I might, and worthy of a Razzie for her hambone shenanigans. It almost feels like five filler nominations, overall.
The '94 Actress line-up was such a mess, with the best performances of the year being left out:
Isabelle Adjani, QUEEN MARGOT
Linda Fiorentino, THE LAST SEDUCTION
Irene Jacob, THREE COLORS: RED
Sigourney Weaver, DEATH AND THE MAIDEN
Kate Winslet, HEAVENLY CREATURES
Alfre Woodard, CROOKLYN
...all individually better than the 5 actual nominees combined.
(I'm not a fan of JJL in MRS. PARKER at all)
"You married a man, you farm faggot!" remains one of the most cringe-inducing lines of dialogue I've ever heard in a film.
You all seem to be fine with the whitewashing in Death and the Maiden.
I would suggest an interesting "almost there"... Sacha Baron Cohen, "Borat".
Another one, John Travolta, "Get Shorty".
Comedy is soooo underrated at Oscar time.
This was an incredible film and I don't understand why Linda Fiorentino ever became a big deal. Was it because she burned bridges in Hollywood?
lol.. Peggy... at last Sigourney is a brunette. They could have picked Michelle or Meg Ryan!
I thought she was fine (and certainly better than Ryder) but it's not the kind of undeniable 'snubbed' performances that makes me feel mad about the line-up, which for me is generally fine (I know I'm in the minority on this).
But compared to the very popular and more well-known Meg Ryan and Meryl Streep, I really don't think she was almost there, and being that film's only nominee she would never have won if she'd been nominated.
@Peggy
Yes, I am fine with Siqourney Weaver playing a Chilean. And she did a damn good job. Sue me.
@Peggy and @Charo: There is a misconception that people from Chile, or Argentina or Uruguay are not white and cannot be fair skinned or haired. Think of what also happened with The House of Spirits!
Here is one of the statistics about the genetic makeup of the population of Santiago de Chile, broken down by social class:
"In regard to average admixture by social class and regions, a genetic study indicated that the genepool of the average residents of Santiago, which is Chile's capital and geographic centre, to be 51% European and 49% indigenous DNA for the lower class, 70% European and 30% indigenous DNA for the middle class, and 91% European and 9% indigenous DNA for the upper class."
Much the same happens in Argentina, my country. In my case I am 100% European (85% Italian and 15% Spanish).
The first comment with my name isn't mine. Can't people find a name for themselves instead of stealing from others?
Edwin -- I think she probably would have replaced Richardson. TOM & VIV was so low-profile.
Peggy Sue -- Oh yeah, she'd have never won. Even in the heyday of film noir, no such character type ever won its performer an Oscar.
markgordonuk -- 1994 is a rich year with Almost There possibilities in Best Actress. This race will surely be featured again in the series.
Dan -- I previously covered Ullmann's 74 Oscar bid in the Almost There series. There's a link for it in this article.
Leo -- JJL is my winner for 1994, so I'll have to write about her Dorothy Parker someday.
/3rtful -- Sorry I didn't mention that, but I tried to leave out details about the film's final twists. I do think it's awfully transphobic, but, at the same time, it feels like it's just another horrid facet of these odious characters. I, at least, never felt as if the film meant for us to empathize with Mike's freakout or Bridget's weaponizing of his insecurities. Of course, other readings are valid and I can completely understand why someone would be offended, even hurt, by the film.
Amy Camus -- I did find a plethora of articles about Fiorentino's snub, so I think it was a big deal. Bigger than most of the "snubs" I covered in this series until now.
Orwell -- We may not agree on JJL, but I love your lineup. I do consider Woodard supporting and she's my winner that year.
Jesus Alonso -- Thank you for the suggestions. I'll try to cover more comedies in the future.
Jeremy -- Streep and Ryan will probably get their own Almost There write-ups someday. 1994 is full of Best Actress also-rans.
Thank you for the feedback. Hugs :)
@Claudio
Regarding your statement above, “Even in the heyday of film noir, no such character type ever won its performer an Oscar,” I think some would argue that 1945 Best Actress winner Joan Crawford in Mildred Pierce and 1948 Best Supporting Actress Claire Trevor in Key Largo would contradict your statement.
James -- You can say that, but I don't consider either of those examples to be part of the femme fatale archetype. In the same films, Blyth and (maybe) Bacall fit the bill better. However, I understand if you disagree. It's just that neither Crawford nor Trevor are ever antagonistic figures in their movies unlike Fiorentino and many other classic noir anti-heroines that AMPAS ignored.
In terms of Oscar-nominated performances, I think Barbara Stanwyck in DOUBLE INDEMNITY and Gene Tierney in LEAVE HER TO HEAVEN are the better examples and neither of them won.
@Peggy Sue, I would prefer a Latin American to play that role, but considering the main characters are a white upper-middle Chilean couple, it's not that different to be played by a white actress.
Did you know there's a huge group of white Latinos, right? Something like Ignacio Serricchio, Anya Taylor-Joy or Wagner Moura. But this is a clear US ignorance to put Latinos as a sole race when the region has a diversity of ethnicities.
Sigourney is too WASP to play Death in the Maiden. Period.
Loved this film and loved performance by Fiorentino.
Linda MIGHT have been nominated, but now win. They were gonna give it to Lange one way or another eventually and better to give it during a weak year.
Meg Ryan might have actually ended up sixth in the ballot. She was a young star that was bound to be nominated at least once, but alas.
I love that there are "woke" white North Americans who think that there are no white Latinx people in South America and who lecture us on not complaining about supposed whitewashing in DEATH AND THE MADEN. Priceless.
Sigourney is too WASP to play Death in the Maiden. Period.
Glenn Close won a Tony for playing that character during its initial Broadway run. She's whiter than Sigourney Weaver.
Fiorentino is an exceptional dark lady and she elevates the film, even if nowadays The Last Seduction wasn’t flawless. As it has been said, this wasn’t a real snub since the film wasn’t eligible for a matter of rules but she would have been a fab contender, even if Ampas at last probably would have selected another another Best Actress. I must say that I’ve missed her through these years.
@Carlyle Peggy Sue is not American.
Is Peggy Sue asian? That's new information.
After reading so many of your comments, I'm actually curious about TFE's readers.
Peggy Sue, 3rtful, the very much spanish Jesus Alonso, the hilariously named Cesar Gaytan...
You are all legends to me.
Jessica Lange for the win with Linda in second .
@PeggySue so worse about that woke ignorance then.
John and Leon -- Peggy Sue is not Asian so i've removed the comments. Sigh looks like we have impostors again.
Linda Fiorentino's performance is truly unforgettable. A true Bad Girl who enjoys who she is, she does not owe anybody reasons and does not apologize for who she is.
_My own Line up foe Best Actress 1994:
1- Isabelle Adjani - La reine Margot
2- Kate Winslet - Heavenly Creatures
3- Linda Fiorentino - The Last Seduction
4- Jamie Lee Curtis - True Lies
5- Irène Jacob - Three Colors: Red
They'll be solly.
I THINK JESSICA LANGE WAS THE BEST AND RIGHT CHOICE THAT YEAR. SHE WAS FANTASTIC IN BLUE SKY.
For those wondering what happened top Fiorentino, she had the grave misfortune of being labeled 'difficult to work with' - I remember both Tommy Lee Jones and Kevin Smith very loudly talking about her being a pain to work with.
Fiorentino deserved better. One of the greatest one hit wonders of all times. "Jade" is known as David Caruso's ill-fated attempt at the big screen. The rest of her movies are long forgotten, but "The Last Seduction" is a movie for the ages. It is "Body Heat" lite, with not nearly as much heat. However, Fiorentino gives a performance for the ages and single handedly makes the movie memorable.
I randomly saw JADE on Pluto TV the other day and it made no sense. And then I read an interview with Michael Biehn, who was in the movie and agreed.