Fatal Attraction Pt 1: Everything AND the Kitchen Sink
Monday, March 24, 2025 at 9:35PM 
Three-Part Mini-Series
Every once in a blue moon we'll take a movie and baton pass it around the team and really dive in. This time Nathaniel's going solo. But if you like this approach to investigate a movie we've gone long and deep before on the following films: Rebecca (1940), West Side Story (1961), Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf (1966), Rosemary's Baby (1968), Cabaret (1972), Silence of the Lambs (1991), Thelma & Louise (1991), Aladdin (1992), and A League of Their Own (1992) -Editor
by Nathaniel R
Did you know/remember that Fatal Attraction was released in Paramount's 75th year? I did not but it's a detail that feels somehow right. Founded in 1912, the second oldest of Hollywood's few surviving major studios (Universal predates it) celebrated its diamond anniversary in zeitgeist style with one of its all time most profitable and leggiest hits. The Adrian Lyne thriller, which we'll discuss in three installments, was the second highest grossing film of 1987 and left the kind of cultural footprint that most movies can only dream of; it kept people talking for months on end, it ignited Hollywood's late eighties /early nineties erotic thriller craze, it made Glenn Close into a superstar by casting her against type (this detail is mostly forgotten but we'll get there), indirectly helped Michael Douglas win his Wall Street Best Actor Oscar, and took a B genre film all the way to the Oscars with six nominations.
While box office success and Oscar success (objective, mostly) has never automatically correlated with quality (subjective, mostly), you did once-upon-a-time have a much greater chance of the former by doubling down on latter. Which is just what Fatal Attraction did. All these years later, it really holds up as an example of Hollywood making grade A art with a B genre. So let's see why in scene-by-scene form...
02:06 - While a crane from cityscape into someone's window as an opening movie shot has surely been done hundreds of times by now (where did it begin? the earliest I can think of is 1960's Psycho but maybe it wasn't new then?), it is overused for a reason. It's a beautiful way to say 'this could be anyone's story, even yours,... but let's meet our players'; It has the same anticipatory effect as the opening of a stage curtain and the same grounding welcome as a"You are Here" arrow on a map.
02:13 - Hundreds of thousands of choices are made in every feature film both in production and afterwards in the editing room. So props to whoever thought to give us a stuffed bunny in the first close-up shot (set decorator, propmaster, screenwriter, editor?) as Beth (Anne Archer) cleans up after her daughter. Whoever thought of this was a total genius. It's like an Easter egg for super fans, which I have only clocked now (on what I think is my fifth viewing).
02:36 - We see Michael Douglas on the couch working in dim light, but the first well lit shot of him is actually his wedding ring hand, as he teases his daughter by blocking her view of the television. This visual shorthand for Family Man does so much, so quickly, and better too, than a version of this movie today would (it'd surely be three dull scenes of his domestic life before the plot hits). Fatal Attraction has the kind of rigorous attention to detail in shot and editing choices that elevates any movie and can help it move along at a brisk pace, too, replacing dull exposition with visual expressiveness, so that we can skip plodding 'world building' that isn't actually moving the story along and just see and understand the world instead as the characters are introduced. The cherry on top is that this economy and finesse insures that you never get bored even if you've seen the movie multiple times (which I have).
03:16 - It's also a smart idea, for the first character we really see / hear to be Anne Archer's Beth Gallagher rather than one of the two leads. She's a soon-to-be-wronged wife but the filmmaking doesn't reduce her to Saint or Victim or Wife but just introduces her casually -- arguably subversively even -- as a woman and walking double-visualization of both sides of the conflict to come: Erotic Thrills vs Domesticity. Archer could be the lead of an erotic thriller with her braless panty-wearing intro but instead she's mothering and wifing while serving drop dead gorgeous.
03:21 - For gender parity and/or spousal twinning, Michael Douglas is also introduced in a white shirt and undies in this opening sequence. The first of many perfect choices from the then young and rising costume designer Ellen Mirojnick. Fatal Attraction was her breakthrough to the big leagues but it would take a ridiculous 35 years for the Academy to nod to her gifts (Oppenheimer, 2023).
04:30 - Behold then 18 year old future Tony winner and future frequently-Emmy-robbed comic genius Jane Krakowski (!!!) who gets a couple of seconds of screentime as Christine, the Gallagher's preferred babysitter. Fun fact: when Fatal Attraction hit theaters Jane was six months into performances of her Broadway debut (Andrew Lloyd Webber's rollerskating musical Starlight Express). So it was kind of a big year for her even though the public didn't know it at the time (her first Tony nomination was two years in the future and Ally McBeal was ten years out)
Christine's arrival leads to an abrupt cut to the packed networking cocktail party that the Gallaghers were getting ready for. That means it only took the Fatal Attraction cast and crew two and a half minutes to oh-so casually gift us with a lived-in portrait of the Gallagher's home life. We see all there is to lose before the titular event moves in to threaten it.
06:04 -Speaking of the titular event, here's our first shot of Alex Forrest (Glenn Close) at the top of the frame as Dan and his work friend Jimmy make racist banter (sigh, it's the 80s) about the party's Japanese guest of honor. At first Alex's back is turned but she pivots slightly until she's recognizable. This is one of the many reasons medium shots were invented. You have to be close-enough to see the characters to identify them but far-enough away to understand how they exist in and move around and interact with their environments. Man cannot live on close-ups alone: Stop trying to make us do that, filmmakers!
06:22 -There are hundreds of ways a screenplay could have introduced Alex into the narrative but it's brave, risking anti-climactic, to begin with a death glare to Jimmy/Audience when he says "Hiiii there" somewhat lecherously. Alex, in a black sparkly dress with plunging neckline, glides out of frame without her expression ever changing. With the wild hair and paralyzing glare, it's giving Medusa.
07:10 Presumable later during the party (after a couple small talk cuts), Dan orders a champagne from the bar and the two strangers are unintentionally reunited. There's a stand-off beat after mutual recognition but a simultaneous laugh breaks the ice. They bond over the awkward 'if looks could kill' rejection of Jimmy earlier in the evening. Watching Glenn turn on a dime is utterly transfixing. In seconds she cycles through ice queen to sympathetic woman who's sick of being objectified, to obvious flirt, to slightly cagey about work, and ends the scene as gleeful homewrecker. It's hard to miss the cat-with-the-cream look on her face when she realizes that Dan is married.
People don't remember this now since Close has played many extreme larger-than-life roles since, but casting Close in Fatal Attraction was an out-of-the-box gamble. While she was a known rising commodity (three Supporting Oscar nominations in a row) she was viewed mostly as a fine character actor well suited for smart wives, tough mothers, or ex girlfriends. Hollywood wasn't casting her as a sexual being or even thinking of her as a desexualized leading lady. Movies are shout out of sequence as we all know, but I usually trick myself into believing they aren't. So, for me, this scene is an actress attacking an atypical role with supreme confidence right out of the gate. It's performative in exactly the way it needs to to meet the sky-high demands of Movie Stardom, and the lesser demands of People At Parties Presenting Themselves. But it's also bewitchingly organic and fluid, like Glenn is prismatically revealing all the possibilities of this intriguing woman's psyche as well as her potential as a playfriend / threat to Dan.
The editors smartly hold Close in frame without dialogue after the man slinks away. Whatever is she thinking? You know it would be better if Dan never saw her again but you're also eager for her to play human wrecking ball on his life. Because, you know, DRAMA.
09:51 - In a few super brief shots we learn or suss out key details like 1) Dan sometimes forgets to walk the family dog "Quincy", 2) that the Gallaghers have an active sex life, 3) ...which cute little Ellen sometimes thwarts by joining them in bed, 3) that they're planning to purchase a new home outside the city. But that's not all. Tnterlude ends with a sudden realization that Wife and Child are going way for the night. The economy of visual storytelling (YAY) tells us so much that the characters can actually talk like a real couple instead of movie narrators and you still understand exactly what's happening through unfinished sentences and mundane asides. To cap this sequence with a light touch masterclass in goosing up the audience's knowledge of exactly where this is going (fact: sometimes it's highly enjoyable for a film sequence to be predictable) Dan tells his daughter "Daddy's going to be alone!!!" with mock sadness. It's real, it's kid friendly silly, but is screams to adults in the room UH-OH, ONE NIGHT STAND WITH ALEX COMIN' ATCHA.
11:15 And like clockwork there she is. Alex (an editor) and Dan (legal counsel) share a work meeting about a book that suggests a real affair with a real politician though the names and States have been changed. Points to the prop team again for the inclusion of the "I LOVE NY" cup mere seconds after we've learned the Gallaghers are soon leaving the city for the suburbs. While the team discusses the book, Alex and Dan continually glance at each other. We can't know for sure if we are correctly translating these telepathic messages but we believe they're saying "DTF?" in unison.
12:55 Later in the day in yet another clumsy Dan moment -- a recurring character detail there for no reason other than that it's three-dimensional and specific and you want that for your characters -- Dan can't get his umbrella to open outside the office. His struggles have an almost slapstick bent. Who should be standing there, looking a vision in white despite being introduced in jet black (the costuming choices, again, are *chef's kiss*) but Alex. She's coming to Dan's rescue with that umbrella but they run for cover when they miss a cab.
14:55 To avoid the storm Alex & Dan opt for drinks at a restaurant, and he's telling stories. She's giggling. Etcetera. Then there's a curious pan of the camera, so we're looking at Alex from the opposite side (I think they call this 'jumping the line' in film parlance). It's so underlined, that it must be our cue to lean in. Alex does just that asking Dan if he's "discreet". He says he can be. Though her return volley is only "me too" Glenn delivers those two words with the dirtiest possible tossed-off bravado. Later in the same conversation Alex will refer to Dan as a "naughty boy" and it'll somehow sound G rated in comparison.
Just when you think "IT'S ON" the screenplay opts for a lengthy edging session instead, as if taking Alex's side again, a cat not yet bored of the dying mouse. Dan tries to change the subject sort of. Alex keeps reeling him back to the topic at hand: will they or won't they? While Close is giving the legendary performance here, we must note that Michael Douglas is kind of perfect in this movie as well. The way he maneuvers around Dan's moral slipperiness is quite skilled. And not for nothing, as in Romancing the Stone, Basic Instinct, and The American President, to name a few, it's obvious that he's the kind of male star who is energized rather than threatened by actresses who are running circles around him -- He will try to keep up but is thrilled that they're lapping him. His Dan gets especially squirmy about any mention of Beth, never able to find the right footing in his responses or wriggle off Alex's hook. Does Dan actually believe the lies he's telling himself that he might not go through with this?
"Let's get the check."
16:55 The endearing boyish gulp Douglas allows Dan at the end of this edging session should feel like a small mercy from actor to character, but the whispered 'let's get the check' preceding it is entirely merciless. No, no. Dan does not for a second believe his own lies. Douglas knows that this man is weak. He's just delaying his sins to feign resisting them.
17:00 Cue a lengthy all night fuck-a-thon (five minutes of screen time!) that we couldn't possibly recap in the same way as the rest of the movie. Alex and Dan experience this night in a feral sticky blur and so shall we until it ends. The scene runs the gamut, we have rushed undressing, authentic groaning, bodice ripping, not one but two inspired moments of physical comedy (Dan tripping on his underwear, or frozen in the elevator worried people will see his blowjob face), mutual laughs (so rare in movie sex scenes but so common in real life if you're enjoying it!) sweaty exhaustion.
There's also the faux intimacy of 'we're dating' energy even though consenting adults know its just sex, bewildered disbelief ("what did you have in mind?"), activity breaks (dancing!). We should also note that this blue movie within the movie has what can only be described as room-defiling generosity: the bedroom, the kitchen, the dance floor, the elevator, the stairwell. This one night stand sequence truly has everything AND the kitchen sink. Hell, it starts with that kitchen sink as Proof of Concept. Alex makes sure Dan is as wet as she is.
22:05 I love this shot and the sound design when the night is over and the ultra familiar big city sound of cooing pidgeons is soundtrack to an early morning Walk of Shame.
22:39 While the ending of the movie let's Dan off the hook (we'll get there) the endless controversies about the movie being sexist and blaming The Homewrecking Harpy for everything are enormously overblown. With the exception of the ending, the rest of the movie is as clear about Dan's guilt as this vacant stare Douglas gives the camera as Dan is listening to a sweet phone message from the wife. Visuals reminders of his daughter are also filling the frames -- note that silly frog hanging over the shower as he washes the sex away.
24:01 A call from faithful wife, Beth, from the in-laws house. She tells Dan that their daughter really wants a bunny rabbit. Dan doesn't take the news well for some reason, complaining about the growing home menagerie. Quincy just lays there and takes it but you can tell he's sad about it (Dan is a terrible dog owner. In the first 24 minutes of the movie he's already forgotten Quincy's walk, left Quincy alone for at least a 16 hour stretch, and even hit Quincy with the door while entering the apartment after his sexcapades. Now he's complaining about having pets right in front of his furbaby. Best Supporting and Most Goodest Boy: Quincy.
I woke up. You weren't here. I hate that.
24:51 Bookend phone calls from wife/lover is yet another mic drop from this laser-focused screenplay. This is the first moment in the film where Alex doesn't mask her possessiveness.
You don't give up, do you? You just don't give up.
25:59 You're finally getting it Dan. But you're also not. Douglas is great in this scene, too, coloring Dan's responses with fluctuating feelings of annoyance, horniness, memories of the previous night, and a kind of pussy-whipped awe. This man caves so easily, even when the red flags move from the periphery to the center. The editors punctuate his stupidity with a whipsmart abrupt cut to exhilarating laughing and running outdoors as Dan and Alex and even Quincy pretend that they're a happy family out for a day in the park. Incidentally this sequence is the happiest Quincy looks in the whole movie. Is Quincy pro-infidelity? Maybe he's not the goodest boy after all?
The park date starts well but takes a weird turn into unpredictable 'that's not funny' moodiness. But still Dan follows Alex back to her place. Red flags continue to abound. Maybe Dan is color-blind?
29:24 Speaking of color, Alex has temporarily left her black and white wardrobe behind in this park & dinner date, but not by much, opting for barely off-white grays. Maybe things aren't so binary after all.
While Alex cooks they listen to and discuss "Madame Butterfly". Dan tells a lengthy story about seeing the opera with his dad and his reaction to the suicide elements of the story. I love that Adrian Lyne sometimes preferences two-shots so that you can watch both actors. I find Glenn's minimalist work in this sequence unsettling, like only part of her brain is at the opera while the rest is cycling through ideas about Dan and her effect on Dan and plotting her next move. But because the editing doesn't break much and the camera doesn't move in, putting no extra emphasis on Alex, perhaps it's a case of having seen Fatal Attraction multiple times and knowing what's just around the corner. Or a case of being obsessed with this performance. Probably both!
I just wanna know where I stand.
On the other hand, Glenn Close is so skilled at keeping you guessing and worrying about Alex's headspace, that you genuinely want to believe in her softer moments. Just as Dan does. During dinner she asks Dan about his family and seems like she might actually just be a consenting adult who can have intense weekend affairs and then move the hell on. But nope. She sticks the knife in Dan again reminding him he's a cheat -- "so what are you doing here?" -- but then she softens a bit again; you can't ever let down your guard with this one. She turns on a dime. Another stab of the knife follows, this time coated with poisonous guilt as if Dan has spent the whole weekend promising her a future rather than a roll in the hay.
33:50 Cut to the next monring. Quite unwisely -- but this is Dan we're talking about -- they have had another sleepover and they're immediately fighting in the morning while Dan is getting dressed, eager to return to his real life. [Weekend Warrior, Sex Edition.] Alex turns on him again. "I don't think I like this" and she throws all sorts of rapid fire dramatics at him: desperation, resignation, anger, and a kind of childish refusal to accept her own part in this mess that we've only previously seen from delusional Dan himself. The mounting fury, which is less volcanic than you might imagine if you've only seen lesser Glenn Close performances, feels more threatening for not erupting every time you think it will.
Let's be friends.
35:27 Still, in what is the least subtle and cheapest moment in the entire film, erupt it does. Alex's trojan horse "let's be friends" kiss goodbye morphs into a full jump scare with the mandatory blaring soundtrack and a shock cut closeup of her bloody wrists. Dan is a bit slow on the uptake so maybe this scene had to be ALL CAPS. Alex has gone from irritated to suicidal in the time it took Dan to put his pants on. Dan drags her to the sink to cover her wounds. It's a smart callback that the sink is where the sexcapades began and the sink is most definitely where their whirlwind lust ends, replaced by something just as primal but far scarier.
36:25 What a shot, huh? Cinematography by Howard Atherton, who never became a star among DPs but managed a short string of hits shortly after this one (Mermaids, Indecent Proposal, and Bad Boys).
The aftermath of her suicide attempt is deeply sad and quiet, scored mostly by pouring rain and Dan's hushed voice as he lies to Beth on the phone while Alex listens from her angry bed. He's trying to be a good guy by sticking around and caregiving, but this act of "goodness" is deeply dishonest, too, the more you think about it. We love complexity in our protagonists but we're ready to read Dan for filth now as he says what he thinks will be a final goodbye to Alex.
39:15 Cut to a terrifically anti-Dan pan across the Gallagher apartment, starting from Ellen's bedroom and landing in her parents bedroom where Dan is frantically messing up the bed to pretend that he slept there. (And throwing Quincy some leftover Italian because he's forgotten to feed her again.)
Dan is such a dog. And not in the good boy sense.
WHEN WE RETURN: In Act Two of Fatal Attraction, Married Dan begins to feel the consequences of his weekend thrills as Alex goes full stalker. She's not going to be ignored, Dan.
Reader Comments (8)
Interesting that all the erotics are in the first third. The movie really is efficient!
And yes, cheers for Michael Douglas. Of all the movies you mention, I think he rates highest in Romancing the Stone, coming very close to matching Turner's perfect star turn.
This is so great and filled with so many great tidbits.
Speaking of Glenn's first scene, I do wonder what scene she shot first. I'm sure Glenn's shared that on a DVD extra, but it would be interesting to know.
There's something so striking and precise about her entrance at the party. While Glenn was a lauded and experienced actress who had made a few successful films as a leading lady, you really get the sense in that scene that she knew what this meant for her career (and maybe her legacy). She's giving a performance we hadn't seen from her before.
Also, Glenn looks incredibly hot, and as Alex, she's also so deeply aware of how hot she is in the early scenes. It's what makes her fragility so interesting later in the picture.
Douglas is a great screen partner to Close.The scene at the bar crackles with so much energy. Douglas really gets Dan's weakness, horniness, and cravenness. I've always thought his performance makes far more sense when you consider the original ending.
I WILL NOT BE IGNORING THIS WRITE-UP, NAT!
loving it already
Looking at their faces in these shots, I'm struck for the first time by how much they resemble each other...which will definitely add a weird undercurrent to my next rewatch.
Your blog post really sparked my curiosity! I had never known that this topic could be this vast and informative. As we are working on taurus and libra love compatibility, we want some information and your suggestion on this topic. For a brief detail what we are into, please visit out website. We will be waiting for your new blog and your feedback for us.
Thank you for sharing such interesting information with us. The details you mentioned in this blog really helped me to understand everything about the topic. We are also working on virgo to taurus. if you have any information or suggestions regarding this topic, please reply after scouring our website. We await your new blog and feedback for our website and blog.
Absolutely brilliant analysis,I wanted to stop reading and put the film on,to watch while I read
So many things i've never noticed and i've seen at i'm guessing about 20 times.
I always think the Glenn in the rain shot is a direct counterpoint to her glowing vision in The Natural
Strange that we are supposed to be against Dan but Douglas plays him so well that I never do,I do judge his morals but he obviously loves his wife and child,he's not doing this out of boredom.
I am one of the few who think Doulas should have won Best Actor for this and not Wall Street,it's such a complex fascinating man.
I am not a fan of the score in this film,I find it bombastic in places.
"The Cheque" is one of Douglas's best line readings in the film.
Shame you didn't mention Ellen their daughter more,the actress is so natural and both actors have a wonderful rapport with her,I love the line "Ellen the gum" such a Mum thing to say and do.
What does "DTF" mean?
The cream on the nose is a great way of breaking the ice way before the umbrella or restaurant scene.
Anne Archer is beautiful in this and so warm and sexy without being sexual the opposite of Close.
Can't wait till part 2.
Read the whole thing (brilliant) and immediately thought: "wow, Adrian Lyne really deserved that best director nom."