I studied Fatal Attraction (1987) a few months ago as part of the
module Hollywood Cinema, and it left me with many doubts and concerns. First,
I’m not a fan of Michael Douglas, but a huge fan of Glenn Close and it was
painful to see her character’s treatment within the narrative; second, after
reading about the gender politics of the film and its will to align the
audience with the main male character, therefore wanting to ‘kill the
bitch’ as he wants, I was rather disappointed that a film condemning single
career women in such a way had been made.
However, the narrative is suitable within its
historical context, even though it doesn’t justify the treatment of women at
all, as I wrote in a previous blog post:
The message is
simple: be a perfect housewife waiting for your man to come home while raising your children and dreaming about the suburbs. If you try to be independent while enjoying your career and man’s company, but still dreaming of having children and
a future companion well, then, you must be killed off, because restoring the family nucleus seems to be the only solution in Fatal Attraction.
But, wait a moment, has this film always been thought this way?
I advice you to read something about it and you will find out that the film has been changed to justify Michael Douglas's character inability to keep it in his
pants.
A few weeks ago I saw this poster while walking on the tube:
My first thought was that I wanted to see Kristin Davis live, not only because of my personal affection for Sex and the City, but because I think she has a great potential that must gain the right recognition.
My second
thought was about the adaptation and how great it would have been, if
well done, in emphasizing the thriller feel of the film, the entrapment of houses
and flats and the maniac relationship with phone calls.
Last night I finally got my tickets and got ready for
the show.
Despite being a little emotionally distant during the first
part, I fell madly in love with
the two great female performances which reach their peak in the second part of
the play.
Kristin Davis is designed for the role, she took the
stereotype of her character in Sex and the City, with a woman seemingly satisfied about her life, but whose satisfaction is rather bitter: the scene in which Daniel
confesses his affair left everyone completely breathless in the theatre, and
the intensity of the scene was completely reached thanks to her performance.
What to say, then, about Natascha McElhone? Not only her diction and speech
delivery extremely reminded me of the original Alex Forrest, but her allure on
stage was incredible. An actress perfectly designed for the part and who manages
to drag you into the narrative with her incredible emotional charge.
Anyways, Mark Bazeley was absolutely incredible in re-elaborating Michael Douglas’s character, and the addition of his narrating voice, in my opinion, succeeded in moving the sympathies within the narrative from him to Alex and Beth more than anyone.
I observed the audience’s reaction
and at any comment about his innocence and about how his life was ruined by Alex you could hear most of the audience giggle as if we all wanted to say: "You should have
thought about it before bastard."Let’s stop blaming women for being 'emotional', when men can
get away with adultery, and disregard the other woman, for the sake of the one
they have already betrayed.
Thanks to James Dearden, writer of both film and play, and director Trevor Nunn for this amazing adaptation which
finally puts its characters where they were originaly supposed to be. I won’t
spoil the ending, but I suggest to watch the film first in order to get the
importance of significant changes. Great job to both main and secondary
characters, the cast was perfectly chosen and in line with its original source.
This is the play’s world premiere and you can see it until
June at the Haymarket Theatre for only £10 in the gallery! A must-see!
