A PERFECT MURDER

REVIEWED BY CHARITY BISHOP

Our rating: 2 out of 5

Because of: sexual content, language

Rated:

We all remember the story Hitchcock made famous in Dial M For Murder. This modern day upgrade has some mean twists up its sleeves. If you thought it was the same ole story reborn with a new cast, you're dead wrong. Hitchcock himself would enjoy this upgraded whodunit that allows you to follow the murderer's schemes every step of the way. Steven Taylor (Michael Douglas) has what appears to be the perfect life. He has a gorgeous wife (Gwyneth Paltrow), a luxurious penthouse, millions invested in the stock market, and keen business sense. In all appearances they're the ideal couple... but Emily has a few secrets. One of them is David Shaw (Viggo Mortensen), her artistic lover. They met a few months before and have been carrying on an affair behind her husband's back.

Unable to deal emotionally with Steven any longer, Emily wants to tell him the truth and ask for a divorce. What she doesn't know is Steven caught on a long time ago. Casually making David's acquaintance, he asks to see his works of art one evening. Circling the flat, calmly noticing his wife's missing wedding ring on the bedside table, and appraising the art with ultra condescension, he makes David an offer he cannot refuse. A big, fat paycheck to kill Emily. It turns out that saintly David has a bad record of seducing impressionable women and stealing their fortunes. He spent quality time in prison on just such an offense and was hoping to repeat earlier success with Emily. At first he's reluctant to think of "knocking off" the woman in his life, but a half million dollars would turn any con's head. Without asking questions he agrees. The night of the premeditated but "spontaneous" crime, Steven is at a poker game. His wife is home alone. A masked intruder breaks in, and it all goes horribly wrong...

From the very beginning A Perfect Murder grips the audience. We side with his wife as she slowly unravels the truth and grow tense when her life is endangered. There's nothing as calculating as Michael Douglas complacently laying out his scheme and luring unsuspecting participants into it while juggling stock reports and financial responsibilities, and nothing as chilling as watching his face as he listens to his wife screaming over the phone. There's an excellent performance by David Suchet (Poirot) as the calculating local police inspector. He's particularly effective in the final scenes. Having seen the original film, I can safely say this is the better scripted of the two. It's been modernized and contains serious content issues but has greater tension and a fantastic twist ending. There is a question over whether murder is justified in self-defense but the moral basis of the argument has been swayed by the time of the eventual conclusion. Paltrow is more likable than Princess Grace, perhaps because she's more effective at reacting and has greater emotional trauma to deal with.

It appears to be rather a low-key production but still manages to be eye catching in visuals. The violence is underplayed to be as least offensive as possible while still retaining shock value. There are several scenes when a man physically assaults a woman, throwing her against walls, over furniture, slamming her into things, and nearly succeeds in strangling her. She grabs a meat thermometer in self defense and stabs it through his neck, with gruesome results. His corpse lies in the kitchen in a puddle of blood. A different man is stabbed in the chest and killed, another shot multiple times at close range with gruesome results. There's a fair amount of language consisting of mostly f-words (eight or nine at most, half used sexually) but two GD's do pop up in the dialogue. Sexual content is also problematic. The credits open over Emily and David romping in bed. She comes to his apartment a second time, where they kiss and caress and then make love in a lengthy kissing scene. Emily walks around in lacy undergarments and a shirt.

These issues are worth noting, as well as the fact that sexual manipulation and adultery come into play. David isn't phased by the idea of murdering his lover, so long as he has one last bedroom fling first. Emily was wrong in becoming involved with David, but we're on her side because no one deserves Steven. This kind of rationalization is difficult to stomach at times but because of circumstance we give her our full support. It's a sexy, clever thriller that keeps us guessing just when we thought we had it figured out. On the DVD and many special edition VHS copies there's an alternate ending scene. Filmmakers were right in the conclusion they chose.

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