INTIMATE BETRAYAL (DEEP DARK SECRETS)

US, 1987, 90 minutes, Colour.
James Brolin, Melody Anderson, Pamela Bellwood, Morgan Stevens, Joe Spano.
Directed by Robert Michael Lewis.

Intimate Betrayal and Deep Dark Secrets indicate the plot and the tone of this particular television film, the touch of the soap opera for the popular audience, a star vehicle on television for James Brolin.

The film focuses on a woman whose husband disappears – and various secrets are uncovered as she tries to find him. This is popular entertainment – and forgettable.

1. Television film? For the television audience? Time-passer?

2. The affluent setting, the homes, the characters and their professions?

3. The two titles and indication of themes?

4. Audience sympathies, at the opening of the film, changing as the audience understood characters more?

5. The focus on Julianne, the ride, her birthday, her relationship with Michael, with Paul? Quiet, upset, her husband’s disappearance, her reaction, grief? His being presumed dead? Coming out and discovering the truth? Talking with Anna? Confronting the women, the build-up? Eric Lloyd? The ending?

6. Michael and the mystery, a successful man, hiding, running, the accident? Anna, Cooper and the failure? Voyeur? The truth, the confrontation, the women? The ending?

7. The character of Anna, her support, her lies?

8. Lloyd, sinister character, the mystery, the confrontation and the truth?

9. The women, relationship with Michael? Disappointment?

10. The final truth, the betrayal, the plausibility of characters and plots?