THE GIRL NEXT DOOR

US, 1997, 90 minutes, Colour.
Sharon Gless, Tracey Gold.
Directed by David Greene.

The Girl Next Door is a psychological drama. Sharon Gless, some years after Cagney and Lacey, is a police psychologist who interviews a young woman who wants to confess. Through flashbacks, the film builds up the story of the young woman, her break-up with her boyfriend, the infatuation with the policeman who saves her, the development of the affair, his own shady deals with fencing stolen goods, his persuading her to shoot his wife, which she does. Finally, suffering from nightmares, she talks to the police and helps set him up for arrest. She finally goes to jail herself - with the psychiatrist showing an interest in and support of her.

Conventional material, but done with some forcefulness.

1. Entertaining psychological drama? How plausible?

2. The title, the focus on the young woman and her vulnerability? Her ordinariness? Audiences identifying with her - or not?

3. New Jersey, the ordinary settings, homes, streets, work? New York sequences? Musical score and atmosphere? Giving the film some credibility?

4. The portrait of Annie: her wanting to talk, with the police, her running away? The visit by the psychiatrist? The beginning of the discussions, the flashbacks? Annie and her relationship with her boyfriend, his drunkenness, the break-up? The policeman and his interest, later meeting her? Her feeling confident, going out with him? The advice of her friend in New York City and the caution? The beginning of the affair, the discussion about his wife and her not loving him, his not wanting to leave his children? Her living with this, loving him? The training with the gun - and his brainwashing her into thinking that the only way out was to kill his wife? The planning, the set-up, her confrontation with the wife, her shooting? The nightmares and their effect? Her agreeing to set up the policeman? His being out of the house, the bug installed, waking up with a false nightmare, getting him to confess? The next morning and his arrest? Her own arrest, her willingness to go to jail? Her feelings of guilt about what she had done, her relationship? The importance of the children actually liking her and depending on her, and yet what she had done? The psychiatrist visiting her in jail - her reading in the library, hope for a rehabilitation?

5. The psychologist, her busyness and workaholic attitudes, exasperation of the rest of the station? Listening to Annie, going to her house, sympathy? The plan for bugging the house? Her being present, anxiety? Going to visit her in prison?

6. The policeman, middle age, pleasant, concerned for Annie and the alcoholic boyfriend? His picking her up, the meals together, the shared experiences? The affair? The plausibility of his explanations? Her watching him from the car and seeing him with his children? His relationship with his wife? The decision to kill her, training Annie with the gun, pressurising her? Keeping himself out of it? Taking his wife to the rendezvous, going up in the lift, his return with his wife dead? His bringing Annie into the house, her becoming a second mother to the children? The irony of his background of dealing with the stolen goods (and the supplier ready to turn State's Evidence against him)? His confession, the arrest, his trying to blame Annie?

7. Annie's friend, the sound advice, her not being listened to?

8. The children, love for their father, their mother? The tragedy of her death? Annie coming into the house and their depending on her?

9. A police case, investigation, set-up? The psychological dimensions? A plausible human drama?