HER ALIBI

US, 1989, 94 minutes, Colour.
Tom Selleck, Pauline Porizkova, William Daniels, James Farentino, Hurd Hatfield, Tess Harper.
Directed by Bruce Beresford.

Her Alibi is the lightest of thriller romances. Tom Selleck plays a novelist with writer's block. He is a specialist in thrillers and murder mysteries - a local Agatha Christie. Breaking his writer's block, he goes to court and becomes involved with the case of an attractive Romanian. As he writes his novel with voice-over, we see his less than heroic interactions with the heroine and his ordinary life. He is pressured by his agent, William Daniels.

There is a mild climax involving refugees from Romania and their wanting asylum in the United States. It is all quite low-key - pleasant, some good one-liners, some offbeat characterisations. However, it is more designed as an easy telemovie rather than a feature film. The supporting cast includes Patrick Wayne and Tess Harper (who appeared for Bruce Beresford to such an effect in Tender Mercies as well as Crimes of the Heart). The film is a soufflé in the career of Australian director Bruce Beresford.

1.Piece of light entertainment? Romance, comedy, thriller?

2.New York City, the Connecticut countryside? Musical score?

3.The credits, Phil's novels, the Agatha Christie style? The murders? The mood?

4.Phil and his writer's block, his previous success? His wife leaving him? His friendship with Sam and their discussions about himself, his writing, his personal life? The reception and the successful author and autographs? His going to court, friends at court, their supplying information? Attracted by Gina? Offering an alibi?

5.The romance, attracted towards Nina, taking her home, her wanting to go away? Yet her staying, the dangers? Sharing with her, tension? The importance of the novel - his writing, the voice-over and the standard heroics, the cliches? The comparisons with what was really happening to him?

6.Nina as attractive, as an enigma, the murder and her arrest? In court, the translation, the police, the Romanian consulate coming? The mystery? Her throwing the knife and killing Bugs? Her wanting to leave, staying? Sharing with Phil, the lyric scenes in the house, the countryside? The build-up to the meal, her cooking it, and deciding to disappear?

7.The sketch of the policeman, their suspicions, interrogations, contact with Phil?

8.Sam, the cynical book publisher, his flattery, his need for success, his job threatened? His sardonic remarks, at the meal, his wife and the interactions? Miscounting the number of his wives and how long married?

9.Phil's family, the visit, explanations, the meal, the dead cat, everybody sick, racing to the doctor?

10.The Romanian embassy people, their hounding Nina, offering to translate, pursuing her? The day of the clowns, everybody disguised, the threats?

11.The final confrontations, the explanation about the surface, the family, the Romanian embassy? The murder? The police?

12.The happy ending? The total impact of the comedy thriller?