THE DEADLY LOOK OF LOVE

US, 2000, 95 minutes, Colour.
Jordan Ladd, Vincent Spano, Holland Taylor.
Directed by Sollice Mitchell.

The Deadly Look of Love is a junior version of Fatal Attraction. The young heroine of this film is caught up in her fantasies, the glamorous fantasies of women's magazines, soap operas, sentimental romantic love. She focuses her attention on men at her workplace, is introduced to a man from Chicago, forms an attachment to him which becomes an obsession. When he finally breaks off the liaison and tells her that he is engaged, her obsession overcomes her and she eventually murders the wife. However, when she is arrested, her seeming innocence makes an impression on many people. She even passes a lie detector test with enough chemicals to cure Alzheimer's, according to one of the lawyers. Holland Taylor steals the show as the defence lawyer, turning all the evidence against the man from Chicago. She does it in an highly melodramatic way in the court - which even the judge finds it difficult to interrupt. The ending is left somewhat ambiguous except that we do see that the young girl still has the engraved ring of the dead wife. The audience has to presume that the husband will go to trial.

This is an American version of a Mills and Boon story blending romance with the reality of the criminal court.

1. Popular material for a television movie? Dreams, fantasies, romance - and the American violence?

2. Cedar Rapids, the small town, the factory, the homes? The contrast with Chicago, the glamorous offices, the cityscapes? Affluent homes, country homes? The courts? Musical score?

3. The title and its indication of themes?

4. The portrait of Janet, seeing her with her parents watching the beauty pageant, wanting Miss Cedar Rapids to win, her getting First Runner-Up? place? Janet and her voice-overs and writing in her diary? Dissatisfied with runner-up? Wanting to be successful in everything? Her reading, women's magazines, fantasies? The affair with the man at work and her romanticising this and his disregard for her? Flirting at work, the encounter with Brett, the infatuation, the sensual relationship after his initial reticence? His encouraging her to fulfil all her dreams? Her moving to Chicago, allegedly at his invitation, the messages, the letters and cards? The affair and their meetings? The effect on her, dreams of going to Hawaii with him, wanting him to come to her sister's wedding? His telling her of his engagement, her passive listening to it after talking so much? Withdrawing into her own fantasies, watching the house, entering it? The murder? The arrest, her seeming innocence, her needlepoint - and "Janet and Brett Forever"? Her behaviour in the court, telling Brett that she loved him? The final letter, going to California, with his wife's ring - and the young man sitting at the table - perhaps being lured into her trap? The credibility of her character, behaviour, influence of her parents? The American fantasy world of glamour and romance?

5. Brett, his friendship with Gerry, knowing of the relationship, going out with Janet, resisting her, succumbing? His return to Chicago, his engagement, the heiress, his mother-in-law, his charm? Still meeting Janet? His growing exasperation, trying to tell her the truth, eventually coming out with it? The wedding, the pre-nuptial agreement? His not telling his wife about the affair? The wedding, their happiness? His working back, his going to be by himself? His wanting to talk to Janet? His grief at his wife's death, in the courts, Evelyn and her turning everything against him, his desperation? The plausibility of his being accused?

6. Janet's parents, her mother with the same kind of ideals, in the court, their declarations for their daughter?

7. The prosecutor and his being sure of himself, the lie detector tests? Taking the matter to court? Evelyn, her taking it, struck by Janet's madness in the interviews, the obsession, her theory that it was Brett who was the murderer, her pushing it to the limits in the courtroom, her performance, her tricks, histrionics? The jury, the judge?

8. The fatal attraction theme in a different setting? The madness of the sex-obsessed woman? The feminist lawyer and her turning the tables and making the man the victim?