PAST MIDNIGHT

US, 1991, 100 minutes, Colour.
Natasha Richardson, Rutger Hauer, Clancy Brown, Tom Wright, Guy Boyd, Paul Giamatti.
Directed by Jan Eliasberg.

Past Midnight is a crime thriller. It is a star vehicle for Natasha Richardson who had come from England to the United States. It is a star vehicle for Rutger Hauer who had come from Holland. The young Clancy Brown also stars. And a very young Paul Giamatti appears in his second film.
Hauer is a man accused of stabbing his wife to death while drunk, has served his sentence, is released with Richardson playing his social worker, employed to get him a job. She begins to doubt whether he is guilty. She also falls in love with him and, gradually, he with her.

She goes to investigate witnesses, building up her belief that he did not commit the crime. However, while the audience sees him through her eyes, there is always the doubt that he really was the killer. In this way, the screenplay plays with the audience, emotions and expectations.

The screenplay also offers a rather horrifying reason for the serial killings, a mother’s sexual abuse of her son.

1. A mixture of romance, women’s film, crime investigation, thriller? The intended audience?

2. Title, the opening sequence? The climax?

3. The American town, ordinary, homes, workplaces, offices, abattoirs? The countryside? Musical score?

4. The opening, Ben emerging from the house, the blood, the knife, his arrest? Years later, his having served his sentence, his visit to Laura, the experience of prison, his bitterness, but his control?

5. The introduction to Laura, the train ride, Steve meeting her, their relationship, the past affair, working partners? Social work? Different offices?

6. Laura and her wariness of Ben? Asking him questions, his resistance? Her role in getting the job? Her going to the police officer, the information about his case, Ben and his drinking, his wife, her pregnancy, stabbing her, the film? Ending with the knife in his hand but not seeing the killer?

7. Steve and Laura, fishing, good friends? His being protective? Confronting Ben? His upset at her relationship with Ben? Her thinking that he had sent the gun? His going to protect her, his death?

8. Laura, taking Ben to dinner, his reaction, Steve getting him a job? The attraction, the discussions? The relationship, sexual, erotic? The effect on Ben? The effect on Laura?

9. Laura and her going to visit the witnesses, the old man at the factory and his resentment? Interviewing the young man, his being a witness, slow-minded, talking to Laura? Todd, talking about his brother? His greetings to Ben?

10. The gun, the invitation to shoot Ben?

11. The build-up to the solution, Laura and her pregnancy, her decision to have the child? Ben’s reaction? The strain between Laura and Ben, his going away?

12. Discussions with the lawyer, the time of buying the alcohol, time of drinking it, the knife, the precision of the stab wounds by somebody sober? Laura and her doubts? The picture of Kathy in the film and her being comfortable with the killer?

13. Todd arrival, the killing of Steve, the confrontation and the house, the attraction of her pregnancy? The camera, filming her? The full film of his stabbing Ben’s wife? His explanation to Laura about his mother, the sexual abuse, his disgust, his killing of pregnant women and the glimpses? The dangers for
Laura, the phone call, her pretending that it was her father, the preview sequences of her father’s funeral? Her deceiving Todd? The police arriving, Ben handcuffed, Todd killing the policeman? Ben trying to get out of the car, Laura trying to get the gun, the final confrontation and Todd’s death?

14. Screenplay playing with the audience, believing Ben’s guilt, believing his evidence, identifying with Laura and her belief in Ben, doubts?