SLIVER

US, 1993, 108 minutes. Colour.
Sharon Stone, William Baldwin, Tom Berenger, Polly Walker, Colleen Camp, Martin Landau, C.C.H. Pounder, Nina Foch.
Directed by Philip Noyce.

A thriller with voyeurism (of the characters and of the audience) as its theme. A sliver is one of those thin New York high-rise aparnnent buildings. Sharon Stone, an editor, moves in, discovering the previous occupant resembled her and had killed herself - but the audience knows it was murder. Two mystery men in the building become involved with her. Which is the murderer?

The plot involves one of the men wiring the whole building so that he can do an updated Rear Window via screens and pry into everyone's behaviour. The heroine is drawn into this invasion of privacy but has to take a stand. The audience is drawn into complicity as we watch with avid curiosity as well. But we are also voyeurs of a close-up sexual relationship. Should we, should we not?

Sliver is quite an effective thriller-mystery (with a neat twist). Sharon Stone and Tom Berenger fit their roles. William Baldwin ultimately is persuasive, although the behaviour of each man is ambiguous. Some quite explicit sequences. A voyeur thiller.
Phillip Noyce on making Sliver: I just became so tired I couldn't get off the floor. I had to have doctors constantly injecting me with vitamins. I was trying to give up smoking at the time and I don't think I was all that stable myself, as I had been inhaling up to six packs a day previously; I was terribly addicted and had decided to give up before Sliver. This probably wasn't a good idea for my equilibrium. But every day of pressure on the Sliver set caused bad nicotine-induced panic attacks, so the chaos of the whole thing was not something I could blame on others. The film had become a Hollywood nightmare with a producer (Robert Evans) who, from the beginning, had dreamt of his movie being directed by someone else, a writer (Joe Eszterhas) who had abandoned a best-selling novel to pen his own version of the story, an actress (Sharon Stone) who I couldn't communicate with and who loathed her co-star (William Baldwin) and producer, and a cinematographer (Vilmos Zsigmond) who was creating beautiful images at a snail's pace, on a set that made more noise than the actors when they spoke their lines. At night I dreamt of turning up at a schoolboy rugby match and then running onto the field only to discover I'd left my football boots at home. I'd wake with a deep sense of dread. Facing another day at the factory that filmmaking had become.

1. A 1990s thriller? In the aftermath of Basic Instinct? Sharon Stone, her screen presence, exploitation? A novel by Ira Levin?

2. New York City, the apartment blocks, the Sliver block, the visuals? New York atmosphere, the publishing house, parties, the police? The musical score?

3. Introducing the theme, Naomi, the hooded murderer, her death? The mystery?

4. Sharon Stone as Carly, her presence beauty? At work? Her discussions with Judy, Judy and her sex talk? Alex, the staff and their talent? Her marriage failure, seven years? Freedom, wanting to be in control – or not? Alex, taking her to the restaurant, the setup to meet Jack? Jack and his self-confidence? The visit to the apartment, Evelyn McEvoy?, the phone call, moving in? Meeting Zeke? Meeting the professor?

5. The issue of surveillance, the video monitoring, the breaching of privacy, intrusion into people’s lives? Mirrors, photos, binoculars, the telescope – and the Rear Window kind of looking at the apartments opposite? Adding to the mystery?

6. Jack, confidence, smug, the writer? With Carly, the attraction? Carly seeing him talking with Vida? His denying it? His getting into her apartment, badmouthing Zeke?

7. Vida, her return, talking with Carly, lies, her being in a hurry, unable to talk with Carly? The brutality of her death?

8. The professor, his chatting, friendship with Naomi, talking with Carly, the visuals of his death?

9. Zeke, inviting Carly, talking to her, the gym, food, the sexual encounters, his confidence, telling the truth about his ownership of the building, the story of his mother, her looking like Carly? The surveillance and his intrusion in people’s lives? Seeing the man molesting his daughter, in the elevator – and his phone call warning him off? The effect of seeing the surveillance screens on Carly, her playing with them, spying?

10. Vida’s death, Jack and his being discovered with the body, the police? Carly, not being sure? Seeing Jack in the stairwell? The photo of Zeke’s mother?

11. Zeke, his manner, his hobby, perverse? Relationships? His reassuring Carly? How plausibly?

12. In the apartment, Carly fighting with Zeke, the gun, finding the key? The police interrogation?

13. Carly suspicious, whether Jack was the killer or Zeke?

14. Carly, the discovery of Jack on the screen, the murderer? Carly looking at the screens, challenging Zeke, her shooting and smashing?

15. The end – and Carly telling Zeke to get a life? How satisfying the sex drama, Carly, her own behaviour, her relationships? Zeke, Jack, Vida, Judy and her talk? How satisfactory as a mystery thriller?