DANIELLE STEEL’S A PERFECT STRANGER

US, 1994, 105 minutes, Colour.
Robert Urich, Stacy Haiduk, Darren Mc Gavin, Susan Sullivan, Holly Marie Coombs, Marion Cross, Ron Gabriel.
Directed by Michael Miller.

Danielle Steel’s A Perfect Stranger is what one might call a typical Danielle Steel story. It is a romance, it is full of sentiment, it has pathos and focuses on love and death.

Robert Urich plays a divorce lawyer who glimpses Raffaella Phillips, the wife of millionaire John Henry Phillips. He does not know that she is married. They meet on a plane. They have other coincidental meetings and each falls in love with the other. He has an unsympathetic wife and a teenager who is going through the usual problems, wanting to live with him rather than her mother. She has been married at a young age to the elderly millionaire and is devoted to him. However, he has had a stroke for five years and she has cared for him.

The falling in love is predictable – though there is pressure from the Robert Urich character, but resistance at times from Raffhaella. The film works out very neatly, the husband knowing of the relationship, speaking to the man, taking an overdose before he finds himself incapacitated, leaves a letter forgiving his wife and wishing her well.

Michael Miller directed several of the Danielle Steel telemovies.

1.The popularity of Danielle Steel? The many films made from her novels? The niche audience for this kind of romance?

2.The San Francisco and New York settings, affluent society, homes, restaurants? The affluent characters? Audiences identifying with these characters, their wealth, the soap opera traditions?

3.The title, the emphasis on the stranger, the emphasis on each of the characters being perfect for each other?

4.John Henry Phillips, the millionaire, his love for Raffaella, five years of marriage, the party, the gifts, his collapse, the stroke? Five years with Raphaella caring for him? His feeling disabled, wanting to do something for his wife? The will, his knowing of the affair, his overdose and his letter?

5.Raffaella, her age, the happy marriage? The party, John Henry’s collapse? Her five years of care, devotion, loneliness? The encounter with Alex on the plane, her resistance, learning that the novel she was reading was written by his mother? The chance encounter in the restaurant? The phone call, her willingness to go out for a drink? The beginning of the sexual relationship? Its effect on her? Her continued devotion to her husband? The double edge of what she was doing, meeting in the park for the picnic with Alex and Amanda, Mary seeing her? The going to the restaurant, Fred and his cooking the meal? Her dilemma? Her wanting to break off, devote herself to John Henry, finding him dead? Her breaking off everything, not answering phone calls, not answering letters? Alex going to Europe, meeting her, her resisting him? Her reading the book of Elizabeth Barrett Browning poems that she had given John Henry? The letter? Her freedom? Hurrying to the airport? A happy ending?

6.Alex, his relationship with Kaye, her being hard, her relationship with George, political campaigns, tension with Amanda? His visit to New York? Jogging, seeing Raffaella, meeting her on the plane, his foolish remarks, the storm and the tension, meeting her in the restaurant, introducing her to his mother? Pursuing her, the phone calls, the drink, the sexual affair, the picnic? The meal, his reliance on Fred? The break-up, his pressurising her? His inability to let go? The letters, the visit to Europe, her rejecting him? Her coming onto the plane – happy ending?

7.Kaye, brittle, hard, the eventual truce, wanting the best for Amanda? Amanda, her tantrums, her criticisms of her mother, reliance on her father? Going out, being mugged? Going to San Francisco, the birthday party, the picnic, relating well to Raffaella? Her mother’s arrival, the deal? A future?

8.Fred, the restaurant, cheery friendship with Alex? Charlotte, the woman of the world, the widow, her books, her meeting Raffaella, the heart-to-heart?

9.The background of wealth, industry, charities, wills, the upper crust of San Francisco society?

10.Audiences surrendering disbelief, the credibility of this kind of romantic story, characters? Reality and fantasy?