‘Seduction’ adds new edge to spicy formula
By Lael Loewenstein
The dark and dangerous femme fatale has long stalked men in
Hollywood films. In classics like Double Indemnity (1944) and Out
of the Past (1946), beautiful and mysterious women lured
unsuspecting men into committing crimes in the name of love, only
to double-cross and kill them later.
Though many have tried to update the film noir formula, few have
been successful. Director John Dahl (Red Rock West), whose film
Last Seduction opens today, is one who succeeds.
Last Seduction stars Linda Fiorentino as Bridget, a woman so bad
she makes earlier femmes fatales look like Mother Teresa. After
planning a lucrative drug deal with her husband Clay (expertly
played by Bill Pullman) in New York, Bridget runs off with the
money while he’s in the shower. Hiding out in idyllic Beston,
Bridget wastes no time getting a job, a new name and a lover, Mike
(Peter Berg). As her "designated fuck," Mike senses she’s trouble
but can’t stay away.
Using her sexual prowess and her instinctual ability to target
men’s weaknesses, Bridget ropes Mike into abetting her with a crime
of her own by killing a supposedly anonymous stranger as an act of
"commitment." Unbeknownst to Mike, the stranger is Bridget’s
husband, who has tracked her down.
Dahl’s straightforward direction lends itself well to this film
noir. Showing an eye for the genre’s clichés, Dahl manages to
update them in a fresh, new way. An insurance scam, for instance
(the scenario behind Double Indemnity) is made possible by
computer, and a driver’s side airbag facilitates a murder.
Steve Barancik’s script captures the genre’s trademark snappy
banter: When an appalled Mike tries to reason with Bridget, saying,
"Don’t you realize you’re talking about murder?" she responds
matter-of-factly, "Yeah, so?"
Last Seduction suffers mildly from an underdeveloped subplot
about another shady woman in Mike’s past, and Bridget might have
been improved by appearing to show just the slightest bit of
emotional ambivalence. But she is so deliciously corrupt, and
Fiorentino’s performance is so much fun to watch, that this
seduction works.
FILM: Last Seduction Written by Steve Barancik. Directed by John
Dahl. Starring Linda Fiorentino, Peter Berg and Bill Pullman.