Fatal Attraction | |
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Theatrical release poster
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Directed by | Adrian Lyne |
Produced by |
Stanley R. Jaffe Sherry Lansing |
Screenplay by | James Dearden |
Based on |
Diversion by James Dearden |
Starring | |
Music by | Maurice Jarre |
Cinematography | Howard Atherton |
Edited by |
Michael Kahn Peter E. Berger |
Production
company |
Jaffe/Lansing Productions
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Distributed by | Paramount Pictures |
Release date
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Running time
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119 minutes |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Budget | $14 million |
Box office | $320.1 million |
Fatal Attraction is a 1987 American psychological thriller film directed by Adrian Lyne and written by James Dearden. It is based on Dearden's 1980 short film Diversion. Starring Michael Douglas, Glenn Close, and Anne Archer, the film centers on a married man who has a weekend affair with a woman who refuses to allow it to end and becomes obsessed with him.
The film was a massive hit, finishing as the second highest-grossing film of 1987 in the United States and the highest-grossing film of the year worldwide. Critics were enthusiastic about the film, and it received six Academy Award nominations, including Best Picture (which it lost to The Last Emperor), Best Actress for Close, and Best Supporting Actress for Archer. Both lost to Cher and Olympia Dukakis, respectively, for Moonstruck.
Dan Gallagher is a successful, happily married Manhattan lawyer whose work leads him to meet Alexandra "Alex" Forrest, an editor for a publishing company. While his wife, Beth, and daughter, Ellen, are out of town for the weekend, Dan has an affair with Alex. Though it was initially understood by both as just a fling, Alex starts clinging to him.
Dan spends a second unplanned evening with Alex after she persistently asks him over. When Dan tries to leave, she cuts her wrists in a suicide attempt. He helps her to bandage them and later leaves. He thinks the affair is forgotten, but she shows up at various places to see him. She waits at his office one day to apologize and invites him to a performance of Madame Butterfly, but he politely turns her down. She then continues to telephone until he tells his secretary that he will no longer take her calls. She then phones his home at all hours, and then confronts him claiming that she is pregnant and plans to keep the baby. Although he wants nothing to do with her, she argues that he must take responsibility. She shows up at his apartment (which is for sale) and meets Beth, feigning interest as a buyer. Later that night, he goes to her apartment to confront her, which results in a violent scuffle. In response, she replies that she will not be ignored.