The Last SeductionPeople who resort to any means necessary to get what they want won't let scruples or the law get in their way. The Last Seduction is an erotic suspense film about the morally vacant Bridget Gregory (Linda Fiorentino), who after successfully scamming her husband--a doctor named Clay Gregory (Bill Pullman)-- into selling prescription drugs on the black market, makes off with seven-hundred thousand dollars cash, leaving him in ruin. On the run in upstate New York, she begins a sexual relationship with an upright local named Mike Swale (Peter Berg), bending him to her diabolical ends after Clay begins tracking her down.
|
|
The Last Seduction was originally conceived as a cheap, late-night skin flick for premium cable, suggested by its lurid, pulp-inspired title. Like Bridget, the filmmakers pulled a fast one by making a film which instead explored the psychological complexities of a devilishly clever sociopath, while paying homage to film noir classics, especially Double Indemnity. (This is lampshaded when Bridget intimates that killing "cheating husbands" is okay because they "have it coming" as she is digging through the database at the insurance company where she works, and later when she uses the pseudonym of "Mrs. Neff".) Bridget Gregory is cut from the same cloth as Barbara Stanwyck's equally unprincipled femme fatale from Double Indemnity, and her scheme to trick Mike into offing her hubby and frame him for the crime while pocketing the fortune is kith and kin with Billy Wilder's classic tale of lust and betrayal. The Last Seduction begins in New York City, which is depicted as a cesspool of opportunism and criminality--Mike's exchange of medical-grade cocaine with a couple of hoods has the palpable feeling that he will be betrayed at any moment. After Bridget splits town, she contacts her corrupt attorney, Frank Griffith (J. T. Walsh), looking for the best way that she can hold onto her purloined fortune. He doesn't even bat an eye at her criminal enterprises, nor at the thinly veiled suggestions of further illegality--he even carries on his conversation with her over the phone while another client in his office. By comparison, the town of Beston--where Mike begrudgingly calls home--is a largely wholesome community, where passersby on the street greet a stranger like Bridget with a friendly hello in the morning, despite her surly countenance. (Bridget derisively describes the small town as "Mayberry", as she helps herself to an apple pie in Mike's fridge, baked for him by his grandmother.) Mike has returned to Beston after a brief and unsuccessful sojourn to Buffalo where he married; the implication is that he left his new spouse on disagreeable terms, and harbors feelings of betrayal. The Last Seduction suggests that residents of the city are amoral and self-serving; Bridget is the veritable scion of this. On the other hand, some of the residents of Beston are depicted as closed-minded or prejudiced, like when a black detective named Harlan (Bill Nunn)--hired by Clay--begins snooping around about Bridget at her job. Bridget capitalizes on this repression after she discovers the secret about Mike's spouse, turning it on him at a key moment to antagonize him into playing into her hand.
The Last Seduction has a relatively small list of major characters; Bridget is the only female among them, and she is unquestionably evil. Just as The Last Seduction establishes a divide between the city and the country, it also creates one between men and women. Women are generally depicted as duplicitous and willing to exploit their sexuality to keep their grip on the men who serve them. Bridget lies without remorse at every turn, underscored by her alias--Wendy Kroy. (Clay miraculously deduces its significance by spelling "New York" backwards.) The alias returns to the idea that people from the city are given to falsehoods, and Bridget's penchant for mirror writing is reminiscent of backmasking, adding yet another sinister layer to her. Men in The Last Seduction are ultimately incapable of withstanding against womanly wiles--they are either weak-willed, foolish, or both. Clay and Mike underestimate women like Bridget because they cling to an idea of morality that suits their worldview, and convince themselves that a woman who shows them affection would never do anything to hurt them. Harlan should be smart enough not to fall for Bridget's sexual advances; but he makes a fatal mistake because he is momentarily aroused and lets his guard down. Bridget maintains an attitude of cool indifference and arrogance, as though everyone was put on Earth to serve her--Bridget's predilection for manipulation reinforces this. Consistently dressed in cosmopolitan business attire, she exudes an aura of power and confidence, that subconsciously encourages others treat her with deference. Even when she provokes a bartender in Beston, Mike is compelled to come to her "rescue" in the first step of her routine to wrap him around her finger. Bridget is a femme fatale of the most aggressive variety; she almost never plays the wilting violet, and keeps Mike's interest through a heady mix of callous indifference and sexual assertiveness. She plays the "lost soul", and Mike's wholesome upbringing makes him want to "save" her from herself. He persists at getting to know her as more than a faceless sexual partner, despite her efforts to push him away. Mike and Bridget/Wendy mirror Dustin Hoffman and Anne Bancroft in The Graduate, when he asks her about her hopes and dreams after their passionate bout of sex. It is chilling that most of Bridget's evil comes less from premeditated betrayal than impulse--she doesn't have to convince herself to do horrible things, because it's in her blood. She all but confesses this to Mike as they are calling up the wives of cheating husbands, describing it as "fun" because she's "bending the rules" and "playing with people's brains", all while she casually rolls a pair of dice; for Bridget, everything is a game. Clay is introduced as a warped and angry man who has fallen far since his marriage to Bridget, begging the question what life was like for the good doctor before Bridget walked into his life and used it up like toilet paper. The tension of The Last Seduction comes from the sinking feeling that Mike's future will be a repeat performance by this vicious virtuoso of vice and avarice.
Recommended for: Fans of a cynical tale of unscrupulous seduction and murder that shirks the trappings of its exploitative genre by exploring the amoral mind of the story's central sociopath. The Last Seduction is a rare erotic thrillers that turns scenes where Bridget uses sex as a weapon into a central element of the plot and never for mere titillation, respecting the audience's intelligence and commitment to the story.
The Last Seduction has a relatively small list of major characters; Bridget is the only female among them, and she is unquestionably evil. Just as The Last Seduction establishes a divide between the city and the country, it also creates one between men and women. Women are generally depicted as duplicitous and willing to exploit their sexuality to keep their grip on the men who serve them. Bridget lies without remorse at every turn, underscored by her alias--Wendy Kroy. (Clay miraculously deduces its significance by spelling "New York" backwards.) The alias returns to the idea that people from the city are given to falsehoods, and Bridget's penchant for mirror writing is reminiscent of backmasking, adding yet another sinister layer to her. Men in The Last Seduction are ultimately incapable of withstanding against womanly wiles--they are either weak-willed, foolish, or both. Clay and Mike underestimate women like Bridget because they cling to an idea of morality that suits their worldview, and convince themselves that a woman who shows them affection would never do anything to hurt them. Harlan should be smart enough not to fall for Bridget's sexual advances; but he makes a fatal mistake because he is momentarily aroused and lets his guard down. Bridget maintains an attitude of cool indifference and arrogance, as though everyone was put on Earth to serve her--Bridget's predilection for manipulation reinforces this. Consistently dressed in cosmopolitan business attire, she exudes an aura of power and confidence, that subconsciously encourages others treat her with deference. Even when she provokes a bartender in Beston, Mike is compelled to come to her "rescue" in the first step of her routine to wrap him around her finger. Bridget is a femme fatale of the most aggressive variety; she almost never plays the wilting violet, and keeps Mike's interest through a heady mix of callous indifference and sexual assertiveness. She plays the "lost soul", and Mike's wholesome upbringing makes him want to "save" her from herself. He persists at getting to know her as more than a faceless sexual partner, despite her efforts to push him away. Mike and Bridget/Wendy mirror Dustin Hoffman and Anne Bancroft in The Graduate, when he asks her about her hopes and dreams after their passionate bout of sex. It is chilling that most of Bridget's evil comes less from premeditated betrayal than impulse--she doesn't have to convince herself to do horrible things, because it's in her blood. She all but confesses this to Mike as they are calling up the wives of cheating husbands, describing it as "fun" because she's "bending the rules" and "playing with people's brains", all while she casually rolls a pair of dice; for Bridget, everything is a game. Clay is introduced as a warped and angry man who has fallen far since his marriage to Bridget, begging the question what life was like for the good doctor before Bridget walked into his life and used it up like toilet paper. The tension of The Last Seduction comes from the sinking feeling that Mike's future will be a repeat performance by this vicious virtuoso of vice and avarice.
Recommended for: Fans of a cynical tale of unscrupulous seduction and murder that shirks the trappings of its exploitative genre by exploring the amoral mind of the story's central sociopath. The Last Seduction is a rare erotic thrillers that turns scenes where Bridget uses sex as a weapon into a central element of the plot and never for mere titillation, respecting the audience's intelligence and commitment to the story.