The Last Seduction

Last updated

The Last Seduction
The-Last-Seduction-Poster.jpg
Original theatrical poster
Directed by John Dahl
Written by Steve Barancik
Produced byJonathan Shestack
Starring
CinematographyJeff Jur
Edited byEric L. Beason
Music byJoseph Vitarelli
Production
company
Distributed by October Films
Release date
  • October 26, 1994 (1994-10-26)
Running time
110 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$2.5 million
(estimated) [1]
Box office$5,842,603 [2]

The Last Seduction is a 1994 American neo-noir erotic thriller film directed by John Dahl, featuring Linda Fiorentino, Peter Berg, and Bill Pullman. [3] The film was produced by ITC Entertainment and distributed by October Films. Fiorentino's performance garnered widespread critical acclaim and generated talk of an Oscar nomination, but she was deemed ineligible because the film was shown on HBO before its theatrical release. October Films and ITC Entertainment sued the Academy, but were unable to make Fiorentino eligible for a nomination. [4] [5]

Contents

The Last Seduction has gained a cult following over time, and its main character, Bridget Gregory, has been recognized as one of the most iconic femme fatales in film history. [6] [7] [8] In 2019, the British Film Institute included the movie, along with Gone Girl and Death Becomes Her, in a program dedicated to exploring "wickedly compelling female characters on screen." [9] The film was also featured in The Criterion Channel's Neonoir series in July 2021. [10] A sequel, The Last Seduction II , was released in 1999. However, it featured none of the original cast and starred Joan Severance as Bridget Gregory. [11]

Plot

Bridget Gregory works as a telemarketing manager in New York City. Her husband, Clay, is a physician who is heavily in debt to a loan shark. He arranges to sell stolen pharmaceutical cocaine to two drug dealers. The transaction becomes tense when the buyers pull a gun, but to Clay's surprise, they eventually pay him $700,000. Clay is left shaken, and upon his return home, he slaps Bridget after she insults him. She then flees their apartment with the cash while he is in the shower.

On her way to Chicago, Bridget stops in Beston, a small town near Buffalo. There she meets Mike Swale, a local man back from a whirlwind marriage in Buffalo that he refuses to talk about. He tries to pick up Bridget, and she proceeds to use him for mere sexual gratification during her stay in town. Adept at word games and mirror writing, and with an imminent return to her hometown in mind, Bridget changes her name to Wendy Kroy (as a reversal of 'New York') and gets a job at the insurance company where, coincidentally, Mike works. Their relationship is strained by her manipulative behavior and the fact that he is falling for her.

When Mike tells her how to find out if a man is cheating on his wife by reading his credit reports, Bridget devises a plan based on selling murders to cheated wives. She suggests they start with Lance Collier, a cheating, wife-beating husband residing in Florida. This proves to be the last straw for Mike, and he leaves her alone in his place after an argument. Meanwhile, the loan shark breaks Clay's thumb for not repaying his loan. Fearing for his health and in dire financial straits, he hires a private detective, Harlan, to retrieve the money from his wife.

Harlan traces Bridget's phone area code, travels to Beston and accosts her at gunpoint right after her argument with Mike. Bridget purposely crashes her car after tricking Harlan into removing his seat belt, resulting in his death. Because Harlan was Black, she uses local racial prejudice to persuade the police to close the case without further investigation. Bridget then resumes her manipulation of Mike and pretends to travel to Florida to kill Collier. Instead, she goes to Buffalo to meet Mike's ex-wife, Trish. Upon returning, Bridget shows Mike the money she stole from Clay, claiming it is her cut of the life insurance payout from the new widow.

Bridget claims to have killed Collier so they can live together, then tries to persuade him that he must also commit a similar murder so they will be even and to prove that he loves her. She tries to talk Mike into killing a tax lawyer in New York who is cheating old ladies out of their homes. At first, he refuses, but later agrees after receiving a letter from Trish saying she is moving to Beston. The letter was forged by Bridget to change his mind.

Mike goes to New York and breaks into the apartment of the supposed attorney, who turns out to be Clay. After Mike handcuffs Clay, Clay realizes what is happening when Mike mentions Bridget's alias, convincing Mike of the truth by showing him a photo of himself and Bridget together. They then hatch a plot to double-cross her. Bridget arrives, and the still-immobilized Clay – who has been clever enough to predict most of Bridget's actions but fails to understand her sociopathy – tries to make amends with her. Instead, she empties a pepper spray bottle down his throat, killing him. She tells a stunned Mike to rape her. When he refuses, she tells him she knows the truth about Trish, who is transgender, and goads him by calling him a homophobic slur. This causes Mike to have rough sex with her.

Unbeknownst to Mike, Bridget has dialed 9-1-1, and she coaxes him into "confessing" to Clay's murder as part of the role-play. Mike is subsequently arrested and jailed for rape and murder, while Bridget escapes with the cash she stole from Clay as well as with his multi-million dollar life insurance policy. Later, after she has started a new and considerably more affluent lifestyle for herself, Bridget calmly destroys the only evidence linking her to Clay's death as she is chauffeur-driven around New York City.

Cast

Production

Screenwriter Steve Barancik said he believed the film was originally pitched to ITC Entertainment as a "standard Skinemax" low-budget movie, even though the filmmakers had "an under-the-radar intention to make a good movie." [4] Linda Fiorentino said of accepting the role, "After I read that script, I was in Arizona and I got in a car and drove six hours to get to the meeting because I had never read anything so unique in terms of a female character. And I walked in the meeting with John Dahl, the director, and I said, 'John, you are not allowed to hire anyone but me for this film.' And I wasn't kidding." [12]

ITC Entertainment executives were upset with a scene in which Fiorentino is dressed as a cheerleader and wears suspenders over her breasts. Barancik recalled, "Apparently, a guy from the company who was monitoring things and watching the dailies saw the suspenders over Linda's nipples and shouted out, 'Are we making an art movie?!' He shut down production and called the principals of the movie on the carpet, and they all had to pledge that they had no artistic pretensions." [4] The scene was cut, and the sexual role-playing theme was lost. [4]

Peter Berg said it was Fiorentino's idea to shoot the chain-link-fence sex scene in that way. "She said, 'John, get a camera,' and she climbed up on me against that fence and told John Dahl to shoot it, and that was the scene. She thought of it, she conceived it, she executed it. It was awesome." [13]

Reception

The Last Seduction received critical acclaim. It holds a 94% rating on Rotten Tomatoes based on 51 reviews. The website's consensus reads: "Like Body Heat , The Last Seduction updates film noir techniques for a modern era, imbuing this erotic film with '90s snark." [14] On Metacritic it has a score of 85 out of 100 based on 12 reviews, indicating "universal acclaim". [15] Roger Ebert gave the film four out of four stars, highlighting Fiorentino's ability to project her character with dry humor and a freedom from Hollywood conventions typically surrounding a female antagonist. [16] Ebert later ranked the film fifth on his year-end list of 1994's best movies. [17] He wrote in the Chicago Sun-Times :

John Dahl's The Last Seduction knows how much we enjoy seeing a character work boldly outside the rules. It gives us a diabolical, evil woman, and goes the distance with her. We keep waiting for the movie to lose its nerve, and it never does: This woman is bad from beginning to end, she never reforms, she never compromises, and the movie doesn't tack on one of those contrived conclusions where the morals squad comes in and tidies up. [16]

Year-end lists

Awards and nominations

YearAwardCategoryRecipientResult
1995 BAFTA Awards [28] Best Actress Linda FiorentinoNominated
1994 Chicago Film Critics Awards [29] Best Actress Linda FiorentinoNominated
1994 Cognac Festival du Film Policier [30] Critics AwardJohn DahlWon
1995 Directors Guild of America Awards [31] Outstanding Achievement in Dramatic SpecialsJohn DahlNominated
1995 Edgar Allan Poe Awards Best Motion PictureSteve BarancikNominated
1995 Independent Spirit Awards [32] Best Female Lead Linda FiorentinoWon
1995 London Film Critics Circle Awards Actress of the Year Linda FiorentinoWon
1994MystfestBest FilmJohn DahlNominated
1994 National Board of Review Awards Best TV FilmWon
1994 New York Film Critics Circle Awards [33] Best Actress Linda FiorentinoWon
1994 Society of Texas Film Critics Awards Best ActressLinda FiorentinoWon

Sources

Related Research Articles

<i>Leaving Las Vegas</i> 1995 film by Mike Figgis

Leaving Las Vegas is a 1995 American drama film written and directed by Mike Figgis and based on the semi-autobiographical 1990 novel of the same name by John O'Brien. Nicolas Cage stars as a suicidal alcoholic in Los Angeles who, having lost his family and been recently fired, has decided to move to Las Vegas and drink himself to death. He loads a supply of liquor and beer into his BMW and gets drunk as he drives from Los Angeles to Las Vegas. Once there, he develops a romantic relationship with a prostitute played by Elisabeth Shue and the film shifts to include her narrative perspective. O'Brien died from suicide after signing away the film rights to the novel.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Linda Hamilton</span> American actress (born 1956)

Linda Carroll Hamilton is an American actress. Known for portraying tough, resilient characters, she made her film debut in 1979 before achieving fame with her starring role as Sarah Connor in The Terminator (1984) and two of its sequels, Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991) and Terminator: Dark Fate (2019). She is the recipient of various accolades, including two Saturn Awards, two MTV Movie Awards, a Satellite Award and a Romy Award, as well as nominations for three Golden Globes and one Primetime Emmy.

<i>Thelma & Louise</i> 1991 film by Ridley Scott

Thelma & Louise is a 1991 American crime drama film directed by Ridley Scott and written by Callie Khouri. The film stars Susan Sarandon and Geena Davis as Louise and Thelma, two friends who embark on a road trip that ends up in unforeseen circumstances. The supporting cast includes Harvey Keitel, Michael Madsen, Christopher McDonald, and Brad Pitt. Filming took place in California and Utah from June to August 1990.

Clorinda "Linda" Fiorentino is an American former actress. Fiorentino made her screen debut with a leading role in the 1985 coming-of-age drama film Vision Quest, followed that same year with another lead role in the action film Gotcha! and an appearance in the Martin Scorsese film After Hours. Noted for her "raven hair, intense gaze and low voice", Fiorentino was placed No. 66 on the 1995 edition of Empire magazine's list of the 100 Sexiest Stars in Film History by a reader's poll.

<i>Bogus</i> (film) 1996 American film

Bogus is a 1996 American urban fantasy drama film directed by Norman Jewison from a screenplay written by Alvin Sargent, and starring Whoopi Goldberg, Gérard Depardieu, and Haley Joel Osment.

<i>Gotcha!</i> (film) 1985 film by Jeff Kanew

Gotcha! is a 1985 American spy action comedy film, starring Anthony Edwards and Linda Fiorentino and directed by Jeff Kanew, who also directed Edwards in Revenge of the Nerds (1984).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Dahl</span> American film and television director and writer

John Dahl is an American film and television director and writer, best known for his work in the neo-noir genre.

<i>A Very Brady Sequel</i> 1996 film by Arlene Sanford

A Very Brady Sequel is a 1996 American comedy film directed by Arlene Sanford, with a screenplay by Harry Elfont, Deborah Kaplan, James Berg and Stan Zimmerman, and starring Shelley Long, Gary Cole and Tim Matheson. It also features cameos from RuPaul, Zsa Zsa Gabor, Rosie O'Donnell, Barbara Eden, David Spade, and Richard Belzer.

<i>Unforgettable</i> (1996 film) 1996 American film

Unforgettable is a 1996 science fiction thriller film directed by John Dahl and starring Ray Liotta and Linda Fiorentino. The film is about a man named David Krane (Liotta), who is obsessed with finding out who murdered his wife.

<i>The Swan Princess</i> 1994 American film

The Swan Princess is a 1994 American animated musical fantasy film based on the ballet Swan Lake. Featuring Michelle Nicastro, Howard McGillin, Jack Palance, John Cleese, Steven Wright, Sandy Duncan, and Steve Vinovich, the film is directed by former Disney animation director Richard Rich and scored by Lex de Azevedo. The film was distributed by New Line Cinema in the United States and by Columbia TriStar Film Distributors International outside the US. It was released theatrically on November 18, 1994, and grossed $9.8 million against a $21 million budget, becoming a box-office bomb, partly due to struggling competition with a re-release of The Lion King (1994). The film later became popular through home video releases and has since been followed by a series of direct-to-video sequels starting in 1997.

<i>Jade</i> (film) 1995 American erotic thriller film by William Friedkin

Jade is a 1995 American erotic thriller film written by Joe Eszterhas, produced by Robert Evans, directed by William Friedkin, and starring David Caruso, Linda Fiorentino, Chazz Palminteri, Richard Crenna, and Michael Biehn. The original music score was composed by James Horner based on a song composed by Loreena McKennitt. The film was marketed with the tagline "Some fantasies go too far."

<i>Milk Money</i> (film) 1994 American film

Milk Money is a 1994 American romantic comedy film directed by Richard Benjamin and starring Melanie Griffith and Ed Harris. The film is about three suburban 11-year-old boys who find themselves behind in "the battle of the sexes," believing they would regain the upper hand if they could just see a real, live naked lady.

Steve Barancik is a screenwriter whose first screenplay, Buffalo Girls, was filmed and released as The Last Seduction in 1994. The film premiered as an HBO movie before going on shortly after to art house success. Actress Linda Fiorentino received notoriety for playing the movie's femme fatale, Bridget Gregory/Wendy Kroy, and Barancik was nominated for an Edgar Allan Poe Award for best mystery/crime screenplay of 1994.

<i>Ladybird, Ladybird</i> (film) 1994 British film

Ladybird, Ladybird is a 1994 British drama film directed by Ken Loach, starring Crissy Rock and Vladimir Vega. The film received positive reviews from critics, and Rock won the Silver Bear for Best Actress award at the 44th Berlin International Film Festival.

The 60th New York Film Critics Circle Awards honored the best filmmaking of 1994. The winners were announced on 15 December 1994 and the awards were given on 22 January 1995.

<i>Queens Logic</i> 1991 American film

Queens Logic is a 1991 American ensemble coming-of-age comedy-drama film from Seven Arts Pictures starring Kevin Bacon, Linda Fiorentino, Joe Mantegna, Jamie Lee Curtis, John Malkovich, Ken Olin, Chloe Webb and Tom Waits. It was directed by Steve Rash.

<i>Camilla</i> (1994 film) 1994 Canadian-British film by Deepa Mehta

Camilla is a 1994 comedy drama film directed by Deepa Mehta. It was Jessica Tandy's penultimate film appearance and is dedicated to her memory. Tandy plays the title character, Camilla Cara, a former concert violinist. Bridget Fonda plays the role of Freda Lopez, an unfulfilled musician and composer.

<i>Three Colours: Red</i> 1994 film by Krzysztof Kieślowski

Three Colours: Red is a 1994 drama film co-written, produced and directed by Polish filmmaker Krzysztof Kieślowski. It is the final installment of the Three Colours trilogy, which examines the French Revolutionary ideals; it is preceded by Blue and White. Kieślowski had announced that this would be his final film, planning to retire claiming to be through with filmmaking; he would die suddenly less than two years later. Red is about fraternity, which it examines by showing characters whose lives gradually become closely interconnected, with bonds forming between two characters who appear to have little in common.

<i>Track 29</i> 1988 British-American film by Nicolas Roeg

Track 29 is a 1988 psychological drama film directed by Nicolas Roeg and starring Theresa Russell, Gary Oldman, Colleen Camp, Sandra Bernhard, Seymour Cassel, and Christopher Lloyd. It was produced by George Harrison's HandMade Films with Rick McCallum. The film was nominated for and won a few awards at regional film festivals. The writer, Dennis Potter, adapted his earlier television play, Schmoedipus (1974), changing the setting from London to the United States. It was filmed in Wilmington and Wrightsville Beach, North Carolina.

<i>Kicked in the Head</i> (film) 1997 American film

Kicked in the Head is a 1997 American comedy film directed by Matthew Harrison and written by Kevin Corrigan and Matthew Harrison. The film stars Kevin Corrigan, Linda Fiorentino, Michael Rapaport, Lili Taylor, James Woods and Burt Young. The film was released on September 26, 1997, by October Films. The movie was co-executive produced by Martin Scorsese.

References

  1. ↑ Monaco, Paul (2010). John Dahl and Neo-Noir: Examining Auteurism and Genre. Lexington Books. p. 101. ISBN   978-0-73-913333-0.
  2. ↑ "The Last Seduction". Box Office Mojo . Retrieved October 8, 2022.
  3. ↑ Maslin, Janet (October 26, 1994). "THE LAST SEDUCTION; A Femme Fatale Who Lives Up To the Description". The New York Times . Retrieved March 8, 2012.
  4. 1 2 3 4 Bloomenthal, Andrew (September 10, 2015). "Seduced by Steve Barancik: The Last Seduction". Creative Screenwriting. Retrieved September 10, 2015.
  5. ↑ "'Last Seduction' Sues For Oscar Eligibility". The New York Times. December 21, 1994. ISSN   0362-4331 . Retrieved October 9, 2022.
  6. ↑ Smith, Anna (August 6, 2020). "The Last Seduction: The greatest femme fatale ever?". BBC. Retrieved October 9, 2022.
  7. ↑ Juzwiak, Rich (August 13, 2021). "The Lost Art of the Erotic Thriller". Jezebel. Retrieved October 9, 2022.
  8. ↑ Smith, Anna (July 18, 2014). "Why I'd like to be… Linda Fiorentino in The Last Seduction". The Guardian. Retrieved October 9, 2022.
  9. ↑ "Press release" (PDF). BFI Film. May 1, 2019. Retrieved October 9, 2022.
  10. ↑ "The Criterion Channel's July 2021 Lineup". The Criterion Channel. June 8, 2021. Retrieved October 9, 2022.
  11. ↑ "The Last Seduction II". Entertainment Weekly . December 4, 1998.
  12. ↑ "Linda Fiorentino Finds Good Ways to be Bad". RogerEbert.com. October 8, 1995. Retrieved October 9, 2022.
  13. ↑ "Peter Berg on His Wild The Last Seduction Sex Scenes With Linda Fiorentino". Vulture . April 7, 2022. Retrieved March 5, 2022.
  14. ↑ "The Last Seduction (1994)", Rotten Tomatoes , retrieved July 6, 2021
  15. ↑ "The Last Seduction", Metacritic , retrieved July 6, 2021
  16. 1 2 Ebert, Roger (November 18, 1994). "The Last Seduction Movie Review (1994)". Chicago Sun-Times . Retrieved June 28, 2017.
  17. 1 2 Ebert, Roger (December 31, 1994). "The Best 10 Movies of 1994". RogerEbert.com.
  18. ↑ Maslin, Janet (December 27, 1994). "CRITIC'S NOTEBOOK; The Good, Bad and In-Between In a Year of Surprises on Film". The New York Times. Retrieved July 19, 2020.
  19. ↑ Strauss, Bob (December 30, 1994). "At the Movies: Quantity Over Quality". Los Angeles Daily News (Valley ed.). p. L6.
  20. ↑ Lovell, Glenn (December 25, 1994). "The Past Picture Show the Good, the Bad and the Ugly -- a Year Worth's of Movie Memories". San Jose Mercury News (Morning Final ed.). p. 3.
  21. ↑ Anthony, Todd (January 5, 1995). "Hits & Disses". Miami New Times .
  22. ↑ Mills, Michael (December 30, 1994). "It's a Fact: 'Pulp Fiction' Year's Best". The Palm Beach Post (Final ed.). p. 7.
  23. ↑ "The Year's Best". The Atlanta Journal-Constitution . December 25, 1994. p. K/1.
  24. ↑ Simon, Jeff (January 1, 1995). "Movies: Once More, with Feeling". The Buffalo News . Retrieved July 19, 2020.
  25. ↑ MacCambridge, Michael (December 22, 1994). "it's a LOVE-HATE thing". Austin American-Statesman (Final ed.). p. 38.
  26. ↑ Pickle, Betsy (December 30, 1994). "Searching for the Top 10... Whenever They May Be". Knoxville News-Sentinel. p. 3.
  27. ↑ Arnold, William (December 30, 1994). "'94 Movies: Best and Worst". Seattle Post-Intelligencer (Final ed.). p. 20.
  28. ↑ "Film in 1995 | BAFTA Awards". awards.bafta.org. Retrieved October 9, 2022.
  29. ↑ "Chicago Film Critics Awards 1994". FilmAffinity. Retrieved October 9, 2022.
  30. ↑ "Palmares : Festival du film policier de Cognac 1994 : récompenses, nominations". AlloCiné (in French). Retrieved October 9, 2022.
  31. ↑ "DGA Television Award Nominees -". www.dga.org. January 23, 1995. Retrieved October 9, 2022.
  32. ↑ "'Pulp Fiction' Wings It at Independent Spirit Awards". Los Angeles Times. March 27, 1995. Retrieved October 8, 2022.
  33. ↑ Maslin, Janet (December 16, 1994). "Critics Honor 'Pulp Fiction' And 'Quiz Show'". The New York Times. ISSN   0362-4331 . Retrieved October 9, 2022.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.