Sleeping with the Enemy (1991 film)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Sleeping with the Enemy | |
|---|---|
 Sleeping with the Enemy DVD case cover |
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| Directed by | Joseph Ruben |
| Produced by | Leonard Goldberg |
| Written by | Nancy Price (novel), Ron Bass, Bruce Joel Rubin (uncredited) |
| Starring | Julia Roberts, Patrick Bergin, Kevin Anderson, Elizabeth Lawrence |
| Distributed by | 20th Century Fox |
| Release date(s) | February 8, 1991 |
| Running time | 99 min. |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $20,000,000 (estimated) |
| IMDb profile | |
Sleeping with the Enemy is a 1991 psychological thriller film starring Julia Roberts, who escapes from her abusive, obsessive husband, played by Patrick Bergin. She captures the attention of a kindly gentleman, played by Kevin Anderson.
[edit] Plot summary
Laura Burney (Julia Roberts) lives a seemingly perfect life on Cape Cod (Kure Beach, North Carolina). She has a beautiful ocean view home, and a handsome and successful broker husband, Martin Burney (Patrick Bergin). Martin is a man who likes things a certain way. He keeps his hand towels lined up neatly and all his canned foods stacked symmetrically and with the labels facing forwards. He wants his wife to cook him gourmet meals and makes love listening to Berlioz' Symphonie Fantastique.
But he is also an abusive husband. He lashes out at her when he discovers she has been talking to their new neighbor, Dr. Fleishman (Kyle Secor). In spite of his jealousy, Martin accepts an invitation to sail on Fleishman's boat, even though Laura is afraid of the water (she almost drowned as a child) -- in fact, one suspects, because he knows she's afraid of the water (another form of abuse). They set sail on a stormy, moonless night. Martin is swept overboard and Fleishman has to rescue him. When they both return, Laura is gone. The Coast Guard searches all night but there is no sign of her. Martin attends her funeral.
In flashback, Laura explains what happened that night. She did not drown - she had been secretly taking swimming lessons at the YWCA. She had earlier smashed two beachfront lights to guide her back home. There she cut off her long, blonde hair, put on a wig and changed her clothes. Finally she flushed her wedding ring down the toilet.
Laura takes coach trip to a small town in Iowa (Abbeville, South Carolina) where she uses her savings to rent a modest house in her new name of Sara Waters. One night she decides to pick apples from her neighbor's tree. Her neighbor, Ben Woodward (Kevin Anderson), catches her in the act and teases her about it, but she reacts badly and dumps the apples. Ben catches up to her and offers her the apples and dinner. Ben tells Laura that he teaches drama at the local college, but Laura tells him nothing about herself.
Martin receives a phone call at work from a woman at the YWCA with condolences over his loss. When she tells him his wife took swimming lessons, he tells her she must have the wrong woman. But when she mentions the bruises on her body, Martin smashes the phone in anger and races home. After he finds Laura's ring at the bottom of the toilet bowl, he realizes his wife is still alive.
Martin visits the nursing home where Laura's late mother died. He discovers that she didn't die. The weekend Laura said she had gone to the funeral, she had actually moved her mother to another place. Martin contacts a detective agency and asks them to trace the mother. He finds her in a nursing home near where Sara (Laura) is now living in Iowa. He visits the blind Chloe Williams (Elizabeth Lawrence) without the old woman realizing.
Laura and Ben have a fight when he discovers she's not telling him the truth. Ben makes it up to her by taking her on a date at the college, where they enjoy dressing up in various costumes. Back at her house, Ben makes his move but Laura rebuffs him and he leaves. The next day Laura decides to tell him what he already suspected - that she was abused by her husband and she's scared of him returning.
With the help of Ben's makeup kit, Laura visits her mother disguised as a man. Martin also shows up at the nursing home but they do not spot each other. Martin visits Laura's mother and tells her he's a cop looking to protect Laura from the dangerous Martin Burney. She tells him her daughter is seeing a college drama teacher in nearby Cedar Falls. Martin goes to smother her with a pillow, but a nurse arrives so he simply puts it behind her head.
Martin follows a local college drama teacher and threatens him with a gun. The man protests that he's not seeing his wife - in fact he's gay. Martin threatens him again and knocks him unconscious. Laura and Ben spend the night at the fair, Martin watching them in secret. Laura goes home and takes a bath. She is startled when she sees her hand towels lined up neatly. She goes downstairs and is frightened by the fire alarm. Ben knocks on the door and they eat the picnic he has brought. Laura says goodnight and goes to bed. She hears the Symphonie Fantastique again but thinks it must be a joke by Ben. But when she checks the cupboard and all the cans are lined up neatly she panics. Martin appraoches her from behind.
There is a knock at the door -- it's Ben. Martin produces his Glock pistol and tells her to get rid of him. With tears in her eyes, Sara (Laura) tells Ben it's late. “Still haunted by ghosts?” he asks her. “They're all around me.” she says. She closes the door, but Ben smashes it down and tackles Martin. He overpowers Ben and knocks him unconscious. Laura pleads with Martin not to kill him. Martin produces her wedding ring and says it could be just like before. Laura feigns affection for him and, when his guard is down, knees him in the groin. Escaping his clutches she grabs his gun and fires just above his head. It doesn't stop him. He continues to advance towards her. She picks up the phone and dials 911. Martin mocks her saying that the police can't issue a restraining order keeping him away from his wife. “I can't live without you. And I won't let you live without me.” With the gun still pointed at him Laura says into the phone: “Hello...Police...[Her address]...come quickly...I've just killed (shot) an intruder.” Before Martin realizes what she's done she shoots him four times until he collapses to the floor.
She drops the gun to the floor and collapses to the ground too in tears. Suddenly Martin grabs her hair, aims the gun at her head and pulls the trigger, but it misfired. He falls back to the floor. Laura rushes over to help Ben. Martin lies dead, sprawled out across the floor, Laura's gleaming wedding ring in his outstretched hand.
[edit] Trivia
- Kim Basinger was originally cast as Laura Burney/Sara Walters but pulled out and was replaced almost at the last minute by Julia Roberts. Roberts had been Oscar nominated for Steel Magnolias and there was good buzz on Pretty Woman which had yet to be released.
- The Cape Cod style house was specially built for the movie at Kure Beach.
- Bruce Joel Rubin - screenwriter of Ghost and Jacob's Ladder - did an uncredited rewrite of Ben Woodward, making him a more likable romantic lead. In earlier drafts he was almost as bad as Martin.
- In the book by Nancy Price, Laura tries to pass off her husband's death as suicide.
- When the film was shown in theatres, many audiences screamed at the sight of the tin cans in the film's climax.
- Director Joseph Ruben admitted to being “a little bit in love” with Julia Roberts. He wasn't the only one. Following on from Pretty Woman and Flatliners, the film grossed $173 million ($249 million in 2005).
