| She-Devil | |
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Film poster |
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| Directed by | Susan Seidelman |
| Produced by | Jonathan Brett Susan Seidelman |
| Screenplay by | Barry Strugatz Mark R. Burns |
| Based on | The Life and Loves of a She-Devil by Fay Weldon |
| Narrated by | Roseanne Barr |
| Starring | Meryl Streep Roseanne Barr Ed Begley, Jr. Linda Hunt Sylvia Miles |
| Music by | Howard Shore |
| Cinematography | Oliver Stapleton |
| Editing by | Craig McKay |
| Distributed by | Orion Pictures |
| Release date(s) | December 8, 1989 |
| Running time | 99 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Box office | $15,351,421 (Domestic)[1] |
She-Devil is a 1989 American film starring Meryl Streep, Roseanne Barr and Ed Begley, Jr.. It was directed by Susan Seidelman. It is the second adaptation of the novel The Life and Loves of a She-Devil by British writer Fay Weldon, after a BBC TV adaptation was first broadcast in 1986.
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Ruth is a frumpy, overweight housewife and mother, who desperately tries to please her accountant husband Bob. After Bob meets romance novelist Mary Fisher at a dinner party, they begin having an affair; Mary also hires him as her accountant. Though aware of the affair, Ruth initially lives in denial (believing it to be a fling which Bob will leave) and continues to take care of her two children, Nicolette and Andrew, and doing other household chores. However, Ruth soon begins to feel ragged after trying to get things prepared for Bob's parents' visit, culminating with Ruth finding Andrew's dead gerbil in a casserole pot. After Ruth confronts him about his affair in front of his parents, Bob decides to pack up his things and leave Ruth with the kids, calling her a liability and telling her she is a bad mother, a lousy wife, a terrible cook, and has the appearance of a "she-devil." Now at her breaking point, Ruth vows to get revenge on both Bob and Mary. Ruth writes a list of Bob's four assets: his home, his family, his career, and his freedom, crossing off each one as it is destroyed.
With Bob away at Mary's mansion by the sea and the kids at school, she sets the house on fire by various means including lighting two cigarettes and tossing in a waste basket, placing aerosol cans in the microwave to set off an explosion, and overloading an electrical outlet, causing it to burn to the ground. Every possession is destroyed except for the dog, a framed photo of the family, and, significantly for Ruth's plan of revenge, Bob's file on Mary's finances.
Having destroyed Bob's first asset - his house - she drops the children off at Mary's mansion to live with their father. After seeing in Mary's file that Mary pays for her mother to live in an expensive nursing home, Ruth takes a job there under the pseudonym Vesta Rose. Ruth forms friendships with Mary's estranged mother and with her co-worker Nurse Hooper, a diminutive 22-year veteran at the home. As part of her plan, Ruth gets Mary's mother thrown out of the home and she moves in with her daughter, much to Mary's chagrin.
Ruth later partners with Hooper to start the Vesta Rose Employment Agency, which helps downtrodden, socially rejected women find good jobs in exchange for them (unwittingly) helping Ruth in her quest for vengeance against Bob, such as Olivia Honey, who is hired at Bob's firm as his secretary. Though Bob falls for Olivia at first sight, he fires her after she confesses her love for him; a heartbroken Olivia reveals to Ruth that Bob wires interest from his clients' accounts into an offshore Swiss bank account. Both women break into Bob's firm to wire larger amounts of money from Bob's clients' accounts into Bob's Swiss account, making his embezzlement more visible to his clients. Ruth then reports Bob's crimes to the IRS.
Meanwhile, the second of Bob's assets - his family - crumbles; Mary's relationship with Bob grows distant as he continues to sleep with other women; Mary has a hard time keeping Bob's children under control (since Bob is unwilling to lay down the law with them) and is forced to do various chores, as her staff's attentions are occupied elsewhere; and her mother, Mrs. Fisher, reveals her daughter's life-long secrets to a reporter for People magazine while Mary is on the phone. Compounding matters is the poor reception of Mary's new novel titled "Love in the Rinse Cycle," to the point that not even one person appears at her book signing, and Mary learning of Bob's affairs when she recognizes Bob's ring in photocopied pictures of a man's hands grabbing a woman's behind. However, she finally develops the courage to regain control of her life; upon seeing the maid Ute walk off the job and everyone partying around, she fires the butler Garcia and lays down the law with Bob, the children, and Mrs. Fisher.
Mary throws a party to cheer herself up and also spend time with her friends. Although the party has so far gone well (her laying down the law more or less successful), the atmosphere soon shatters when police officers interrupt the party with a warrant for Bob's arrest. While discussing Bob's defense, Bob's lawyer unknowingly reveals Bob's embezzlement from Mary. This proves the final straw for Mary, who promptly dumps Bob and fires him as her accountant. In addition, Bob and his lawyer's attempts to make a secret deal with a judge are rendered moot when another judge is put in his place (courtesy of another of Ruth's "private army" of Vesta Rose employees). Bob is convicted and sentenced to 18 months in prison; thus, his remaining assets - his career and his freedom - are destroyed.
The film then cuts to 18 months later. While Bob has greatly reformed while serving his sentence in prison, looking forward to spending his time with his family upon his release, Mary has barely changed at all. After the events with Bob, Mary sells her mansion. Her new book is called "Trust and Betrayal: A Docu-novel of Love, Money and Skepticism," proves to be a critical and commercial success; Ruth appears at the book signing and asks the autograph to be made out to "Ruth", which causes Mary to give a momentary lapse of deja vu, but she shrugs it off. Next in line after Ruth is a handsome Frenchman whom Mary flirts with, showing that she is back to her old ways.
The film ends with Ruth walking down a city street, followed by dozens of women, seemingly satisfied with the sweet revenge she devilishly duked out on Bob and Mary's faces.
She-Devil was released on DVD by MGM on October 2, 2001 with no features included than one trailer.
The soundtrack for She-Devil was released on CD, audio cassette, and on vinyl by Mercury Records on December 5, 1989.
1. "I Will Survive" - Sa-Fire
2. "You Can Have Him - Carmel
3. "C'mon And Get My Love" - D-Mob
4. "Always" - Tom Kimmel
5. "You're The Devil In Disguise - Elvis Presley
6. "Party Up" - Chubby Checker
7. "Tren D'Amour" - Jermaine Stewart
8. "That's What I Call Love" - Kate Ceberano
9. "Tied Up" - Yello
10. "It's Getting Hot" - The Fat Boys
She-Devil was released to mixed reviews, with a 41% "Rotten" score at Rotten Tomatoes,
Roger Ebert gave the film three stars out of four and wrote, "The proof of it is that, on the basis of this movie, Streep didn't have to retire to her own dressing room to ask herself what she was doing in a movie with Barr".[2]
Meryl Streep was nominated for the "Best Actress for a Musical or Comedy" Golden Globe in 1990.
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