A Perfect Murder
Encyclopedia
A Perfect Murder is a 1998 American thriller film directed by Andrew Davis
and starring Michael Douglas
, Gwyneth Paltrow
and Viggo Mortensen
. It is a modern remake
of Alfred Hitchcock
's 1954 film, Dial M for Murder
, though the characters' names are all changed, and over half the plot is completely rewritten and altered. Loosely based on the play by Frederick Knott
, the screenplay was written by Patrick Smith Kelly.
) is a Wall Street
hedge fund
manager whose investments and speculations allow him to live an extravagant upper class
lifestyle with his much younger wife, Emily (Gwyneth Paltrow
). Unfortunately for Taylor, his investments are unraveling, so he will need his wife's personal fortune (roughly 100 million dollars) to maintain that status and lifestyle.
Emily seems a faithful wife, but, in reality, she is having an affair with a painter, David Shaw (Viggo Mortensen
), and is considering leaving her husband. Emily thinks she is safe, but Steven knows everything about the affair. He has also been able to uncover David’s past as an ex-convict whose real name is Winston Lagrange and who has a habit of playing con games on rich women.
Steven goes to David's loft, where Emily accidentally left her wedding ring. Once there he confronts the con man and reveals his knowledge of David's past. Steven then makes him an offer of $500,000 in cash to murder his wife. At first David wants nothing to do with the plan claiming instead that Emily and he are in love. David asks what is to stop him from going straight to Emily or to the police with this information. Steven replies by saying that it would be his word against David's and that he knows of a previous crime David committed in Boca Raton, Florida. David took off with a lady's bearer bonds and Steven has an acquaintance who has a photograph of the suspect and all they would need is David's real name. Steven then reminds David that he already has two strikes against him and this third arrest would be enough to send him to prison for 15 years with no parole. He asks David if he has a box big enough to hold $100,000 in cash and then instructs him to come by his apartment at around 12 o' clock the following day.
Steven has already laid out a detailed plan, which will supply him with a firm alibi. He will hide Emily's latch
key
outside the service entrance to his apartment. Steven then will go out for his regular card game, during which time his wife usually stays in and takes a bath. David is to sneak in and, at 10 pm when Steven phones Emily, kill her and make it look like a robbery.
The following evening, when Emily arrives home, Steven removes the key from her purse and hides it as planned. She has decided to tell Steven about her affair and asks him to stay home to talk. He refuses however, and then leaves.
At 10 o'clock that night, Steven takes a break from his card game and uses his cellphone to make a call to a bank, while using a second phone to call his house. Emily leaves her bath to answer the phone but is attacked in the kitchen by a masked assailant. During their struggle, she manages to kill the attacker by stabbing him in the neck with a meat thermometer
.
Steven returns and is shocked to find his wife alive and the hired killer dead. Before the police arrives, he takes the key from the killer's pocket and puts it back on Emily's keyring. Police arrive led by Detective Karaman (David Suchet
) and interrogate the couple. When they remove the assailant's mask, it is not David, but someone he hired to do the job.
Steven takes Emily to her mother's house, from where Emily attempts to call David to let him know that she is all right. David, who was under the impression that she was dead, doesn't answer. Steven has noticed Emily making a call, so he uses the redial button. David picks up, Steven asks him to meet on a ferry boat. They recap what happened and decide to wait until Steven has another plan.
Emily tells her mother that she is planning to leave Steven. When she returns home, Emily lets her husband know she will be staying with a friend, Raquel. She learns of Steven's serious financial trouble, and Raquel questions Emily about the inheritance he would receive if she died. Emily tells the detective about this development, acknowledging that Steven might have a motive in her attack.
David has made a tape of Steven detailing the whole plan and demands his money. Emily, meanwhile, has noticed that the key on her chain doesn't belong to their home. Suspecting something, she goes to the apartment of the dead assailant, where the key unlocks his door.
Emily confronts her husband with this and the knowledge of his financial problems. To her amazement, he exposes David's sordid past and accuses him of being a blackmailer who has been conning her and threatening him for some time. When he saw the attacker's dead body in their kitchen, he says he assumed it was David and took the key from his pocket so as not to implicate Emily in any way.
Steven goes to David's loft to pay him but finds a note directing him to meet in a public place. The phone rings and Steven picks up, thinking it's David, but it is a ticketing agent confirming David's train out of the city. Steven meets David in a park and hands over the money. David gives him a copy of the tape. David boards a train to Montreal
, but when he opens the bathroom door, Steven lunges out and stabs him.
A dying David claims to have the last laugh because he sent another copy of the tape to Emily. Steven rushes home to try to get the tape before she can. At the apartment, he finds the mail still unopened while Emily is on the terrace. He hides the money and tape in a safe before Emily enters the room.
Thinking he is safe, Steven takes a shower. Emily sees the empty bag that contained the money. She manages to open the safe, finds the tape and listens. Steven returns and she reminds him that she still hasn't found her key.
Emily pretends to leave to pick up food for dinner. Steven goes to the service entrance where he originally left the key for David to find. He finds it, realizing that the killer had put the key back after using it to unlock the door. Emily confronts him, revealing that she knows everything now. Steven attacks her, but she has a gun and kills him. On the final scene, the police investigate the scene as Karaman and Emily listen to the tape before Emily confessed what happened. Karaman shows gratitude and says "May God be with you" in Arabic
. Emily responds "And you as well".
and Grace Kelly
are depicted living in a modest London flat, although it is implied that they are quite wealthy, as Milland's character, Tony Wendice, is a retired tennis champion. Similarly, Michael Douglas and Gwyneth Paltrow's characters are also shown as an extremely wealthy couple. Both Kelly and Paltrow's characters are shown as striking blondes. Both films make use of the mystery of the fact that no key was found on the dead man when he was killed by both Kelly and Paltrow's characters, as both their husbands had removed them, in an attempt to pin the crime on their wives. Towards the beginning of Dial M For Murder, when Kelly and her lover's character, Mark Halliday (Robert Cummings
) are shown together in the Wendice flat, and Milland comes home, Kelly greets him with "There you are!" and kisses him. Presumably in homage to the original film, Michael Douglas's character greets Gwyneth Paltrow the exact same way when she arrives home to their apartment at the beginning of A Perfect Murder.
behind The Truman Show
, taking $16,615,704 during its first weekend. It ended up with a total worldwide gross of $128,038,368.
of The New York Times
called it a "skillfully plotted update of Frederick Knott's play". Roger Ebert
wrote "[It] works like a nasty little machine to keep us involved and disturbed; my attention never strayed". Meanwhile, James Berardinelli
wrote that the film "has inexplicably managed to eliminate almost everything that was worthwhile about Dial M for Murder, leaving behind the nearly-unwatchable wreckage of a would-be '90s thriller." A Perfect Murder holds a 55% "Rotten" rating on Rotten Tomatoes and a score of 50/100 ("mixed or average reviews") from Metacritic.
Andrew Davis (film director)
Andrew Davis is an American film director, producer and cinematographer, noted for the action films Code of Silence, The Fugitive, Chain Reaction, Collateral Damage, Above the Law, The Guardian and Under Siege.-Biography:Born on the south side of Chicago, Illinois, Davis has directed several films...
and starring Michael Douglas
Michael Douglas
Michael Kirk Douglas is an American actor and producer, primarily in movies and television. He has won three Golden Globes and two Academy Awards; first as producer of 1975's Best Picture, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, and as Best Actor in 1987 for his role in Wall Street. Douglas received the...
, Gwyneth Paltrow
Gwyneth Paltrow
Gwyneth Kate Paltrow is an American actress and singer. She made her acting debut on stage in 1990 and started appearing in films in 1991. After appearing in several films throughout the decade, Paltrow gained early notice for her work in films such as Se7en and Emma...
and Viggo Mortensen
Viggo Mortensen
Viggo Peter Mortensen, Jr. is a Danish-American actor, poet, musician, photographer and painter. He made his film debut in Peter Weir's 1985 thriller Witness, and subsequently appeared in many notable films of the 1990s, including The Indian Runner , Carlito's Way , Crimson Tide , Daylight , The...
. It is a modern remake
Remake
A remake is a piece of media based primarily on an earlier work of the same medium.-Film:The term "remake" is generally used in reference to a movie which uses an earlier movie as the main source material, rather than in reference to a second, later movie based on the same source...
of Alfred Hitchcock
Alfred Hitchcock
Sir Alfred Joseph Hitchcock, KBE was a British film director and producer. He pioneered many techniques in the suspense and psychological thriller genres. After a successful career in British cinema in both silent films and early talkies, Hitchcock moved to Hollywood...
's 1954 film, Dial M for Murder
Dial M for Murder
Dial M for Murder is a 1954 American thriller film adapted from a successful stage play by Frederick Knott, directed by Alfred Hitchcock and starring Ray Milland, Grace Kelly, and Robert Cummings. The movie was released by the Warner Bros...
, though the characters' names are all changed, and over half the plot is completely rewritten and altered. Loosely based on the play by Frederick Knott
Frederick Knott
Frederick Major Paull Knott was an English playwright, best known for writing the London-based stage thriller Dial M for Murder, which was later filmed in Hollywood by Alfred Hitchcock....
, the screenplay was written by Patrick Smith Kelly.
Plot summary
Steven Taylor (Michael DouglasMichael Douglas
Michael Kirk Douglas is an American actor and producer, primarily in movies and television. He has won three Golden Globes and two Academy Awards; first as producer of 1975's Best Picture, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, and as Best Actor in 1987 for his role in Wall Street. Douglas received the...
) is a Wall Street
Wall Street
Wall Street refers to the financial district of New York City, named after and centered on the eight-block-long street running from Broadway to South Street on the East River in Lower Manhattan. Over time, the term has become a metonym for the financial markets of the United States as a whole, or...
hedge fund
Hedge fund
A hedge fund is a private pool of capital actively managed by an investment adviser. Hedge funds are only open for investment to a limited number of accredited or qualified investors who meet criteria set by regulators. These investors can be institutions, such as pension funds, university...
manager whose investments and speculations allow him to live an extravagant upper class
Upper class
In social science, the "upper class" is the group of people at the top of a social hierarchy. Members of an upper class may have great power over the allocation of resources and governmental policy in their area.- Historical meaning :...
lifestyle with his much younger wife, Emily (Gwyneth Paltrow
Gwyneth Paltrow
Gwyneth Kate Paltrow is an American actress and singer. She made her acting debut on stage in 1990 and started appearing in films in 1991. After appearing in several films throughout the decade, Paltrow gained early notice for her work in films such as Se7en and Emma...
). Unfortunately for Taylor, his investments are unraveling, so he will need his wife's personal fortune (roughly 100 million dollars) to maintain that status and lifestyle.
Emily seems a faithful wife, but, in reality, she is having an affair with a painter, David Shaw (Viggo Mortensen
Viggo Mortensen
Viggo Peter Mortensen, Jr. is a Danish-American actor, poet, musician, photographer and painter. He made his film debut in Peter Weir's 1985 thriller Witness, and subsequently appeared in many notable films of the 1990s, including The Indian Runner , Carlito's Way , Crimson Tide , Daylight , The...
), and is considering leaving her husband. Emily thinks she is safe, but Steven knows everything about the affair. He has also been able to uncover David’s past as an ex-convict whose real name is Winston Lagrange and who has a habit of playing con games on rich women.
Steven goes to David's loft, where Emily accidentally left her wedding ring. Once there he confronts the con man and reveals his knowledge of David's past. Steven then makes him an offer of $500,000 in cash to murder his wife. At first David wants nothing to do with the plan claiming instead that Emily and he are in love. David asks what is to stop him from going straight to Emily or to the police with this information. Steven replies by saying that it would be his word against David's and that he knows of a previous crime David committed in Boca Raton, Florida. David took off with a lady's bearer bonds and Steven has an acquaintance who has a photograph of the suspect and all they would need is David's real name. Steven then reminds David that he already has two strikes against him and this third arrest would be enough to send him to prison for 15 years with no parole. He asks David if he has a box big enough to hold $100,000 in cash and then instructs him to come by his apartment at around 12 o' clock the following day.
Steven has already laid out a detailed plan, which will supply him with a firm alibi. He will hide Emily's latch
Latch (hardware)
A latch is a type of mechanical fastener that is used to join two objects or surfaces together while allowing for the regular or eventual separation of the objects or surfaces....
key
Key (lock)
A key is an instrument that is used to operate a lock. A typical key consists of two parts: the blade, which slides into the keyway of the lock and distinguishes between different keys, and the bow, which is left protruding so that torque can be applied by the user. The blade is usually intended to...
outside the service entrance to his apartment. Steven then will go out for his regular card game, during which time his wife usually stays in and takes a bath. David is to sneak in and, at 10 pm when Steven phones Emily, kill her and make it look like a robbery.
The following evening, when Emily arrives home, Steven removes the key from her purse and hides it as planned. She has decided to tell Steven about her affair and asks him to stay home to talk. He refuses however, and then leaves.
At 10 o'clock that night, Steven takes a break from his card game and uses his cellphone to make a call to a bank, while using a second phone to call his house. Emily leaves her bath to answer the phone but is attacked in the kitchen by a masked assailant. During their struggle, she manages to kill the attacker by stabbing him in the neck with a meat thermometer
Thermometer
Developed during the 16th and 17th centuries, a thermometer is a device that measures temperature or temperature gradient using a variety of different principles. A thermometer has two important elements: the temperature sensor Developed during the 16th and 17th centuries, a thermometer (from the...
.
Steven returns and is shocked to find his wife alive and the hired killer dead. Before the police arrives, he takes the key from the killer's pocket and puts it back on Emily's keyring. Police arrive led by Detective Karaman (David Suchet
David Suchet
David Suchet, CBE, is an English actor, known for his work on British television. He is recognised for his RTS- and BPG award-winning performance as Augustus Melmotte in the 2001 British TV mini-drama The Way We Live Now, alongside Matthew Macfadyen and Paloma Baeza, and a 1991 British Academy...
) and interrogate the couple. When they remove the assailant's mask, it is not David, but someone he hired to do the job.
Steven takes Emily to her mother's house, from where Emily attempts to call David to let him know that she is all right. David, who was under the impression that she was dead, doesn't answer. Steven has noticed Emily making a call, so he uses the redial button. David picks up, Steven asks him to meet on a ferry boat. They recap what happened and decide to wait until Steven has another plan.
Emily tells her mother that she is planning to leave Steven. When she returns home, Emily lets her husband know she will be staying with a friend, Raquel. She learns of Steven's serious financial trouble, and Raquel questions Emily about the inheritance he would receive if she died. Emily tells the detective about this development, acknowledging that Steven might have a motive in her attack.
David has made a tape of Steven detailing the whole plan and demands his money. Emily, meanwhile, has noticed that the key on her chain doesn't belong to their home. Suspecting something, she goes to the apartment of the dead assailant, where the key unlocks his door.
Emily confronts her husband with this and the knowledge of his financial problems. To her amazement, he exposes David's sordid past and accuses him of being a blackmailer who has been conning her and threatening him for some time. When he saw the attacker's dead body in their kitchen, he says he assumed it was David and took the key from his pocket so as not to implicate Emily in any way.
Steven goes to David's loft to pay him but finds a note directing him to meet in a public place. The phone rings and Steven picks up, thinking it's David, but it is a ticketing agent confirming David's train out of the city. Steven meets David in a park and hands over the money. David gives him a copy of the tape. David boards a train to Montreal
Montreal
Montreal is a city in Canada. It is the largest city in the province of Quebec, the second-largest city in Canada and the seventh largest in North America...
, but when he opens the bathroom door, Steven lunges out and stabs him.
A dying David claims to have the last laugh because he sent another copy of the tape to Emily. Steven rushes home to try to get the tape before she can. At the apartment, he finds the mail still unopened while Emily is on the terrace. He hides the money and tape in a safe before Emily enters the room.
Thinking he is safe, Steven takes a shower. Emily sees the empty bag that contained the money. She manages to open the safe, finds the tape and listens. Steven returns and she reminds him that she still hasn't found her key.
Emily pretends to leave to pick up food for dinner. Steven goes to the service entrance where he originally left the key for David to find. He finds it, realizing that the killer had put the key back after using it to unlock the door. Emily confronts him, revealing that she knows everything now. Steven attacks her, but she has a gun and kills him. On the final scene, the police investigate the scene as Karaman and Emily listen to the tape before Emily confessed what happened. Karaman shows gratitude and says "May God be with you" in Arabic
Arabic language
Arabic is a name applied to the descendants of the Classical Arabic language of the 6th century AD, used most prominently in the Quran, the Islamic Holy Book...
. Emily responds "And you as well".
Alternate ending
An alternate ending exists and is presented (with optional commentary) on the DVD. In this version, Steven comes back from finding the key replaced where he had hidden it and Emily confronts him in the kitchen rather than in their foyer. The scene plays out with the same dialogue, but Steven never physically attacks her. He still tells her that the only way she'll leave him is dead, and she shoots him. But this time Steven says "You won't get away with this" before dying and Emily purposely injures herself, making it look like self defense.Comparisons and References To The Original Film
In Hitchcock's Dial M For Murder, the characters played by Ray MillandRay Milland
Ray Milland was a Welsh actor and director. His screen career ran from 1929 to 1985, and he is best remembered for his Academy Award–winning portrayal of an alcoholic writer in The Lost Weekend , a sophisticated leading man opposite a corrupt John Wayne in Reap the Wild Wind , the murder-plotting...
and Grace Kelly
Grace Kelly
Grace Patricia Kelly was an American actress who, in April 1956, married Rainier III, Prince of Monaco, to become Princess consort of Monaco, styled as Her Serene Highness The Princess of Monaco, and commonly referred to as Princess Grace.After embarking on an acting career in 1950, at the age of...
are depicted living in a modest London flat, although it is implied that they are quite wealthy, as Milland's character, Tony Wendice, is a retired tennis champion. Similarly, Michael Douglas and Gwyneth Paltrow's characters are also shown as an extremely wealthy couple. Both Kelly and Paltrow's characters are shown as striking blondes. Both films make use of the mystery of the fact that no key was found on the dead man when he was killed by both Kelly and Paltrow's characters, as both their husbands had removed them, in an attempt to pin the crime on their wives. Towards the beginning of Dial M For Murder, when Kelly and her lover's character, Mark Halliday (Robert Cummings
Robert Cummings
Charles Clarence Robert Orville Cummings , mostly known professionally as Robert Cummings but sometimes as Bob Cummings, was an American film and television actor....
) are shown together in the Wendice flat, and Milland comes home, Kelly greets him with "There you are!" and kisses him. Presumably in homage to the original film, Michael Douglas's character greets Gwyneth Paltrow the exact same way when she arrives home to their apartment at the beginning of A Perfect Murder.
Cast
- Michael DouglasMichael DouglasMichael Kirk Douglas is an American actor and producer, primarily in movies and television. He has won three Golden Globes and two Academy Awards; first as producer of 1975's Best Picture, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, and as Best Actor in 1987 for his role in Wall Street. Douglas received the...
as Steven Taylor - Gwyneth PaltrowGwyneth PaltrowGwyneth Kate Paltrow is an American actress and singer. She made her acting debut on stage in 1990 and started appearing in films in 1991. After appearing in several films throughout the decade, Paltrow gained early notice for her work in films such as Se7en and Emma...
as Emily Taylor (née Bradford) - Viggo MortensenViggo MortensenViggo Peter Mortensen, Jr. is a Danish-American actor, poet, musician, photographer and painter. He made his film debut in Peter Weir's 1985 thriller Witness, and subsequently appeared in many notable films of the 1990s, including The Indian Runner , Carlito's Way , Crimson Tide , Daylight , The...
as David Shaw - David SuchetDavid SuchetDavid Suchet, CBE, is an English actor, known for his work on British television. He is recognised for his RTS- and BPG award-winning performance as Augustus Melmotte in the 2001 British TV mini-drama The Way We Live Now, alongside Matthew Macfadyen and Paloma Baeza, and a 1991 British Academy...
as Mohamed Karaman - Sarita ChoudhurySarita ChoudhurySarita Catherine Louise Choudhury is an English actress.-Biography:Choudhury was born in Blackheath, London, England, of half Bengali-Indian and half English descent. Her parents, Prabhas Chandra Choudhury, a scientist, and Julia Patricia Spring, married in 1964 in Lucea, Jamaica...
as Raquel Martinez - Michael P. MoranMichael P. MoranMichael Peter Moran was an American actor and playwright.Moran was born in Yuba City, California, but his family moved frequently because his father was a US Army officer. While his family was living in Cedar Grove, New Jersey, he graduated from Passaic Valley Regional High School in Little Falls...
as Bobby Fain - Novella NelsonNovella NelsonNovella Nelson is an American actress and singer.Nelson was born in Brooklyn, New York, the daughter of Evelyn Hines and James Nelson. Her career in films did not begin until she was approaching middle age, with a small part in 1978's An Unmarried Woman. Over the next thirty years, she continued...
as Ambassador Alice Wills - Constance TowersConstance Towers-Early life:Towers was born in Whitefish, Montana, the daughter of Ardath L. and Harry J. Towers. According to her official Web site, a contract from Paramount Pictures was offered to her at age 11 but was declined...
as Sandra Bradford - David EigenbergDavid EigenbergDavid Eigenberg is an American actor. He is known for his role of Steve Brady on the HBO comedy Sex and the City.-Personal life:Eigenberg was born in Long Island, New York and grew up in Naperville, Illinois...
as Stein
Box office
The film opened in second place at the box officeBox office
A box office is a place where tickets are sold to the public for admission to an event. Patrons may perform the transaction at a countertop, through an unblocked hole through a wall or window, or at a wicket....
behind The Truman Show
The Truman Show
The Truman Show is a 1998 American satirical comedy-drama film directed by Peter Weir and written by Andrew Niccol. The cast includes Jim Carrey as Truman Burbank, as well as Laura Linney, Noah Emmerich, Ed Harris and Natascha McElhone...
, taking $16,615,704 during its first weekend. It ended up with a total worldwide gross of $128,038,368.
Critical reception
The film received mixed reviews from critics: Stephen HoldenStephen Holden
Stephen Holden is an American writer, music critic, film critic, and poet.Holden earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in English from Yale University in 1963...
of The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
called it a "skillfully plotted update of Frederick Knott's play". Roger Ebert
Roger Ebert
Roger Joseph Ebert is an American film critic and screenwriter. He is the first film critic to win a Pulitzer Prize for Criticism.Ebert is known for his film review column and for the television programs Sneak Previews, At the Movies with Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert, and Siskel and Ebert and The...
wrote "[It] works like a nasty little machine to keep us involved and disturbed; my attention never strayed". Meanwhile, James Berardinelli
James Berardinelli
James Berardinelli is an American online film critic.-Personal life:Berardinelli was born in New Brunswick, New Jersey and spent his early childhood in Morristown, New Jersey. At the age of nine years, he relocated to the township of Cherry Hill, New Jersey...
wrote that the film "has inexplicably managed to eliminate almost everything that was worthwhile about Dial M for Murder, leaving behind the nearly-unwatchable wreckage of a would-be '90s thriller." A Perfect Murder holds a 55% "Rotten" rating on Rotten Tomatoes and a score of 50/100 ("mixed or average reviews") from Metacritic.