Single White Female

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Mike P Solid formula thriller deserves better than a 58% Approval Rating!! Allie (aka Bridget Fonda) brakes up with Sam (Steven Webber) and is left alone in their giant NYC loft; needing a roommate. Unfortunately the girl she chooses to be her roommate, Hedra, (Jennifer Jason Leigh), is a codependent psycho; who immediately starts to take over her life; a la All About Eve. Hedra misses her long lost twin... And wants Allie to be the replacement...but that's another story. This one is stylish, effective and brilliantly acted, with many effective scenes and nice NYC location work which evokes classics like Rosemary's Baby. It is predictable, but so what? It works. Recommended Rated 3.5/5 Stars •  Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 06/09/24 Full Review Alec B The performances and the direction sustain the movie longer than you might think but at a certain point it inevitably just becomes too silly. Rated 2.5/5 Stars •  Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars 02/27/24 Full Review Matthew D A fascinating portrayal of the perils of being a single woman. Franco-Swiss director Barbet Schroeder's psychological erotic thriller Single White Female (1992) is riveting! I miss erotic thrillers from the 90's. Single White Female is as intense and engrossing as Basic Instinct, The Hand That Rocks the Cradle, or The Crush. Schroeder bears heavy hearted characters with emotional waves crashing over them with a flourish of stylish direction. Single White Female is brilliant. Author John Lutz' story is really intriguing with twins, roommates, cheating lovers, and an eerie voyeurism to the whole affair. The writing is smart about obsession and manipulation. Lutz and screenwriter Don Roos demonstrate how sleazy men cheat, harass, and lie to try to get women in bed, while women can manipulate in their own way like gaslighting. Schroeder displays an innocent heroine getting acquainted with a seemingly sweet new roommate, only to find out she is a dangerous, obsessive manipulator. Allison Jones' software failsafe to ensure payment from deadbeat employers is actually genius and I don't get how that is not used more by contractors in real life. Barbet Schroeder's direction is neat with tons of setups like Chekhov's Gun that get paid off later during the scary moments. From puppies to memories of twins or broken elevators, everything pays off in the end. Schroeder feels like he's referring to Ingmar Bergman's Persona, Roman Polanski's The Tenant and Rosemary's Baby, Alfred Hitchcock, and old film noir. You can even see In a Lonely Place playing on television at night. Gloria Graham is probably the reference to Allie's friend Graham and Hedy is likely named after Hedy Lamarr. I kept thinking of Leave Her to Heaven. You easily see how Single White Female could have influenced Gone Girl. Editor Lee Percy has a sleek cutting style that makes Single White Female a brisk 107 minutes. He brings a smooth style like cinematographer Luciano Tovoli's haunting lighting and eerie panning shots. The way he pairs the two women next to one another to show how similar they resemble each other is neat. I love seeing the colorful moody lighting in 90's movies. Tovoli uses shadows so strikingly with these seductive and tasteful nude and nighttime shots of the actresses. In the black silhouettes, Bridget Fonda and Jennifer Jason Leigh look identical. Casting director Howard Feuer really found two actresses who really look alike and can play both shy and seductive at a moment's notice. Bridget Fonda is wonderful as Single White Female's sympathetic heroine Allison "Allie" Jones. Fonda is gorgeous and sorrowful with a fantastic frightened performance. Allie feels real and kind-hearted with neat confidence as a beautiful working woman getting her life together. I was really rooting for her to survive this horrific event. Jennifer Jason Leigh is amazing as the unhinged Hedra "Hedy" Carlson. Leigh's disturbed and possessive Hedy is a fascinating character study. She's very cute and terrifying all at once. Leigh is one of the greatest actresses of Gen X and Single White Female is a superb display of her acting prowess. Her lovable, shy Hedy transforms into a vicious and violent psychopath. Jennifer Jason Leigh is one of cinema's best slasher villains and femme fatales in Single White Female. Steven Weber is a total creepy sleaze as Allie's cheating boyfriend Sam Rawson. Peter Friedman's pleasant actor friend to Allie named Graham Knox is a scream. I found Stephen Tobolowsky's fashion business owner Mitchell Myerson truly disgusting as the lecherous man in power with no morals and heinous expectations. The dog and cat look adorable. Production designer Milena Canonero creates a neat, rich New York apartment. Art direction from James F. Truesdale and P. Michael Johnston leans into shadowy lighting cascading into the apartment with soft blue lights. They emphasize the creepy atmosphere with shadows everywhere. At some point you can hardly tell which actress is which in the dark. Anne H. Ahrens' lavish set decoration makes the apartment very cozy and ornate. Composer Howard Shore's film score is haunting. He adds a leering gravitas and heavy darkness to the film. Shore's music is always magnificent and contributes to Hedy's judgment of Allie returning back to a man who cheated on her or the frightening attacks. His softer melodic score is wondrous with a sublime calmness to it. Sound designers Gary Rydstrom, Richard Beggs, Gloria S. Borders, Tom Johnson, Tim Holland, Gwendolyn Yates Whittle, Ethan van der Ryn, Robert Shoup, Ken Fischer, Marilyn McCoppen, Don Hall, and E. Jeane Putnam let phones echo in the distance and voices echo across apartments. Costume designers Milena Canonero and Eileen Kennedy create all these fashionable suits, sultry dresses, and expensive earrings. Make-up artists Matthew W. Mungle and Lizbeth Williamson do their best to match the pink lipstick and blush for Bridget Fonda and Jennifer Jason Leigh. Candace Neal's hairstyling is crucial to Single White Female being believable with that fun red bob wig or haircut. In short, Single White Female is enthralling with very empathetic lead acting from Bridget Fonda. I loved the eerie and entertaining performance from supporting actress Jennifer Jason Leigh. Rated 5/5 Stars •  Rated 5 out of 5 stars 03/22/23 Full Review Steve D Jennifer Jason Leigh is one of the most underrated actresses alive. She makes this a blast. It works better than Fatal Attraction for me. Rated 4/5 Stars •  Rated 4 out of 5 stars 02/22/23 Full Review Audience Member Nice 90s movie that could have been a lot better with a great director, still this film is solid and many movies in the future tried to copy it. Rated 3/5 Stars •  Rated 3 out of 5 stars 11/08/22 Full Review Audience Member The suspense was on point the first half of the film but then the conflict resolution kind of plateaued early until the ending you totally expect happens. It wasn't a bad flick, but you more than likely won't be coming back for a second watch. Rated 3/5 Stars •  Rated 3 out of 5 stars 02/18/23 Full Review Read all reviews

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