The Last Seduction

An incredibly amoral and very sexy woman (Linda Fiorentino) is on the lam from her husband (Bill Pullman) after stealing thousands of dollars from him. She travels to a small town and gets involved with a sweet, innocent man (Peter Berg)...but he's just her next victim.

There's a lot more to it but I won't give it away. The plot is intricate with many twists and turns. The dialogue sounds like it came from a 1940s noir (updated with swearing) but this isn't anything like those movies. This movie has graphic sex scenes and incredibly cruel acts that they could never get away with back then. It also has good acting by Berg and Pullman (who is very obviously enjoying himself). There's also good direction by John Dahl and an excellent score by Joseph Vitarelli which totally fits the tone of the film. But it's Fiorentino's show all the way--she's on screen almost all the time and her performance is superb. She's sexy and evil and actually enjoys using people--notice how she laughs after a few evil acts. Too bad this film premiered on cable--if it were a theatrical film first she would have been up for Best Actress.

Only two quibbles--at 110 minutes the nonstop evil and cruelty wears you down and I didn't buy a few things that happened at the climax. They seemed really unlikely and spoiled things a little. But those are minor complaints.

This is a good, evil film noir--well worth catching.

I loved this one because I couldn't get over the heights of carnality and the depths of sociopathic evil the characters were capable of achieving. Linda Fiorentino played perhaps the most despicably rotten, heartless, conniving, using bitch I've ever had the pleasure of watching. Pullman was great as the reaper of retribution intent on giving evil for evil. Peter Berg may have stolen the show with his total inability to say no to his own destruction. It was hard to believe the abyss of stupidity these 2 dopes had the capacity to plumb. Guess that's what happens when the little head takes over the thought processes for the big head, eh? The picture started out a little slow but developed into a real blowout with a jaw dropping finale. All the folks got exactly what they deserved. All of them.

There are many films that revolve around fatal women, who use sensuality and seduction for obscure purposes. In fact, there are even women in real life who do it skillfully. In the film before us, we will face perhaps one of the most perverse and diabolical female minds that cinema has ever known.

In fact, I have no other adjectives for Bridget Gregory, a woman who looks angelic and the kind of wife our mother always dreamed of for us, until we see her dark side. The film elaborates a web of intrigue and malice where Bridget is the main character, the spider in the middle of the web, ready to devour his male prey. She was married to a guy who traffics in drugs, but decides to run away and take with her a huge amount of trafficking money, which infuriates her husband (any husband, I think). She hides in a small town where she decides to settle down without being noticed. She meets Mike Swale and quickly becomes involved with him, to the point of convincing him to kill her husband... without him knowing that he is, in fact, her husband.

The success of the film is largely based on a well-written script by Steve Barancik and a very intelligent direction by John Dahl. Some scenes, like the bar scene where Mike tries to seduce Bridget and ends up seduced by her, are truly anthological, and although this is not a very explicit film (some teen films show much more skin than this one), it gives us with some of the most perverse and hotest sex scenes in cinema (regular commercial cinema, I'm not taking into account porn films), not so much for what it shows but for the intensity, beauty and commitment of the cast.

In the middle of the cast only one name stands out and it is around him that the whole film is built: Linda Fiorentino got, with this film, the most remarkable work of her career. She is viciously wicked, cruel, cynical, malevolent and highly seductive. The way she worked on the character is almost palpable. Bill Pullman and Peter Berg are also very good and interact perfectly with Fiorentino, but she is the one who carries the lead and makes the whole movie work.

Being a film that is a neo-noir with touches of satirical comedy in the middle, the most notable technical aspect is clearly cinematography, which wisely uses light and shadow. However, it is not a film as dark as most noir films, nor as dark in the way it approaches themes. The comedy is there, the satire is present and it lightens the atmosphere, makes the film more fun and less dense. The dialogues are incredible and deserve our full attention, as well as the scenarios and the superb soundtrack, by Joseph Vitarelli.

Fiorentino has a field day as one of the most despicable women ever to be featured in a film. Her character is tough, self-centered, mean-spirited, and sexy femme fatale who absconds with her husband's drug money and tries to get her ninny of a boyfriend to kill him. The plot is quite contrived and the characters bear no resemblance to real people, with Fiorentino appearing to be a genius in a world of dim-witted men. The acting is pretty good. Berg is likable as Fiorentino's boyfriend, a decent fellow who has to balance his hormones with his morality. Pullman seems to be having fun playing the betrayed spouse. The score sets the right mood.

Bridget Gregory (Linda Fiorentino) is a telemarketing manager running a croaked boiler room. Her husband Clay Gregory (Bill Pullman) sells stolen pharmaceuticals for a big payday. She steals his money and leaves NYC. She stops at Beston on her way to Chicago. Mike Swale (Peter Berg) is tired of small town girls. She walks into the bar and he's smitten. Her lawyer Frank Griffith (J.T. Walsh) tells her to stay put while he starts the divorce. She gets a job as Wendy Kroy but Mike happens to work at the company. Clay is desperate to pay off a loan shark and manages to track her to an area code. Then he figures out that New York backwards is Wen Kroy and sends Harlan (Bill Nunn) to find Wendy.

The bar scene is terrific and it's all about Linda Fiorentino. That goes for the whole movie. Her character is a real piece. Peter Berg is a good sucker and Bill Pullman is a good sleaze. It's surprisingly funny at times. It's all attitude and Fiorentino is dripping in it. Her dialog is neo-noir and snappy. I love the dark turns and her glee with making those turns.