Les nuits avec mon ennemi

I have this movie on tape also. Come to think, I have a lot of Julia Roberts' movies. Anywho, I liked how she used her timidity to get the hell out of a crazy psyho relationship with a guy who thought he was entitled to beat his wife. She planned everything down to the T, and I liked that. However, you knew he was gonna find her again and wreak havoc on her new life. It grew a little wasteful at that point because the poor guy had only that abusive husband turned psycho side to play with. Not much to chew on really when you're in the movie about 5 times in 20 minutes. You understood she had to see him at least and the point was she had to move on and assert her independence. Sucks that psycho was rich with a nice pad. Plus, why didn't she just pawn the ring instead of attempting to flush hard gold down? Or take it with? Even a toilet isn't that stupid. Maybe she should have eaten it first and it would have been disguised better. I mean, that was the only thing that tipped him off for goodness sakes. She was smart to a point like most chicks in these types of movies. Guess there wouldn't be much of a movie otherwise.

Right off of the runaway success of Pretty Woman, Julia Roberts starred in Sleeping With the Enemy as a battered housewife who fakes her death to escape from her psychotic husband. She changes her name and starts a new life in a small town where everything seems to be better for her...until her husband discovers she's still alive.

Sleeping With the Enemy is fairly by the numbers as thrillers go. It's inoffensive and fairly predictable, but Roberts is incredibly likable in the leading role and director Joseph Rubin knows how to craft suspense which goes a long way in making the film work. Jerry Goldsmith's music score is lush and hauntingly beautiful.

Sleeping With the Enemy is the kind of movie you can relax on the couch with on a Saturday afternoon and it has a great rewatchable quality.

I love this movie! I read the book and have seen it many times. I note that the same questions keep appearing over and over. I think by now I am qualified to answer them, or to at least give my opinions.

**Why does Laura choose to 'flush' her ring down the toilet instead of taking it off while she is in the ocean or pawning it?** Because she is symbolically ridding herself of Martin and their dysfunctional marriage. She is in a hurry to get out of the house and never stops to think that the ring might remain in the toilet bowl. Under the circumstances, would you?

**How did the lady from the YMCA get Martin's work number? And after Martin said he didn't know what she was talking about, why did the lady continue to give Laura's life story?** Martin was a successful Boston businessman. Laura took swim lessons at the Y in Boston for several months and apparently got to know some of the women fairly well. Her name and her husband's name were undoubtedly well known by the time she finished her swim lessons and moved on. It probably only took a look in the Boston phone book to find Martin, as Laura had nothing to hide at the time of the swim lessons (except the bruises, which she explained away) and surely mentioned where he worked, or he had an individual listing. The lady was certain she had the right person when she was talking to Martin, so unfortunately she developed diarrhea of the mouth and provided Martin with too many details.

**Why was the ring still in the toilet when Martin cut his finger months later? Didn't he use the toilet in those months? Or does he have a serious digestive problem?** I am surprised so many people overlooked this: the house at the Cape was the Burneys' weekend/summer home. Martin Burney worked in Boston, and they had a house there where they lived during the week. When his wife "died", Martin immediately closed up the Cape house - hence the coverings on the furniture when he returned months later - and moved to their house in Boston. Guess he didn't have to pee before he left, or he used one of the other bathrooms in the house.

**How did Laura get a house under an alias without a driver's license? What...in Iowa you don't need identification to buy a house or a car? And where did she get the money?** Laura did not BUY a house, she rented it, and for very little, in cash. She apparently bought a used car. As we saw when she returned to the Cape house after faking her death to collect her things and run away, there was a big wad of cash in her travel bag. I don't remember all the details from the book, but obviously she had been saving money all along. She worked part-time at the library in Boston (after her 8:00 a.m. swim lessons, one presumes), so had her own money as well as whatever she could save from the money Martin gave her for groceries, etc. Money talks, in Iowa like anywhere else!

**Just because Laura didn't want to have sex with Ben, Ben asks "Oh my god, what did he do to you?' How the heck does he know that anything happened? What does he have as evidence besides the facts that he called her in a crowd and she didn't respond, and she had a bruise on her head? That's a pretty great assumption to make.** Ben was a perceptive, intelligent guy. He knew right after meeting her that something was seriously wrong in her life and that she was hiding her identity for a reason. He put things together pretty quickly, but figuring out that she was running from an abusive man wasn't exactly rocket science with all the clues she gave out.

**And the thing that really makes me mad. She hears a noise so it must be her husband. Instead of calling the cops or running out of the house...she goes and checks the cabinets to see if all of the cans are neatly arranged. I know that this does happen…but if your husband was in your house, what the heck would make you think that he took the time to arrange your cabinet and he's not just going to kill you?** The man had been terrorizing her for four years. She was paranoid. She wasn't thinking clearly and was doubting her sanity. Call it Suspense Movie Syndrome - just gotta look in that dark room/closet!

Laura marries Martin Burney who appears to be the perfect man, he is handsome and successful, yet the dream of the perfect man becomes a nightmare as Martin is a control freak who abuses her both physically and mentally. Once she decides enough is enough she plots her escape by way of faking her own death by drowning, a new life beckons, but she will always be looking over her shoulder to see if Martin finds out the truth and tracks her down.

Thus the vehicle for Julia Roberts pans out as your just above average thriller. It has some decent moments that keep it from drifting into tedium, the set up perfectly portrays the double life that some people lead, on the social circuit it appears the couple are happy and at one with each other, yet behind their own walls there is violence and the crushing of the spirit. The final third of the film is also well worthy of the word thriller, for the tension is nigh on unbearable as we slowly come to the conclusion, whilst Julia Roberts as Laura does a very tidy job as this sort of modern day princess escaping the evil clutches of her keeper. Must mention the great use of Berlioz's Symphonie Fantastique, it's eerie and impacts hard for the scenes it is used for.

Patrick Bergin plays his role well enough, it's just that his villainy is never fully realised, we see enough to know that what he does is wrong, yet it feels a bit too polished. Whilst a sequence that sees Laura dress up as a man is clearly the low point of the film, it really does stretch the viewers patience, and sadly insults their respective intelligence. It's a mixed bag that isn't quite a waste of time, it just doesn't leave you with anything other than a feeling of being semi fulfilled, shame as it could have been brilliant with a bit more bravery and brains in the script, 6/10.

I think most people tend to overlook how well-done the first 20 minutes of this movie really are. Ruben carefully builds a creepy atmosphere, relying on brief glances, moments of silence and quietly expressive performances (especially by Julia Roberts) to help the viewer understand that, behind the image of a perfect couple, something is really wrong. Unfortunately, after Roberts escapes from her husband, the movie turns into a strictly by-the-numbers thriller, where you can predict almost every development of the script. It's a visually polished movie, though, and the very good performances give it a strong psychological center that keeps it above-average.