Dangereusement Belle

Paul Lynch's 'Drop Dead Gorgeous' aka 'Victim Of Beauty' (the latter the better in my opinion) is an under-rated sleeping beauty for thriller fans. Especially those who enjoy a murder mystery with twists and turns. Lynch's Direction is solid for a TV movie. It obviously had a TV Movies Budget. The acting isn't award winning but believable. What makes this movie special is the story. Harriet Steinberg has created a fantastic script. Not so much the dialogue but the way this mystery is plotted and unfolds. Everything a Murder Mystery needs; many suspects, motives, confused sexual orientation, red herrings, an underlying story that occasionally raises its ugly head, and a sting in its tail. Rubin is beautiful, Outerbridge is talented and the supporting cast do a good job.

This is not so much a suspenseful thriller. All Murders happen off camera. We only see the left over bodies. But it is a very good Murder Mystery Thriller with a great twist that works. Check it out.

Jennifer Rubin,(Allie Holton),"Road Kill",'99, gave a great performance as a very pretty innocent looking young gal, who is teaching in a Catholic School and simply loves her job and all the children. However, there is a photographer named Peter Outerbridge,(Dylan Wiatt),"Land of the Dead",'05, who is taking pictures of Allie and finds her very interesting and attractive to even become a model. Dylan contacts Sally Kellerman,(Evelyn Ash),"Open House",'04 who is the boss of a large model agency; Evelyn becomes interested in Allie in more ways than one. Allie seems to prefer men and woman to love and enjoy and desires to make Allie into an International Fashion Model. This film will keep you in suspense and it is not easy to find out who the naughty person turns out be.

Well, first to the plot: There are some very good ideas here, since the way the mystery is revealed is quite good, especially since you are given clues right at the beginning (Rubin's obsession with child abuse) that make the ending quite an "Aha!" experience. On the other hand: So why did Kellerman place those phone calls? And why got Candy killed?? Jennifer Rubin is great, as usual, especially in the last sequence. She again proofs that she is one of the most talented actresses on the screen. The other actors are rather bad compared to her, for example this silly rock star (also the video clip look quite ridiculous). And why did they make Kellerman look so ugly in this film? Well, but the great performance by Rubin saves everything, as usual.

Recently shown on cable tv under the title "Victim of Beauty" this film was made 10 years ago, and on the whole carries itself well. Stunningly photogenic school teacher becomes fashion pin-up though as that career progresses she is followed around by a series of murders. Basically a "whodunnit" what I like is the way the movie constantly teases the viewer as to the identity of the murderer though in hindsight ample clues are given throughout. The plot and the story line are generally ludicrous and preposterous but of course that is the norm for so many films whereby the film-makes expectations of their audience is zero level. Nevertheless this picture is very watchable, the star of the show being the actress portraying a lesbian fashion house head. A scenario dealt with intelligently and maturely. The surprise climax of the film reminds me of classic Hitchcock whereat all the clues fall into place.

This thriller was made for Canadian TV and only redeemed from the B stockpile by the acting of Peter Outerbridge as a wannabe fashion photographer, and the appearance of Sally Kellerman as the agent for "the beauty" Jennifer Rubin. Rubin is perhaps the most lead-footed model I've ever seen, so it's not unexpected when everyone around her begins to be killed, though suicide isn't considered as a motive. While she is attractive, Rubin's acting is so flat and she is so physically stiff that you pray that she will be the next to get it. It's a little like the way Kathleen Turner thought so she was such hot stuff in Body Heat. Here Rubin turns heads in the street even before she starts modeling (in a convenient plot turn), in spite of her dressing the way Outerbridge describes as if for "Siberian Vogue". Outerbridge is a James Spada look-alike without having Spada's mannerist style and whilst his acting is technically superior to Kellerman's, she outclasses him in star power. Given the best nasty lines, she dresses in male drag to prove the claim that she "swings both ways". Director Paul Lynch's work is barely inspired. He slurps over the horror music and gives us close-ups of ringing telephones, though there is an unintentional laugh in the cat scare shot when it appears that the poor kitty has been thrown into frame to approximate it jumping. At least we are spared the cat from being a victim, or Kellerman's highrise balcony being used for someone to be pushed from. The low point is the music video that Rubin participates in, where she is so inept that even her walking requires a choreographer. It's indicative of Lynch's sensibility that when TV news features footage from the "yet unreleased' clip, what we see is the replica of the take we saw being filmed, but magically edited from different shots. If this genius music video director can produce such material (we also know he's a genius because he's the kind who sits on a moving camera and speaks in a British accent) perhaps the Canadian TV producers should have hired him instead of Lynch to make their film. The revelation of the killer jumps over countless red herrings, and is preposterous, but ironically allows Rubin to finally come to life.