Passion criminelle

Beth Knowlton is an Arizona college student who aspires to be a photographer. Unbeknownst to Beth, she has caught the eye of Stephen Primes, a much older teacher at the college. Primes begins to insinuate himself into Beth's life and mistakenly believes they are forming a relationship. Soon, Beth is living in fear, never knowing what Primes will do next. Her mother, a judge, is helpless to protect her. Beth flees to another state, but Primes is relentless; a showdown is inevitable.

I love these.movies made before ca. 1997. The atmosohere and acting is really good. However there was only one thing to criticize is the last 20 minutes of the movie. That could have been much better. But all in all I give it a weak 7 out of 10.

When I told my mom I was longing on to comment some movies, she told me to remember this and give and give it a good rating, I gave it a nine, since as much as I usually loathe Lifetime movies, for their country chitlin', and drunken cliches, I found this movie quite chilling, and it makes you think, it could happen at anytime.

All in all, this was an OK TV movie. Most of the cast pulled it off well. Joanna Cassidy is always worth watching and never fails to steal the show. And Jere Burns once again plays the creepy stalker to the hilt. However, Brooke Langton as the daughter is this naive, vapid, good-two-shoes who knows this creep is stalking her, but still just takes it all in stride. Her mom tells her, "Sometimes you're too nice for your own good." Frankly, her mom should have been horrified that she raised a daughter who is such a simpleton. This girl doesn't even have the sense to freak out when her stalker breaks into her home and leaves a bottle of champagne in the fridge. So, storyline and supporting cast are fine, but why is the stalker victim the lamest member of the cast?

I'm not sure why exactly this is my favorite made-for-TV, Lifetime-esquire movie ever, but it is. I remember watching it for the first time years ago and it always stuck with me. I think the reason that is has stuck with me is, and this is really corny, but I thought the women were very strong and realistic characters. While they seem to exhibit some questionable judgment towards the end, the entire movie I kept thinking how much I could relate to the characters' actions and feelings. I especially liked the advice the mother gave the daughter about boundaries, and I paraphrase: "You have to have boundaries. You have to draw lines and let people know where you stand." Also, the guy that plays the stalker is absolutely effective; he irritates me/creeps me out the moment he steps on screen. Overall, a pretty good film, you know, for TV.

This is the story of a beautiful, smart college girl (Brooke Langton) who becomes the obsession of a part-time college professor (Jere Burns). As he stalks her and makes her life miserable, even her judge mother (Joanna Cassidy) is unable to stop him.

All three leads give credible performances, the script and direction is sharp and the Arizona and Colorado locales are wonderful. It's a very well made TV movie.