Photo Illustration by Luis G. Rendon/The Daily Beast/Paramount+
In 1988, the landmark film Fatal Attraction defied Academy genre bias by racking up six Oscar nominations, including Best Picture. Although the erotic suspense thriller didn’t take home any of the gold it was up for, it has lived on as a major cultural touchstone, with instantly iconic exchanges of dialogue and plot beats that are seared (or, perhaps, boiled) into viewers’ minds. It even foretold its own legacy, with one unforgettable line: “I’m not going to be ignored.”
Despite all of its undeniable greatness, Fatal Attraction’s depiction of a woman struggling with mental illness was exploitative, and practically cruel. After publishing exec Alex Forrest (Glenn Close) spends a starry-eyed weekend with married lawyer Dan Gallagher (Michael Douglas), she becomes attached to the point of obsession when Dan won’t leave his wife for her. The film relegates Alex to stigma personified; all of her increasingly terroristic actions toward Dan and his family reduce her to the “unhinged woman” trope, albeit a damn fascinating one, thanks to Close’s marvelous performance. It skirts an explanation for Alex’s behavior, and it certainly doesn’t touch on any professional diagnosis, suggesting that all of Dan’s retaliatory moves against her are completely justified.
These issues have only become more troubling in hindsight, as movies have tried to distance themselves from these thorny illustrations seen in psychological thrillers of the past. But look around you: We’re drowning in a sea of remakes. (Another wave crested just last week.) It was only a matter of time before the door left ajar by Fatal Attraction’s unscrupulous treatment of mental illness was kicked open by someone brave—or overzealous—enough to think they can correct all of its mistakes at once.