Sleeping with the Enemy is the 1991 American psychological thriller directed by Joseph Ruben and starring Julia Roberts, Patrick Bergin and Kevin Anderson. The film is based on the 1987 novel Nancy Price of the same name. Roberts portrays a woman who fled from her abusive husband, from Cape Cod to Cedar Falls, Iowa, where she captured the attention of a benevolent college drama teacher.
Sleeping with Enemies was released theatrically on February 8, 1991. The film on its release received negative reviews from critics but a $ 175 million box office success with a production budget of $ 19 million. The film also broke the record at the highest domestic opening for the women's centric film, the best-selling $ 13 million in its opening weekend over the previous record held by Alien, who earned $ 10 million on its first weekend.
Video Sleeping with the Enemy
Plot
Laura Burney lives in a beautiful beachfront house on Cape Cod with her husband, Martin, an attractive, handsome, and rich investment adviser. Below his charm, Martin had the problem of extreme obsessive control, which had physically and emotionally abused Laura throughout their marriage. She keeps everything to stay home, tells him what to wear, chooses what music he's listening to, and limits his social activities.
One day, Martin was convinced Laura had seduced an interesting neighbor, and she physically assaulted her with jealousy. In an attempt to escape Martin, Laura falsely deaths herself at sea in a storm while the couple are boating. Because Laura deliberately led Martin to believe that she could not swim, she believed she had drowned once she was lost to the sea. However, Laura can swim safely to the beach, because she has just taken swimming lessons at YWCA. Laura quietly returns home, picks up some clothes and cash she's hidden in preparation, disguises herself, and leaves home after flushing her wedding ring in the toilet.
Laura moved to Cedar Falls, Iowa. In preparation, she has told Martin that her blind mother, Chloe Williams, died and pretended to attend the funeral, but secretly transferred her from a nursing home in Minneapolis to Iowa. He rented a simple house, and adopted the name of Sara Waters. At Cedar Falls, he meets Ben Woodward, who teaches drama at the University of Northern Iowa. A relationship develops, but suffers a setback when Ben discovers that his real name is not Sara. After a date, Laura was not physically intimate with Ben, and the next day, she confessed that she was running away from her abusive husband.
Meanwhile, Martin received a call of opportunity from a friend of Laura from YWCA and learned from Laura swimming lessons. His suspicions arise, Martin goes home and finds Laura's wedding ring in the toilet bowl where it fails to flush. From a nursing home in Minneapolis, she learned that Laura's mother was alive, and had a private detective tracking her to a nursing home in Iowa. She visits Laura's mother and tells him that she is a police officer who needs information about Laura. He learned from her that Laura saw a college dramatic teacher at Cedar Falls.
Martin finds Laura and Ben at a local exhibit, then follows her home. After leaving the special signs of his presence around the house so that Laura could find her, like the cans lining the wardrobe, Martin faced it. Ben shows up at the front door and Martin, pointing a gun, threatening to kill Ben if he does not tell him to leave. Laura talks to Ben and he seems to leave, but then he breaks down the door and fights with Martin, who knocks him unconscious. When Martin pointed the gun at Ben, Laura distracted Martin and then attacked him. He dropped the gun and Laura managed to control it; he shot to Martin but failed.
Laura holds Martin at gunpoint when she calls the police. He told police he had just killed an intruder, hung up the phone and shot Martin three times.
When Martin fell to the ground, he dropped the gun and fainted, crying. Martin, not dead, picks up a gun and tries to shoot him, but his pistol just clicks blank and he dies. Ben is revived by Laura. They hug as Martin's corpse lying on the ground with Laura's wedding ring inches from his hand.
Maps Sleeping with the Enemy
Cast
- Julia Roberts as Laura Williams Burney/Sara Waters
- Patrick Bergin as Martin Burney
- Kevin Anderson as Ben Woodward
- Elizabeth Lawrence as Chloe Williams
- Harley Venton as Garber
- Shackelford Password as Edna
- Bonnie Johnson as Mrs. Neppert
Release
Critical reception
In November 2011, the film rated Rotten 24% based on 34 reviews on Rotten Tomatoes.
Roger Ebert gave the movie 1.5 stars in its release, calling it "the slasher in disguise movie, an up-market version of the old exploit formula in which the victim could run, but he can not hide."
box office
The opening of the film ended Home Alone ' for eleven weeks above the box office. At the end of the release, the film grossed $ 101,599,005 at the domestic box office; with an international total of $ 73,400,000, worldwide gross film is $ 174,999,005; based on a $ 19 million budget, the film was a success at the box office. The film was released in the UK on April 12, 1991, and opened at # 2, behind Highlander II: The Quickening. The following week, the film stays in the same position.
Soundtrack
The original music for the film is composed and performed by Jerry Goldsmith. Columbia Records released an album along with a movie containing more than 38 minutes plus Van Morrison's song "Brown Eyed Girl." In 2011, La-La Land Records issued a limited edition album of 3500 copies that expanded the Goldsmith score (but eliminated the song).
Home media releases
The film reached # 1 on the rental chart. It was released on LaserDisc in Australia, USA, UK and Japan by Fox Video in 1991. It also received various releases at VHS, released on DVD on September 2, 2003 and then entered Blu ray market in June 2011.
Awards
Score by Jerry Goldsmith won the BMI Film Music Award, 1992, and the film was nominated for the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & amp; Horror Films Saturn Award for 1992 in four categories: Best Actress (Roberts), Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actor (Bergin), Best Horror Movie and Best Music (Goldsmith).
Remake
References
External links
- Sleep with Enemies on IMDb
- Sleep with Enemies on AllMovie
- Sleep with Enemies in Mojo Box Office
- Sleep with Enemies at Rotten Tomatoes
Source of the article : Wikipedia