Deception drives 'The Last Seduction'

By Dini S. Djalal

JAKARTA (JP): In the midst of generic action thrillers and kiddie comedies, here comes a film with more sting than a nest of hornets. The Last Seduction, a 1994 television production at last being shown in cinemas here, is an unmissable film noir that will keep wry audiences chuckling through the treacherous plot.

The film contains all the ingredients of movie magic -- a suspenseful plot, sharp dialog, great humor, flawless performances and not one extraneous scene. This is director John Doahl's second low-budget and critically-acclaimed HBO film to be released on wide screens, proving that fine cinema does not require multimillion-dollar financing.

Television credits did not deter critics, but they are not enough for Hollywood. At the 1995 Academy Awards, critics and audiences were outraged that The Last Seduction star Linda Fiorentino was snubbed in the Best Actress nominations. The Academy reasoned that The Last Seduction was made for television and not for cineplexes.

Fiorentino did not complain. In fact, the 12 years that she's spent in the movie business have crawled past, until now, uneventfully. She debuted as Matthew Modine's love interest in 1985's Vision Quest, largely remembered as the vehicle for Madonna's ballad Crazy for you. She followed this with more girlfriend roles in Martin Scorcese's After Hours, in Gotcha and Alan Rudolph's The Moderns. Then she vanished into video stores' B-movie sections, after saying no to roles in Top Gun, Robert De Niro's We're No Angels, and Basic Instinct.

When asked by Premiere Magazine why she turned down box-office hits, she says that she simply never had, "this driving passion that other actors do." But Fiorentino's complacency for stardom does not mean she's a pushover. Instead, her on-screen tough reputation is cemented by her no-nonsense philosophy. "You may not think I have the power to say no, but that's all I have. All anybody has in this life is the power to say, 'I don't really want to go in there and kill those people in the 7-eleven,'" said Fiorentino about her career decisions.

In The Last Seduction, Fiorentino's character Bridget does not kill people in the 7-eleven, but anywhere else Bridget's scheming mind prefers. Bridget is the ultimate femme fatale: a fast- talking, chain-smoking, gum-spitting wunderfrau with Lauren- Bacall locks and eyes as dark as her murderous thoughts. Even with her lean, mannish figure, Bridget is possibly the sexiest celluloid temptress in years, indulging in bare-bottomed antics which make Sharon Stone seem like Little Red Riding Hood. Of course, some men may wince at Bridget's aggressiveness, but these are the same men Bridget would spit out by breakfast.

These horizontal (or in Bridget's case, vertical) adventures form the backbone of the film, but for Indonesian screens, they have been diligently chopped up for family viewing. More relevant, however, is that the film's superb black humor is often lost in the subtitles. One can figure Bridget's man-eating mentality from the way she kicks off her stiletto heels, but the breadth of her intoxicating nastiness does not even begin to show in the translations.

Consider, for example, the following bon mots -- Bridget's lawyer (played by veteran actor J.T. Walsh): "Is my mouth moving too fast for you?; Bridget: "Not fast enough, as I remember it". Try also translating the lines "Anyone check you for a heartbeat lately?", or the come-on retort: "Okay Mr. Ed, let's see the merchandise". Even without sex scenes, this is an R-rated film.

The very idea of the film is for adults only. To the tune of a jazz tempo, Bridget and her husband Clay (Bill Pullman) pull off a US$700,000 drug deal. After being slapped across the face by Clay, Bridget heads off to Chicago with the money. On the highway, her car runs out of gas, and she saunters into a small town bar in upstate New York for a stiff drink.

In the bar, Bridget meets fate, or rather, fate comes on to Bridget. The first shot of Mike (Peter Berg), Bridget's soon-to- be toy-boy, is a symbolic, premonitory gem. The camera moves in slow motion as hapless Mike stares down the bottom of his beer mug. It's the last time Mike's life moves at a pace he can understand.

From then on, it's a masterly-edited whirlwind of deception. During their priceless banter, Mike tries his best to keep up with Bridget's sharp wit, but the milk-fed, fresh-scrubbed yokel is fighting a losing battle. Bridget's eyes are always darting about, showing her restlessness and her effortless flair to always be one step ahead in the game.

And it's a dangerous game they're playing. Bridget wants the money, Clay wants the money, and Mike wants to get out of Beston. This is what makes the film so refreshing: none of the characters are sympathetic. Berg expertly portrays a wannabe who thinks he's better than his small town, and it's his vanity that gets him out of Beston -- far, far away.

Pullman also has a great role. Often playing earnest all- American dullards, this time Pullman gets to show off his great sinister sneer but also his endearing slapstick wit. And Pullman pulls off the incredible act of matching Bridget's perversion -- Clay is visibly turned on even when he's tied up in front of her.

But it's Fiorentino's movie. Whether pretending at being lovesick, laughing at her own depravity, or feeling genuine vulnerability, she is an expert at keeping audiences wide-eyed in her presence. Fiorentino is an unlikely, but incomparable heroine: smart, sassy, hot, cool, and very, very funny.

Fiorentino followed The Last Seduction with Joe Eszterhas' Jade, a torrid attempt at capitalizing on Fiorentino's femme fatale fame. Yet, as in real-life, Fiorentino does not conform to type, and future films should tap into her obviously enormous talent. Rumor has it that Quentin Tarantino is calling her for his film projects. Fed with his audacious scripts and lit in his technicolor brilliance, Fiorentino could well be the gorgeous mouthpiece of 21st century cinema's newest prodigy.