Single White Female - DVDfever.co.uk

Single White Femaleis based on John Lutz‘s novel, “SWF seeks same”, SWF standingfor the title of the film and the book title is the advert placed on theinternet by New York computer software consultant Allie Jones (BridgetFonda), who seems to be unlucky in her career as much as in love, as shechucked her boyfriend Sam (Steven Weber) out for continuing to sleep withhis ex-wife.

Several girls come and go as they apply for the room, but when Allie is at herlowest ebb, mousy Hedra Carlson (Jennifer Jason Leigh) walks into theflat and into her life. Through the events that follow, the girls bond and afterHedra seeks reassurance on the permanency of her tenancy, Allie promises herthat Sam will not be making a reappearance in the flat.

However, as time passes and Sam makes calls to the flat, our first signs thatHedra isn’t quite all there come when she wipes his calls from the answerphonebefore Allie gets to hear them, she buys an expensive puppy for the flat thenpretends he was given away at the market and to cap it all, pretends that shewas one of a pair of twins, her sister having died at birth, when we know fromthe opening titles that this wasn’t the case. If all that seems odd, it’snothing compared to the stunts she gets up to later, including dressing up andaltering her appearance to look like Allie.

Yes, Hedra is completely hat-stand and it’s going to take a little while beforeAllie finds out…although it may be too late by the time she does.

The word is that the American release of the film was censored for nudity -which is displayed from both Leigh and Fonda at times – and Leigh displays acertain sexy charm throughout, or maybe it is that she just reminds me of anex-girlfriend. In either case, my ex certainly didn’t want to use me for ashoe rack…

There’s also welcome support from the prolific Stephen Tobolowsky whohas always appeared in secondary and tertiary roles and, for my money, is asdeserving as the late, great J.T. Walsh, as one of the few supporting actorswho deserves to have had their name above the title on a regular basis.

This isn’t a film about lush visuals, but all scenes in the film from theNew York cityscapes to the drab flat interiors are free of artifacts and ajoy to watch. The film is presented in its original widescreen ratio of 1.85:1and is enhanced for 16:9 widescreen televisions – thus allowing for 33% higherresolution – and the average bitrate is a good 4.93 Mb/s, occasionally peakingover 7Mb/s.

The film was only made in Dolby Stereo – which translates to Dolby Surround orProLogic in the home given the requisite equipment – and is presented inDolby Digital 2.0 to give as much clarity as possible to the dialogue andcreepy sound FX as Hedra goes on the trail.

Jennifer was to ensure that Bridget would get the point…

Extras : Chapters :There are 35 chapters for the 103-minute film which is most welcomed andmirrors the Region 1 DVD. The original theatrical trailer is also included. Languages/Subtitles :Just one language for the dialogue – English – and the menu selection for thisis a curious one. Clearly there’s just one option on that page and you can’teven select it, which is very odd, but rest assured you’re not going to behearing anything different unless you press the “mute” button on your remote.

Subtitles are available in English, Polish, Czech, Hungarian, Icelandic, Hindiand Hebrew.

Menu :The menu is static and silent, with the main menu shot taken from the postercover. On playing the disc, The Columbia TriStar logo is followed by the mainmenu.

Upon selecting the “Start Movie” option, you just see the copyright info beforethe film starts. There’s no DD helicopter demo this time.

This is a hugely entertaining thriller and if you’ve only seen the trailer,you’ll wonder how Allie gets in so deep without realising that Hedra is acomplete fruitcake. However, the build-up is carried out with style and at asteady pace, the initial signs of madness being brought in at just the righttime, giving the viewers no chance to take their eyes off the ball.

If I had any complaints it would be the music used over the end credits.The cover version of “State of Independence” fades in as the film endsand it really doesn’t fit in in any way.

There’s not a lot in the way of extras, but there’s nothing the American DVDhas that this one doesn’t and given the great picture quality, it’s well wortha look.

FILM : ****½PICTURE QUALITY: *****SOUND QUALITY: *****EXTRAS: *——————————-OVERALL: ****

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Dom Robinson

Reviewer of movies, videogames and music since 1994. Aortic valve operation survivor from the same year. Running DVDfever.co.uk since 2000. Nobel Peace Prize winner 2021.

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