22-05-2012, 03:08 PM
A Perfect Murder
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A Perfect Murder is a 1998 American thriller film directed by Andrew Davis and starring Michael Douglas,
Gwyneth Paltrow and Viggo Mortensen. It is a modern remake of Alfred Hitchcock's 1954 film, Dial M for Murder,
though the characters' names are all changed, and over half the plot is completely rewritten and altered. Loosely
based on the play by Frederick Knott, the screenplay was written by Patrick Smith Kelly.
Plot summary
Steven Taylor (Michael Douglas) is a Wall Street hedge fund manager whose investments and speculations allow
him to live an extravagant upper class lifestyle with his much younger wife, Emily (Gwyneth Paltrow).
Unfortunately for Taylor, his investments are unraveling, so he will need his wife's personal fortune (roughly 100
million dollars) to maintain that status and lifestyle.
Emily seems a faithful wife, but, in reality, she is having an affair with a painter, David Shaw (Viggo Mortensen),
and is considering leaving her husband. Emily thinks she is safe, but Steven knows everything about the affair. He
has also been able to uncover David’s past as an ex-convict whose real name is Winston Lagrange and who has a
habit of playing con games on rich women.
Alternate ending
An alternate ending exists and is presented (with optional commentary) on the DVD. In this version, Steven comes
back from finding the key replaced where he had hidden it and Emily confronts him in the kitchen rather than in their
foyer. The scene plays out with the same dialogue, but Steven never physically attacks her. He still tells her that the
only way she'll leave him is dead, and she shoots him. But this time Steven says "You won't get away with this"
before dying and Emily purposely injures herself, making it look like self defense.
Comparisons and References To The Original Film
In Hitchcock's Dial M For Murder, the characters played by Ray Milland and Grace Kelly are depicted living in a
modest London flat, although it is implied that they are quite wealthy, as Milland's character, Tony Wendice, is a
retired tennis champion. Similarly, Michael Douglas and Gwyneth Paltrow's characters are also shown as an
extremely wealthy couple. Both Kelly and Paltrow's characters are shown as striking blondes. Both films make use
of the mystery of the fact that no key was found on the dead man when he was killed by both Kelly and Paltrow's
characters, as both their husbands had removed them, in an attempt to pin the crime on their wives.