Buried Treasures: 'The Last Seduction'

During the 1993-94 season, director John Dahl put out two neo-noir motion pictures — the Nicolas Cage vehicle "Red Rock West" (a very, very good film), and the Linda Fiorentino vehicle "The Last Seduction" (an absolutely outstanding film). Unfortunately, almost no one saw either picture. This month I’d like to focus on "The Last Seduction," a true buried gem, featuring perhaps the most purely evil protagonist since Malcolm McDowell’s Alex in "A Clockwork Orange."

Fiorentino’s Bridget confiscates $700,000 of drug money from her doctor husband, Clay (the always intriguing Bill Pullman), and leaves New York for her hometown of Chicago. Along the way, she stops for a drink in a small town near Buffalo. There, she meets recent divorcee and hometown boy Mike (Peter Berg, who has since gone on to become a writer-director). Using an assumed name, Bridget takes a job at the insurance company where Mike works and attempts to coerce him into joining her in a get-rich-quick scheme involving selling murders-for-hire to women whose husbands are cheating.

Back in New York, Clay has been approached by loan sharks, causing him to hire a private eye to track down Bridget (and, he correctly presumes, his money). As if this isn’t a wild enough setup, Bridget eventually cons Mike into traveling to New York to kill Clay. The deeper we descend into Bridget’s world, we begin to wonder not only what Bridget is capable of but where she might draw the line. This is an extremely intelligent but morally compromised young woman, who apparently knows very few boundaries. She’s not only manipulative, but she astutely covers her tracks at every turn — destroying any evidence that might implicate her involvement.

Credit screenwriter Steve Barancik, who has written a multi-layered story so intricate it reminds me of Robert Towne’s award-winning screenplay for "Chinatown." This is one you’ll want to go back and re-watch once you uncover all the plot twists. Dahl’s direction is superb, melding a classic film noir tone with a variety of dark red colors and hues — giving The Last Seduction an unsettled feeling of urgency not common to the noir genre. It’s a fascinating blend of directorial styles.

As Bridget, Fiorentino is pure gold. Not since Bette Davis in "Whatever Happened to Baby Jane" has a female antihero been so brazen. She should have been nominated for a Best Actress Oscar (and might very well have won, as 1994 was not a particularly great year for female roles), if not for a technicality of sorts; "The Last Seduction" premiered on HBO prior to its big-screen release, rendering it ineligible for Oscar consideration.

In another ironic twist, ITC Entertainment (now part of Universal Studios) was under the impression Dahl was making a low-budget late-night HBO skin flick. When ITC executives learned Dahl was actually making an art film, they called Dahl and his principals into his office and made them pledge that they had “no artistic pretensions.” The entire crew was then docked a day’s pay. Things like this simply don’t happen to Quentin Tarantino or Martin Scorsese.

But that’s one of the reasons I love "The Last Seduction." It may have been made on a low budget, but it’s an ambitious picture — and one that is equal parts satisfying and frightening. Frightening because you can’t help but imagine meeting this woman at your own local watering hole, Satisfying because this is a great film — one you can tell your friends about, and they’ll think you’re a genius for uncovering such a gem.

If I could compare "The Last Seduction" to other films, I would choose two from the 1980s – the Coen Brothers’ "Blood Simple" and the David Lynch classic "Blue Velvet." The intricate, layered story coupled with a low budget is reminiscent of "Blood Simple," with Fiorentino playing the M. Emmet Walsh role. But Dahl and Barancik owe more to Lynch than anyone. Consider that both "Velvet" and "Seduction" center around a deep dark evil buried underneath small-town innocence. Dennis Hopper in "Velvet" and Fiorentino in "Seduction" are both wicked yet perfectly “presentable” in the light of day. And Dahl’s palette of dark red and orange hues is a direct derivative of the dark blues of the Lynch film.

It’s unfortunate neither Dahl nor Fiorentino found much success after "The Last Seduction." Fiorentino appeared in "Men in Black" but hasn’t appeared in anything since 2009. And Dahl now directs exclusively for television. Their careers each peaked with "The Last Seduction," this month’s Buried Treasure.

Andy Ray's reviews of current films appear on http://www.artschannelindy.com/