Hard to believe, darlings, but the fabled thriller does turn 30, this year. Now, we know that is Anne Archer screaming, and we know why--it's that damn bunny boiling in the pot. Le lapin, dolls. Rabbit stew!!!!!!!!!!!!
One thing that will always bother me about the film is how it ended. I don't care it just was not that satisfying. Dan Gallagher (Michael Douglas) should have gotten his, but doesn't. The honor of male heterosexuality and suburban complacency had to be preserved--God forbid they should be violated.
I have always been asked what would be a satisfying ending to the film. I was never able to arrive at an answer--until I thought about things, from the rabbit's point of view!!!!!!!!!!!!!
The ending starts and finishes with the rabbit. Instead of Anne, the camera follows Alex (Glenn Close) cleverly sneaking into the house, while the family is out. She goes to the kitchen, fills the pot, slices up some veggies, throws them in, and sets it to boil.
She goes out to the yard, takes the rabbit out of its cage, carrying it into the house. She holds it over the pot. But--before she can throw it in, or slash it, the creature comes to life, a la "Night Of The Lepus," bears its fangs at her, leaps for her neck, knocks her down, and throttles her in the throat, dead.
Continue the film, as is, from there. Anne enters, is surprised, and screams. Only she is not screaming over the dead rabbit. She is screaming over the dead Alex, with the bloodied rabbit, standing over her on its hind legs, showing its teeth, and applauding with its front paws. Now the words "THE END."
What a perfect way to honor this film, as well as rabbits. So much more satisfying, too.
Don't you think so, dolls???????????????????
Have you seen the 2 hour special about the making of "Fatal Attraction"? It was recently aired again on Reelz tv. The producers said that when they aired the movie (with original ending) to a preview audience, when Michael Douglas came back home to mess the bed up, they started cheering. They were worried that the audience wouldn't forgive Michael's betrayal. They were more than surprised when they forgave him that soon.
ReplyDeleteMichael Douglas even made some comment about how he can get away with that (he was trying to be funny). However, the audience HATED the original ending. They thought that Michael being carted away to possibly spend the rest of his life in prison was too big of a punishment for his "crime". They also still hated it when Ann Archer found the proof that Glenn Close had committed suicide.
They went back to the drawing board and came up with the ending we have today. At first, Glenn was so opposed to it, she almost refused. Then she talked to some psychiatrists who told her that the character could end up doing what she did (breaking into the house to kill).
Anyway, just purely a fyi. I liked the ending we got. I do agree that Michael got away with cheating and Ann seemed to let him off the hook. I know I wouldn't have, with a bunny boiler or not. One thing bothered me, the woman gets the blame. She didn't break any vows to Anne, Michael did. But, it wasn't your typical woman, and if it had been, it would have been a completely different movie.
Sorry that I used the actor's names, just too lazy to look up the character names.
I just stumble across your site the other day and now I'm looking at past and present blogs.
Cheers! No real need to respond, just putting in my two cents, or really just a penny.
ReplyDeleteI try to respond all my readers. I think I saw
the documentary you mentioned, or a shortened version
thereof, on my DVD edition of the film. All the points
you mentioned I was familiar with, so we must have seen
the same thing.
Thirty years later, I don't know what ending would
have satisfied. I wondered; had the film been made
today, would it have made a difference?