17 July 2024

Review: Single White Female

Blu-ray: Single White Female (1992)

It’s interesting how time changes people’s perceptions aren’t it? Take ‘Single White Female, a film Based on John Lutz’s 1990 novel ‘SWF Seeks Same’, the name itself is problematic for 2024 – and that’s not the only thing.

Directed by once ‘French new wave’ filmmaker Barbet Schroeder and starring the now retired Bridget Fonda as perfectly beautiful Allie and Jennifer Jason Leigh as Hedra her nutty room-mate, it tells the story as an ‘erotic thriller’ (cue lots of shadow sex and pert nipples) of a young professional whiter than white woman (in an amazingly large apartment) who after finding out her boyfriend has been sleeping with his ex-wife (he just couldn’t help it…..) looks for a room a mate to fill her ’void’.

It’s soon apparent that ‘Hedy’ is a bit bonkers, telling Allie she was a twin and the other sibling was stillborn, leaving her constantly lonely. She buys a puppy for Allie and you instantly guess that puppy will be a goner soon. She is drab with long stringy hair and hippyish clothes and an obvious mental problem and you know that soon she will get her hair cut like Allie and start buying the same clothes as Allie. TICK. And the final standoff will be sleeping with Allies once estranged, now welcomed back because she can’t live without him despite his infidelity, boyfriend. Sigh. Oh! And I must not forget the magic air vent in the apartments, that transmit all the sex and plot points, enabling Hedy to hear Allie tell a neighbour that Hedy is bonkers – but nothing else (does the neighbour survive?).

This film is very much of its time, like an ‘all woman’ Fatal Attraction where the women are either mad and promiscuous or needy and pliable for their man, yet angry and empowered when an employer tries to make Allie give him a BJ. Even the ending, where a chase ensues using screwdrivers and planks and lots of banging heads into door frames is all…. Meh.

I know SWF is a cult film and Dave enjoyed it very much (I always enjoy how ridiculous it all is), but I am just tired of ‘mad’ Vs ‘beautiful’ women no matter how long ago the film was made.

So it’s a no from me.

SPECIAL FEATURES:

High Definition remaster
Original English stereo audio
Audio commentary with director Barbet Schroeder, editor Lee Percy, and associate producer Susan Hoffman (2018)
New York Interview: Barbet Schroeder(2018): the director discusses the production and release of Single White Female
Upstairs with Graham Knox (2018): actor Peter Friedman recalls his casting and relates some anecdotes from the set
The Fiance Sam Rawson (2018): in-depth interview with actor Steven Weber
SWF Seeks Writer (2018): screenwriter Don Ross looks back on his adaptation of John Lutz’s novel and working with Schroder
She’ll Follow You Anywhere (2024): the critic, broadcaster, and author of Unlikeable Female Characters Anna Bogutskaya dissects and contextualises the film within the context of the erotic thriller
Original theatrical trailer
Image gallery: promotional and publicity material
New and improved English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
Limited edition exclusive book with a new essay by Georgia Humphreys, archival essays, a contemporary article on the making of the film, and full film credits
UK premiere on Blu-ray
Limited edition of 3,000 copies for the UK