Killing me softly

Year of release : 2002

Run time : 1h40m

Genre : Erotic Thriller / Mystery

Cast : Joseph Fiennes, Heather Graham, Natascha McElhone

The movie is based on the 1999 novel of the same name by Nicci French,who also co-wrote the script.

Alice is living a comfortable life with her boyfriend in London, although the routine has settled in. One day, pressing the button at the red lights for them to turn green for pedestrians, she sees a man she considers attractive. The man stares at her too, and they keep on walking next to each other, until he crosses the street. Even after, Alice is still looking at him (he stops across the street to stare at her too!), and sees he enters a bookstore.

After, at work, Alice can't focus, as her mind is still on the stranger. She passes by the bookstore and sees him inside, and they end up taking the same cab together (she left work in the middle of the day, I guess on the lunch break,saying she goes to trim her hair). In the cab he asks for her name, but she still doesn't know his!

Inside the house, they have passionate s3x, and he asks her to come back the next day. Alice says she has work, and he says she can come whenever she wants then.

At home, Alice is obviously not happy with the s3x life she has with her boyfriend, as it's not passionate. The next day, she goes by the bookstore and finally finds out his name, Adam, and goes back to his place.

After they have passionate s3x again, he tells her he is a rock climber, and the book wasn't written by him, and it's about what happened to him and his team one winter, climbing the mountain. He tells her one of the people who died was his girlfriend, Francoise.

Alice tells her boyfriend she met someone, and he is obviously upset,but lets her go. The very same night she goes back to his place where she finds a woman. The woman finally tells her she is his sister, and gives her his address.

 

Alice moves in with Adam. One day, after going shopping with one of her friends, a thief steals her wallet after holding her at gun point. Adam, who was coming to meet them, sees the guy, and chases him until he catches him, and beats him to a pulp. After, he gets into a kissing session with Alice, proposing to her. Alice accepts.

Adam seems to be very protective of Alice around his sister, as he's checking the harness his sister put on her, before climbing a wall at the climbing center.

Alice starts receiving calls and letters from an unknown person, who is asking her how well does she know Adam.

They get married, and on their wedding day they hike to a cabin he has in the mountains. Once they get to the cabin, they have more passionate s3x.

Alice keeps on receiving anonymous letters, and she thinks they are from Jake.

Alice is called at work, by the journalist who wrote an article about Adam, who tells her she received a call from a woman who claims Adam r@ped her in the '80's. Posing as the journalist, she finds out the woman might be lying, as she wants to get money from him, for she considers him rich and famous.

 

Alice starts suspecting him, as she realizes she doesn't know much about him. So she unlocks a closet he always keeps locked, and finds letters from his ex girlfriend, Adele, who was writing him she is going back to her husband.

Adam is afraid she is having an affair, as she starts lying to him, and she tells him about Michelle,the woman who contacted the journalist with the r@pe story. Adam says he never r@ped her ,and that the woman always saw him as a way out.

Receiving more letters, she looks up Adele, and finds out she's been missing for 8 months.

I personally enjoyed the movie. It was about the deep true love at first sight. The characters are mad about each other, and then the doubt makes its way into Alice's mind, and ruins a beautiful love story. SPOILER I wish they stayed together. To be honest, I also liked the relationship she had with her previous boyfriend, how they had breakfast together, took the tube together..END OF SPOILERS

The action of the movie takes place within a few weeks!

I didn't quite like how the scenes are cut or end, as they end like the old movies, with the scene freezing, and overlapping the next one. Or they just fade to black while they are in the middle of making love!

The movie has an effed up twist at the end, which you will not see coming.

The actors were good. I liked how the two leads acted, they really seemed in love, in the first stages of their relationship, and they were beautiful.

The soundtrack was Ok.

The movie has the lowest rating I've ever seen, with 0% on Rotten Tomatoes,but please give the movie a try, it's one of the best erotic thrillers I've watched! It has a good love story and plot !

The movie was filmed starting October 2000,and was released in June 2002.

It took 7 days for the actors to film the s3x scenes, for which Heather Graham allegedly refused to wear a "modesty pouch".

Viewer discretion is advised as the movie contains nudity.

Rating : Worth a watch !