Introduction

Abstract

In the final shot of Fatal Attraction, the camera zooms into the family photograph and holds it in the centre of the frame. It depicts the gilt framed image of Dan (the errant father), his wife, Beth (the perfect mother and his mistress’s killer) and their daughter Ellen, in pride of place among a jumble of domestic items on the hall sideboard. Prominent among these items are a key rack and a set of keys, conventional symbols of domestic possession and residence. In the photograph itself, Beth holds Ellen close and both are smiling. Dan, his arm round his wife, looks enigmatically into the camera, his expression uncommitted while his posture is possessive; he leans towards his wife and child. This final shot is held for several seconds before the end-title comes up and the credits roll across it. The Gallaghers are a torn family, not completely restored at the end, yet are here represented back to themselves — and to us — as whole. The father is flawed (it was his indiscretion which caused the ensuing mayhem, and his actions which were inadequate to contain or resolve it) and yet he is represented as familial guardian, possessing and self-possessed. The mother, too, is a paradox, perfect but neglectful, caring but not careful enough, passive but active, the good mother who is also a murderer. Despite their encircling embrace, they have failed to protect the child, object of both desire and abuse throughout the film.

A body of individuals living in one household, consisting of male, female, young, servants, dog, cat, dicky-bird, cockroaches, bedbugs and fleas — the ‘unit’ of modern civilised society.

Ambrose Bierce, Devil’s Dictionary