A Perfect Murder (1998)
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A wealthy trader recruits his wife's lover to commit a murder, only to find himself entangled in a web of blackmail and betrayal.
The story
Wall Street trader Steven Taylor is married to the much younger Emily, who is having an affair with an artist named David Shaw. Upon discovering the affair, Steven learns David's true identity as an ex-convict and recruits him to murder Emily for $500,000. Steven orchestrates a plan to make the crime look like a robbery gone wrong. However, the plan begins to unravel when an initial attempt on Emily's life fails, leading to a dangerous game of cat and mouse as Steven tries to manage the fallout of the botched hit while dealing with David's growing demands.
Full plot (contains spoilers)
Wall Street trader Steven Taylor recruits his wife's lover, artist David Shaw, to murder Emily for $500,000. Steven provides a key to their Manhattan apartment, intending for David to stage a robbery. During the first attempt, Emily stabs the masked assailant and survives. David later claims he hired a prison associate to do the job. Emily becomes suspicious of Steven's behavior and discovers his risky stock market trades are failing. David eventually blackmails Steven for the full payment. After Steven pays him, he follows David onto an Amtrak train and kills him. However, David reveals he mailed a tape of their conspiracy to Emily. Emily finds the tape and confronts Steven. In a final confrontation, Steven attacks her, but Emily manages to kill him in self-defense. Detective Moe Karaman arrives and comforts her, acknowledging her actions as self-defense.
- First release year
- 1998
- Runtime (minutes)
- 107
- Production countries
- United States
- Original languages
- English; Arabic
- Directors
- Andrew Davis
- Writers
- Patrick Smith Kelly · writer
- Cast and characters
- Michael Douglas · Steven Taylor; Gwyneth Paltrow · Emily; Viggo Mortensen · David Shaw; David Suchet · Detective Moe Karaman
- Genres
- crime thriller; erotic thriller
- Themes
- adultery; greed; betrayal; contract killing
- Tone and mood
- stylish; disturbing
- Premise and plot tags
- remake; crime; thriller; erotic
- Source material / true-story basis
- Dial M for Murder (1954 film)
- Reception
- The film received mixed reviews, with critics praising its plot and acting while some found it less pleasurable than expected. It holds a 55% rating on Rotten Tomatoes and a 50/100 score on Metacritic.
- Reported review scores
- Rotten Tomatoes · score: 55% · review count: 55; Metacritic · score: 50 · scale: 100 · review count: 22
- Production trivia
- The title matches the translation of Hitchcock's film in several languages.; Emily carries an Hermès Kelly bag named after Grace Kelly.; The film features a scene in homage to Dial M for Murder where Douglas's character greets Paltrow with 'There you are!'.
Film metadata comes from the open sources listed in Credits & Contact. Catalogue details may be incomplete.
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