Movies - To Die For

Home > Listing Index > Movies > To Die For

	Movies - To Die For

To Die For is a 1995 film written by Buck Henry, based on the novel of the same name by Joyce Maynard (ISBN 0595269397), and directed by Gus Van Sant. It stars Nicole Kidman, Matt Dillon and Joaquin Phoenix. Major supporting roles feature Illeana Douglas, Wayne Knight, Casey Affleck, Dan Hedaya and Alison Folland.

The film includes cameo appearances by George Segal, David Cronenberg, author Maynard, and screenwriter Henry. It features original music by Danny Elfman.

Kidman was nominated for a BAFTA and won a Golden Globe Award for her performance.

To Die For is a mixture of styles, combining a traditional drama with darkly comic direct-to-camera monologues by Kidman's character, and mockumentary interviews, some tragic, with certain of the other characters in the film.

The film (and the novel it's based on) are both inspired by the facts that came out during the trial of Pamela Smart, who was imprisoned for seducing a young man and convincing him to kill her husband.

Suzanne Stone (Kidman) is a young, beautiful, and ruthless woman who dreams of being a world famous news anchor. To that end, she marries Larry Maretto (Dillon) because she believes his Mafia connections will keep her financially comfortable, and starts climbing the network news ladder, beginning as a weather girl at a local news station. When Larry, who truly loves Suzanne, starts asking her to take time off from her career to start a family, she immediately plots to get rid of him, seducing her favorite student, Jimmy (Phoenix), and strong-arming him and his friends into killing Larry. The story becomes national news, and Suzanne finally has the stardom she's always wanted — while Jimmy goes to prison for life. In the end, however, Suzanne finally gets her comeuppance when Larry's family has her murdered. In a final irony, Jimmy's plain, unassuming friend Lydia (Folland), whom the WASPy Suzanne always dismissed as "trailer trash," becomes a rich and famous from telling her side of the story on television.

The film has been called a satire on the tabloid media and the "culture of celebrity" in America; In an oft-repeated line, Suzanne and other characters say "You're nobody in America if you're not on TV." It could also be seen as a comment on the artificiality of the American ideal of beauty; Suzanne is the perfect replica of the blonde, blue-eyed, well-endowed beauty, but she is also a cold, remorseless psychopath.

The film, and Kidman's performance in particular, won high critical praise, but performed only modestly at the box office.

Category:Films directed by Gus Van Sant Category:1995 films Category:Films based on actual events Category:Films based on fiction books Category:Satirical films

[ Visit the complete Wikipedia entry for To Die For ]

This page is based on the copyrighted Wikipedia article To Die For; it is used under the GNU Free Documentation License. You may redistribute it, verbatim or modified, providing that you comply with the terms of the GFDL.

Searches on eBay