| Director: | Barbet Schroeder |
| Producer: | Barbet Schroeder |
| Screenplay: | Don Roos |
| Music: | Howard Shore |
| Cinematography: | Luciano Tovoli |
| Editing: | Lee Percy |
| Distributor: | Columbia Pictures |
| Runtime: | 108 minutes |
| Country: | United States |
| Language: | English |
| Budget: | $16 million |
| Gross: | $84.1 million |
Single White Female is a 1992 American psychological erotic thriller film based on John Lutz's 1990 novel SWF Seeks Same. It stars Bridget Fonda and Jennifer Jason Leigh and was directed by Barbet Schroeder. It follows recently estranged Allison Jones (Fonda), who begins to rent an apartment room to Hedra Carlson (Leigh). After she reconciles with her ex-boyfriend, she begins to find strange patterns of behavior in her tenant.
Despite its box office success, Single White Female received mixed reviews from critics, but both Fonda and Leigh received praise for their performances.[1] [2] It was also successful in the home video market, and finished in the top 10 video rentals of 1993.[3] Released during the "golden age" of the erotic thriller, it became a cultural touchstone for later thrillers, and in subsequent years has become a cult film.[4] [5]
New York City software designer Allison "Allie" Jones is engaged to Sam Rawson. Sam's ex-wife calls, and when it is revealed that he slept with her recently, Allie throws him out, breaking off their engagement. Her neighbor, aspiring actor Graham Knox, comforts her. The next morning, Allie attends a business lunch with Mitchell Myerson, a fashion house owner looking to buy Allie's revolutionary new program. He pressures her into significantly reducing the price; as he is her first and only client, she accepts.
Allie advertises for a new roommate and settles on Hedra Carlson, whom she nicknames "Hedy", and they become friends. Hedy explains that her twin was stillborn, and that she is alone in the world. Hedy erases Sam's voicemail asking Allie to reconcile with him, and buys a puppy named Buddy to console Allie, but becomes jealous when Sam wins Allie back and they seek a new apartment for themselves. Perceiving Allie as having rejected her, Hedy is upset and becomes further frustrated when Buddy does not come to her even when she coaxes him. Allie and Sam later find Buddy's corpse on the ground below her apartment's window. Returning to the apartment, Allie sees that the window was open with a gap wide enough for Buddy to get through. Hedy claims that Buddy's death was an accident because she had thought the bars outside the window had been fixed.
As Allie prepares for an evening meeting at Mitchell's company, she discovers that Hedy has bought copies of much of Allie's clothing. After the meeting, Mitchell tries to coerce Allie into performing fellatio on him upon completing their deal, threatening to warn off future clients and not pay her, but she fights back and escapes. Seeing how distraught Allie is by the encounter, Hedy calls Mitchell and threatens him. To comfort Allie, Hedy takes her to get a haircut, but after Hedy reveals she has gotten a haircut and coloring to perfectly match Allie's, Allie is unnerved. That night, Allie follows Hedy to an underground sex club and witnesses Hedy using her name. Allie finds a shoebox containing letters addressed to Ellen Besch – Hedy's real name – along with a letter from Sam to Allie, and a newspaper clipping on the drowning of Hedy's twin sister Judy when she was nine years old.
Allie, disturbed by Hedy's increasing attempts to copy her and by the discoveries in the shoebox, goes to Graham's apartment to seek advice. While Allie tells Graham the truth about Hedy, they are unaware Hedy is listening. Hedy sneaks into Graham's apartment, and after Allie leaves, attacks Graham. When Sam returns the following night, Hedy goes to his hotel room, impersonates Allie, and performs oral sex on him. She begs him to leave Allie alone, but he refuses and insists on telling Allie the truth. Furious, Hedy kills him by stabbing him in the eye with her stiletto heel.
The following morning, Hedy is cleaning the apartment and moving her belongings out; she tells Allie she is about to leave. Seeing a news report on Sam's death and finding the bloody stilettos, Allie realizes what has happened and tries to leave, but Hedy takes her hostage at gunpoint, explaining that everyone will believe Allie killed Sam. Hedy tries to convince her that they must run away.
Mitchell discovers his accounting files are being erased by Allie's computer program, and rushes to find Allie. He finds her bound and gagged with duct tape, but while he attempts to free Allie, Hedy shoots and kills him. Hedy then tries to persuade Allie to commit suicide via drug overdose, but Allie resists. Graham regains consciousness and attacks Hedy before collapsing. Hedy shoots Allie in the shoulder, chases her, and seemingly strangles her to death in the elevator. Hedy plans to dispose of the body in the basement incinerator, but Allie recovers and escapes. Allie manages to stab Hedy in the back with a screwdriver, and Hedy dies in front of her. In an epilogue, Allie narrates that she has finally moved on. She forgives Hedy for killing Sam, and tries to forgive herself for Hedy's death.
The Ansonia on New York City's Upper West Side was used for the exterior shots of the apartment block.[6]
Following a poor test screening, the ending was reshot.[7]
The film debuted at No. 2 at the US box office on its opening weekend behind Unforgiven,[8] [9] and grossed $48 million at the box office in the United States and Canada, while it grossed $36 million overseas, for a worldwide total of $84 million.
On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 53% based on 49 reviews, with an average rating of 5.30/10. The site's critics consensus states: "Single White Female benefits from a pair of outstanding leads, neither of whom are well served by a storyline that wavers between thrillingly tense and utterly ridiculous."[10]
Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B−" on an A+ to F scale.[11]
Roger Ebert gave the film three stars out of four with the comment, "No genre is beyond redemption or beneath contempt, and here the slasher genre is given its due with strong performances and direction."[12] He also questioned why the character Hedra had been given such an unusual name.[12]
Hal Hinson of The Washington Post wrote: "Though Schroeder consciously evokes Hitchcock's Vertigo and Polanski's Rosemary's Baby, the movie conjures up less noble precursors as well, in particular The Hand That Rocks the Cradle, Basic Instinct and other recent psycho femme thrillers. What's remarkable, though, is how engrossing the marriage of these high - and low-brow elements turns out to be. The tension between its content and its trashy form is precisely the key to its vitality. If it were any less cheap, it wouldn't have the same edgy, gut-twisting jolt."[13]
Jack Garner of Gannett News Service praised the films visual appeal, writing "The cinematography of Luciano Tovoli plays evocatively with shadows and light, and the production design of Milena Canonero adds an important element to the mix – the large somewhat spooky New York apartment building that is as much a part of Single White Female as the Dakota was in Rosemary's Baby."[14]
Jennifer Jason Leigh won a MTV Movie Award for Best Villain, and was also nominated for a Chicago Film Critics Association Award for Best Actress.
The character of Hedy has been cited as an example of borderline personality disorder. She suffers from a markedly disturbed sense of identity, and tries to remedy it by adopting the wholesome attributes of her roommate. It is implied that she feels a deep-seated emptiness, while her fear of abandonment leads to drastic measures.[15]
The film was followed by a 2005 direct to video sequel, , starring Kristen Miller, Allison Lange and Brooke Burns.
Single White Female was released on VHS and LaserDisc in January 1993 from Columbia TriStar Home Video, and eventually on DVD in February 1998. The film was released on Blu-ray from Scream Factory on November 13, 2018, featuring new interviews with director Barbet Schroeder, actors Steven Weber and Peter Friedman and screenwriter Don Roos, an audio commentary from Schroeder, editor Lee Percy and associate producer Susan Hoffman, and a theatrical trailer.
As of December 2016, NBC was developing a television adaptation of the film.[16]