Director: Barbet Schroeder
Screenplay: Don Roos
From the novel “SWF Seeks Same” by: John Lutz
Starring: Bridget Fonda, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Steven Weber, Peter Friedman, Stephen Tobolowsky, Frances Bay, Michele Farr, Tara Karsian, Christiana D’Amore (as Christiana Capetillo), Jessica Lundy
Country: United States
Running time: 108 min
Year: 1992
BBFC Certificate: 18
From the late 1980s to mid-1990s, the erotic thriller was big business, both on the big screen and particularly at home, with the rise of cable TV in the USA and home video. Big names in the genre during this period included the hugely successful Fatal Attraction, Basic Instinct and 9 1/2 Weeks, as well as the likes of Wild Orchid, Body of Influence and Color of Night.
Another of the more popular films in the genre was 1992’s Single White Female, which grossed $84 million worldwide, garnered relatively strong reviews and won Jennifer Jason Leigh an MTV Movie Award for Best Villain and a Chicago Film Critics Association Award nomination for Best Actress.
Based on a novel called SWF Seeks Same by John Lutz, the film opens with a flashback of two twin children playing dress-up, before Howard Shore’s foreboding score properly kicks in and we see an apartment block at night. From here we meet software designer Allison (Bridget Fonda) and her fiancé Sam (Steven Weber), who are talking about their upcoming wedding and plans for children. Later that night Sam’s ex-wife calls and a devastated Allison discovers that her fiancé recently slept with his ex.
Sam’s thrown out and Allison advertises for a female roommate. She is now the Single White Female of the title, abbreviated to SWF in the advertisement she places in the newspaper small ads, looking for a similar female singleton. She meets Hedra (Jennifer Jason Leigh) and chooses her as the successful tenant. All is seemingly going swimmingly after the new tenant moves in, with Allison and Hedra instantly clicking and getting on well, but the former reconciles with her ex- fiancé Sam, leading to her new tenant starting to display some very strange behaviour.
This all plays out in the first 30 minutes, although the viewer has already had an early glimpse into some of Hedra’s bizarre behaviour, as she listens to Sam leaving a pleading voicemail in an attempt to get back together with Allison, only to delete it so it can’t be listened to by its intended recipient. This behaviour only gets increasingly troublesome after Sam and Allison reconcile, before developing into full-on psychological thriller territory as Hedra essentially tries to become Allison, copying her hairstyle, dressing and acting like her.
Seeing both characters with the same hairstyle, hair colour and clothes builds a sense of unease – the same unease Allison seemingly feels when she first sees Hedra copying her look – and it only gets more unnerving when Hedra gets into bed with Sam as he sleeps. Which leads onto the erotic aspects of the film. This is an erotic thriller, so there are sex scenes and nudity, but they’re not at the fore for much of the film; it’s more of a psychological thriller.
There are so many elements of the film that work, from the acting of the two female leads to the camera work. The camera focuses on the characters, with lots of tight angles of faces and reactions during conversations. This, coupled with the fact much of the film plays out in the apartment block, creates a sense of claustrophobia.
The apartment set is excellent, it’s a very old building – the lift not working all the time and looking very dated; and the apartment having very high ceilings, a beautiful wood panelled floor and lots of light from large windows, used to excellent effect both during the day and during the night when the shadows play out onto walls. The age of the apartment means it’s difficult to have privacy, as conversations can be heard in other apartments through the ventilation system.
Without wanting to spoil things too much for first-time viewers, there are so many visual clues that play out early in the film, which are returned to for key scenes and plot developments; the twin girls who feature as the opening credits roll, silver heeled shoes, a dog, medication, that aforementioned dodgy lift and the ventilation shafts that lead to conversations being heard in other rooms. This is a film that rewards repeat viewings.
The thriller elements come out increasingly in the second half, and there are some excellent set-pieces, the tension ratcheting up at times simply with looks from the characters. It also borders on horror in a few scenes; a jump scare in the lift near the start, a brutal attack that starts with one of the female leads viewed from behind, and another character not sure who it is, which is shot in quite a chilling way.
Special mention too for the films that play on the TV, which as Nicholas Ray’s In a Lonely Place. Some of the themes or lines from these films resonate with Single White Female, so it’s easy to see why they were chosen.
In closing, Single White Female is an excellent, well plotted, erotic psychological thriller with brilliant central performances from the two female leads, tension which builds to a thrilling finale, and some wonderful camera work, production design and music. It is one of the best of its kind from the late eighties/ early-mid nineties when Hollywood loved to make an erotic thriller.
Film: 
Single White Female is released on limited edition Blu-ray by Powerhouse Films on the Indicator label on 22nd July 2024. The transfer is from a high definition remaster carried out by Sony and is very good. It feels very filmic, displaying natural colours and plenty of detail. The remastered stereo audio is also solid, with each element – dialogue, music and sound effects – sounding clear.
INDICATOR LIMITED EDITION BLU-RAY SPECIAL FEATURES
- High Definition remaster
- Original English stereo audio
- Audio commentary with director Barbet Schroeder, editor Lee Percy, and associate producer Susan Hoffman (2018)
- New York Interview: Barbet Schroeder (2018): the director discusses the production and release of Single White Female
- Upstairs with Graham Knox (2018): actor Peter Friedman recalls his casting and relates some anecdotes from the set
- The Fiance Sam Rawson (2018): in-depth interview with actor Steven Weber
- SWF Seeks Writer (2018): screenwriter Don Ross looks back on his adaptation of John Lutz’s novel and working with Schroeder
- She’ll Follow You Anywhere (2024): the critic, broadcaster, and author of Unlikeable Female Characters, Anna Bogutskaya dissects and contextualises the film within the context of the erotic thriller
- Original theatrical trailer
- Image gallery: promotional and publicity material
- New and improved English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
- Limited edition exclusive book with a new essay by Georgia Humphreys, archival essays, a contemporary article on the making of the film, and full film credits
- UK premiere on Blu-ray
- Limited edition of 3,000 copies for the UK
The commentary features director Barbet Schroeder, editor Lee Percy, and associate producer Susan Hoffman and is from 2018. It is preceded by some text stating that it’s an archival commentary from a previous home video release, and acknowledging there are some drops in audio quality. For the most part the quality is fine and it’s a good commentary, which covers a lot of ground. We hear about the similarities to the apartment block to the one in Rosemary’s Baby, the importance of the lighting, the sound design and much, much more. Schroeder drives the commentary forward but the other two co-commentators do pop up with insights or questions that lead to another interesting nugget about the film. There are some silences but you’re never too far away from the next factoid.
Director Barbet Schroeder is in great form in a 27 minute piece in which he shares why he chose this film after being Oscar nominated for 1990’s Reversal of Fortune. The Iranian-born Swiss director reveals how the film was toned down, how the movie came together, and shares his views on key scenes. He also touches on some of the other filmmakers he worked with, including Elia Kazan.
Actor Peter Friedman, who plays the neighbour Graham in the film, shares some thoughts on his role, the movie, and insights into his career in a brief but entertaining seven minute interview.
The interview with actor Steven Weber, who plays Sam, is great and gets under the skin of his approach to the role. It runs for 20 minutes and Weber also covers his thoughts on the plot, the director, some of the key sequences including the sex scenes, and scenes that didn’t make the cut. An excellent interview.
Screenwriter Don Roos provides a lot of information about the story and the film, during a 26 minute interview, which includes images of an annotated version of the script. He discusses the themes of the film, his inspirations, and his take on the erotic thriller genre. Ross delivers his thoughts in an engaging way and it’s a great interview, which provides a range of insights into the development of the story.
Anna Bogutskaya’s 26 minute piece is brilliant, providing a good overview in the place of erotic thrillers, which became popular in the 1980s and ran into the mid-1990s against the backdrop of late night cable TV and VHS which made this kind of content popular for viewing at home. Bogutskaya analyses Fonda and Leigh’s characters and their motivations and talks about some of the plot developments, including the ending, which was changed after a test screening. It’s a very interesting interview.
The theatrical trailer is typical of those in the late 1980s and early 1990s, and certainly does a good job of selling the film.
Rounding out the on-disc package is a gallery of around 30 production stills and lobby cards.
The booklet is typically strong, as should be expected from Indicator. Georgia Humphreys covers a lot of ground in the main essay looking at the director, set design, and spending a lot of well used words to talk about the main characters. Great stuff. Making Single White Female uses contemporary newspaper interviews to tell the story of the making of the female and provides some decent insight. Rounding out the booklet are a range of interesting contemporary interviews.
Single White Female is a very entertaining and suspenseful thriller and it’s incredibly well served on this new Indicator edition. The disc packs a great audio visual presentation, which particularly showcases the colour scheme, lighting and sound design. Extras include an informative archival commentary, three solid archival interviews, a great new extra looking at the film’s place in the context of the erotic thriller and a typically well appointed booklet.
Disc/Package:
Leave a Reply