Review of Last Seduction, The

Introduction

Before his career went a bit off the rails, John Dahl made three acclaimed noir-influenced films – Kill Me Again (with Val Kilmer), Red Rock West (with Nic Cage) and The Last Seduction (with Linda Fiorentino).

The Last Seduction is easily the best of the three, combining a suitably tortuous plot, tight direction and one of the great movie bitches in Bridget Gregory (Fiorentino).

At its simplest, the plot in one of the great Noir staples: patsy meets bitch, patsy falls for bitch, bitch uses patsy and discards him like a soiled tissue. But, as with most things, it isn’t what you’ve got; it’s what you do with it that counts, and director Dahl twists (yet respects) noir conventions to create a super piece of cinema.

Video

Presented in Widescreen Anamorphic 1.78:1, the video quality is above average. It isn’t perfect – at times the image isn’t as sharp as it could be and there is some grain evident but overall a fine effort.

The visuals are nicely judged, creating an appropriately noirish atmosphere. Much mileage is made of Bridget’s power suit wardrobe, especially when it is used to contrast her attitude with that of the bright cheery small-town she finds herself in.

Audio

The audio is Dolby Pro-logic and perfectly adequate. The dialogue is fast and sharp and is generally well presented although very occasionally it got a little bit hard to follow. The music is based on a loping jazz theme and complements the plot beautifully.

Features

Aside from the trailer, none. Shame. However, this is mitigated by the budget price of this Carlton Silver Collection release.

Conclusion

The Last Seduction made Linda Fiorentino’s name and rightly so. She gives a superb performance as Bridget the Bitch. She throws herself into her role dominating every scene. It is as if she knows that this is the best role she will ever get and wants to make the most of it.

After an initial preamble in New York (involving a drug deal and an inconvenient husband), the film kicks into gear when Bridget arrives in the sleepy small town of Beston with $700,000 in drug money. Bridget character is fully fleshed out when she sashays into a bar, slaps her map on the counter and utters the classic line, “Who do I have to suck to get a drink around here?” Young and stupid Mike Swale (Peter Berg) as it turns out. Swale is soon in Bridget’s thrall and soon she has persuaded Mike to kill her husband (Bill Pullman). Of course, it is nowhere near as simple as that and through multiple twists and turns, the film arrives at a suitably cold and satisfying conclusion with pretty much every man Bridget encountered being used and discarded.

The cast are all excellent but are constantly in Fiorentino’s shadow. Best able to match her is (a personal favourite) the late JT Walsh as Bridget’s lawyer. Their exchanges over the phone are magical – “Hey Frank, still a lawyer? Yeah, Bridget, still a self-serving bitch?” Walsh is sorely missed.

The film is very good, but Bridget is a superb creation – the peak of female manipulative evil. She does exactly what she wants, uses every man she meets (except possibly Frank), has no morals or inhibitions and doesn’t change. There is no redemption here, she is still a cold bitch at the end of the film and Dahl has to be commended for not losing his nerve and introducing some redeeming quality into Bridget.

The Last Seduction is well worth buying on this budget DVD. However, one word of warning: after you have watched this, do not be tempted to buy (or even watch) the naff sequel The Last Seduction II. Like Bridget, it has no redeeming qualities.