Very Well Directed
No question this is one of the best-looking films of the 90’s. Every scene is surreally breathtaking.
What’s surprising is how effective it is. This should be trash, yet ... why can’t I look away? The scenes with Stone and Douglas in closeup are just mesmerizing. Sharon has an angelic face and a body to die for (as we learn), but you can’t possibly tell me that’s any more than a third of it. Hollywood always had scads of sexy starlets, but how many could hold our interest like this? I just checked out the director’s cut on Prime, intending to watch maybe ten minutes. Before I knew it the credits were rolling.
Fact is, this movie works. Every scene. In all those two-shots of our two leads, I want to know what they’re thinking and what they’ll do next. I love the back and forth. Screenwriter Ezterhas mastered this construct, not once but twice — the first being the even-better “Jagged Edge.” Certainly Michael Douglas does the most heavy lifting of the actors, but Stone is also fairly irreplaceable in her tricky and sexy turn.
But why does it all work so well?
The answer must be Verhoeven’s direction. He told them what to think, what to do and how to do it, from a clear and deep grasp of the screenplay’s central idea. Without a director of his ability this would not have worked.