I've seen this movie several times, and I liked JL in it. She did a good job of showing an abused wife, and Billy Campbell played creepy very well. However, I thought the near ending scene where she's sitting outside when the cops arrive was very unrealistic. Inside the house is totally trashed by a woman who has not one mark on her face. How are the cops going to believe that she did the killing of a strong, healthy man without showing some sign of a brutal fight?
shareThere are a number of reasons that can explain why she has no injuries to her face.
1.) Self defense isn't based on "who got it worse." She probably has marks on her body in other places, like bruises on her arms when he held her against the wall and such. He hit her and knocked her down a few times, then he hit her in the back of the head when she was on the phone. She probably has plenty of injuries. Just because he was more-hurt doesn't mean there wasn't a brutal fight.
2.) She can admit to the training. She trained to fight in case her husband came after her like she feared. Then she says they started sending letters back and forth (which she planted in his drawer) and decided to meet and work things out. Just because she makes it look like she met him to work things out about their daughter doesn't mean she forgot all of her defense training. Because of her training, she learned how to dodge his hits and she avoided any shots to the face.
3.) Abusive husbands often beat their wives in ways that aren't obvious to others. So she could easily explain the lack of injury to her face by saying he just didn't hit her in the face. Facial injuries are probably some of the hardest to hide since they aren't covered most of the time, so if he didn't want people knowing he beat his wife, he would hit her elsewhere. If she went around with a swollen cheek and a black eye all the time, people would suspect he was beating her. During their fight, she could have said he kept to his pattern of abuse and didn't hit her in the face.
4.) He died because he fell off the second floor and into a table. So him being a strong, healthy man doesn't really matter. Before he had a chance to hit her in the face, they were fighting and he lost his footing and fell over the railing. There's damage in multiple rooms which the cops would assume would be from her trying to escape and him catching back up with her. Kind of hard to hit someone in the face when they aren't facing you. She could explain the injuries to his face as her kicking him in the face. She knocked him down, she ran, he grabbed her leg, she fell, she kicked him in the face to make him let go, she ran again. It actually worked out better for her that he died the way he did because it looked even more accidental.
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You're comment is an insult. Saying she most likely would have been killed. There are many women who have made it out of an abusive relationship and or have taken self defensive and were able to help protect themselves. I know women that have been abused (including myself) and they were not killed. How is it an insult? It's more empowering than anything because it shows that she was a strong women that finally wanted to take control and protect herself. She trained like crazy and I'm sure he hadn't done any training like she had so she actually had an upperhand and she kicked his ass. It's not unrealistic, sure not all women would do what she did but some do and she worked hard and took stand.
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Actually Slim does have an injury to her face. Her right cheek is red and swollen some when the police show up, as a result of the first 'surprise' punch Mitch gives her in the condo.
And likely she had choke marks on her neck, and various others...plus the cut from the flying glass.
This film IS unrealistic I will agree. No way cops would believe a woman acted in self defense when he is PUMMELED bloody and she has only a few bruises!
I also do not understand why she wiped off all the blood on herself! We see blood on her after she kicks him off the balcony, yet its all wiped off when the cops arrive! Wouldn't you want to look beaten and bloody and tearful if you just killed your hubby???
"I'd say this cloud is Cumulo Nimbus."
"Didn't he discover America?"
"Penfold, shush."