‘You’ve been a good roommate…’
Single White Female probably marks the end of my self-imposed 80s/90s thriller season, and if that is to be the case, I’m going out on a high note. Sure, it contains many of the tropes of the day, most prevalent being the discovery of a scrapbook (or shoebox in this case) by the protagonist that reveals the truth about the psychopathic character, but Single White Female is so well made, so compelling, that the tropes are comforting rather than stale…
Allison ‘Ally’ Jones (Bridget Fonda) is looking for a new housemate following some infidelity on the part of her fiance Sam (Steven Weber). Hedy Carlson (Jennifer Jason Leigh) initially seems like the perfect housemate, but it soon becomes clear that all is not as it seems.
Director Barbet Schroeder, working on a script from Don Roos (based on John Lutz’s novel), uses a mixture of warm oranges and browns and oppressive blues and greys which helps to disorient the viewer and gives us an insight into Hedy’s fragmented mind. The two leads are phenomenal, Fonda, who sadly quit acting in 2002, is every inch the likeable and relatable protagonist, whilst Leigh gives a wonderfully reserved performance in a role that could easily have been hammy. Indeed, it’s a turn reminiscent of Rebecca De Mornay in The Hand That Rocks the Cradle, uncanny as the two films came out months apart in 1992.
Single White Female deservedly made a star of Jennifer Jason Leigh, but it’s also an utterly gripping adult thriller that stands as possibly the high watermark of the era. I absolutely loved it.