Killing Me Softly (film)

Infobox_Film
name = Killing Me Softly
director = Chen Kaige
writer = Sean French
Kara Lindstrom
starring = Heather Graham
Joseph Fiennes
Ulrich Thomsen
producer = Ivan Reitman
distributor = Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
released = 25 March, 2003 (USA)
runtime = 100 min.
language = English
budget = $25,000,000
imdb_id = 0250468

"Killing Me Softly" is a 2002 film directed by Chen Kaige and starring Heather Graham and Joseph Fiennes. Based on the novel by Nicci French (pen name of Nicci Gerrard and Sean French), it introduces several substantial changes to the story and focuses heavily on the intense sexual relationship between the main characters (at least for the first half of the movie). Still, the book remains the most overtly erotic version of the story. The film was given an "R" rating by the MPAA, and was also released unrated on dvd.

Tagline: "How can you escape...what you can't resist?"

The film was Chen Kaige's first, and to date only English-language film.

Plot

"Killing Me Softly" is a mystery/thriller about a young woman, Alice (Heather Graham), who believes she is happy in a secure job and a year long relationship with her live in boyfriend. However, after a chance encounter with a mysterious stranger (Joseph Fiennes) she seeks him out and the two end up making love. She returns home to her boyfriend, hoping to bring out the same feelings between them she had with her stranger without luck. The following day she seeks him out again, discovering his name is Adam - a mountain climber who is considered a hero after a tragic outing where one team lost their lives. She leaves her boyfriend and begins a relationship with Adam. She begins receiving phantom phone calls, soon Adam asks Alice to marry him and on the day of their wedding she receives an unmarked letter warning her against Adam, she ignores it and the two marry. Soon after she begins receiving more letters and begins to wonder about her husband's mysterious past and why he never mentions anything of his past to her, becoming even more alarmed when she searches a locked room and finds a box of old letters from an ex-lover. She goes searching after several leads as to who is sending the warnings and discovers a woman from Adam's past had gone missing. She suspects he had something to do with it and eventually runs from him. She goes to police but they can't do anything without any evidence. The movie ends with a looming twist and Alice discovers Adam truly wasn't the man she thought he was.

Cast

*Heather Graham ("Alice")
*Joseph Fiennes ("Adam")
*Natascha McElhone ("Deborah")
*Ulrich Thomsen ("Klaus")
*Ian Hart ("Senior Police Officer")
*Jason Hughes ("Jake")
*Kika Markham ("Mrs. Blanchard")
*Amy Robbins ("Sylvie")
*Yasmin Bannerman ("Joanna")
*Rebecca Palmer ("Michelle")

Production

Filming

Filming commenced on October 29, 2000 and was mostly based in or around London, England and Cumbria, England.

External links

*imdb title|0250468|Killing Me Softly
* [http://film.virgin.net/synopsis/synopsis.asp?filmid=721&sec=syn&pgtitle=movietrailersarchive Trailer] at Virgin Movies
* [http://film.virtual-history.com/film.php?filmid=5369 Movie stills]