There are thrillers, like Alfred Hitchcock`s ”North by Northwest” or the current ”Outrageous Fortune,” that use the genre to take the audience on an emotional roller-coaster ride. And then there are thrillers–of a more rare and valuable variety–that take the shape of a dream, using the sense of unreality and irrationality built into the form to lead the audience into a strange, alternate world.
The great dream thriller remains Alfred Hitchcock`s ”Vertigo,” but
”Black Widow,” a new film directed by Bob Rafelson (”Five Easy Pieces”), takes a courageous journey into the same obscure terrain.
Rafelson isn`t interested in telling a sleek, well-engineered story (you could re-route the Dan Ryan through some of the plot holes here), but in invoking a progression of rarefied, often perverse, emotional states. His film is a psychological thriller, rather than the shoot-`em-up kind, but what gives it distinction, and much of its disturbing power, is its lack of interest in conventional psychological ”explanations.”
None of the curious behavior in ”Black Widow” is rationalized away by textbook citations. As one character remarks, refusing a Freudian reading of her actions, ”No one understands why people do the things they do.” Rafelson respects that mystery, and passes it along.
Debra Winger plays Alexandra, a special investigator for the Justice Department in Washington. Unkempt, moody and fearful of men, she has learned to channel her libido into her work, which consists of the close computer analysis of crime statistics. Her research turns up an odd pattern: Three wealthy, powerful men have all recently died from a rare disease; each also had a beautiful young wife who disappeared shortly after their deaths.
Alexandra`s suspicions come to center on another young woman with a regal name, Catharine (Theresa Russell). Unable to prove anything (though both she and the audience know Catharine to be guilty), Alexandra becomes obsessed with the case. She takes a weekend of her own time to travel to Seattle, where Catharine has surfaced as the wife of a rich amateur anthropologist (Nicol Williamson); the police refuse to believe her allegations, and Williamson dies. When Catharine appears again in Hawaii, Alexandra takes a leave of absence from her work, selling her car and furniture to finance her own investigation.
Working with his editor (John Bloom) and cinematographer (the highly talented Conrad Hall, returning to theatrical films after a 10-year hiatus), Rafelson gracefully establishes a hallucinatory atmosphere. The transitions between scenes, which move the film across the length of the country, have the unreal ease of dreams; the images, dark and burnished, are punctured by unaccountable pools of white light, which illuminate seemingly irrelevant details–a tie, rather than a face. When the two women finally meet, at a scuba-diving course that requires Alexandra to give Catharine mouth-to-mouth resuscitation, the moment has the force of fate.
Alexandra befriends her prey, posing as a secretary from Chicago, and it is here, in developing the relationship between the two women, that ”Black Widow” moves into its oddest, most commanding phase. If it is a relationship of hunter and hunted (though the hunted is also a hunter herself), it is also a relationship of love. Alexandra is fascinated by Catharine, who has developed an assurance with men–a mastery of seduction and a sense of control –that has always eluded Alexandra; she is horrified by Catharine`s ability to extend that control to the ultimate point of murder, but, Rafelson suggests, her horror may be a reaction against her own unacknowledged desires. Catharine, for her part, also senses a bond. She gives Alexandra tips on her clothing and hair, and–in a gesture that combines generosity with cold-blooded calculation–sets Alexandra up with Paul (Sami Frey), her current beau and potential next victim.
Rafelson traces the network of subconscious exchanges–buried impulses, unspoken fantasies–that passes between the two women. The process of exchange culminates in an exchange of identity, which only one of the women can survive.
Although Rafelson backs off a bit from the implications of his drama with a climax that substitutes surprise for suspense (and makes the film`s serious plot problems rise abruptly to the surface), ”Black Widow” remains a haunting artifact, a film that springs, rich and strange, from a personal night world.
”BLACK WIDOW”
(STAR)(STAR)(STAR)
Directed by Bob Rafelson; written by Ronald Bass; photographed by Conrad L. Hall; edited by John Bloom; production designed by Gene Callahan; music by Michael Small; produced by Harold Schneider. Running time, 1:42. A Twentieth Century-Fox release; opens Feb. 6 at the Water Tower and outlying theaters. MPAA rating: R.
THE CAST
Alexandra ………………………. Debra Winger
Catharine ……………………… Theresa Russell
Paul …………………………… Sami Frey
Ben ……………………………. Dennis Hopper
William Macauley ………………… Nicol Williamson
Bruce ………………………….. Terry O`Quinn
