Single White Female is a 1992 thriller based on John Lutz's novel SWF Seeks Same. The movie stars Bridget Fonda, Jennifer Jason Leigh & Steven Weber and is directed by Barbet Schroeder, who also directed Reversal of Fortune.
Plot
Alison "Allie" Jones (Bridget Fonda) is a software designer in New York City. While her professional star is on the rise -- she has created a computer software package that will revolutionize the fashion world -- her personal life is a mess.
Allie banishes her fiance Sam Rawson (Steven Weber) from her rent-controlled apartment on Manhattan's Upper West Side, after discovering that he slept with his ex-wife. Allie finds platonic comfort in her gay neighbor Graham Knox (Peter Friedman), an aspiring actor with a sensitive shoulder to lean on.
Realizing that the only way to hold on to her apartment is to find a roommate, Allie places an ad and interviews a succession of unsuitable candidates before settling on the shy Hedra "Hedy" Carlson (Jennifer Jason Leigh), who, in Allie's eyes, is the ideal roomie.
Aimless and underemployed, Hedy quickly fills the void left in Allie's life by Sam's departure. Allie, meanwhile, is only too happy to allow Hedy to cook and clean for her. Their friendship deepens when Hedy brings home an adorable and -- unknown to Allie -- very expensive puppy; Allie later discovers the receipt and confronts Hedy, but can't bring herself to part with the puppy.
Unknown to Allie, Hedy erases Sam's phone messages when he calls to plead for a reconciliation. Before long, she's even begun emulating the more sophisticated Allie in dress and manner. Allie passes off this strange behavior as that of an insecure but well-intentioned woman.
When Allie reconciles with Sam about a month after Hedy moved into the apartment, Allie and Sam toy with the idea of Sam moving into the apartment with Allie. Hedy goes over the edge, knowing that this means that she would have to move out of the apartment.
One afternoon, while Allie and Sam are out of the apartment, the puppy, which Allie has grown to love, plunges mysteriously to its death from a window. And before long, Hedy's closet contains the exact same clothes as Allie's, and Hedy has even had her hair cut and dyed to match Allie's look, resulting in a startling resemblance between Allie and Hedy.
More than a little unnerved, a suspicious Allie talks to Graham. Graham advises Allie to get Hedy to move out of the apartment. Allie begins to investigate Hedy's background.
Allie goes into Hedy's room and looks through her possessions, and discovers that Hedy is not who she claims to be -- Hedy's real name is Ellen Besch. Years ago, when Ellen was 9-years-old, Ellen's twin sister Judy drowned at a family picnic.
An absolutely devastated Ellen hasn't been the same since Judy's death. The bond between siblings can be strong, but it can be especially strong with twins. For years, Ellen's parents tried to explain to her that Judy's death was not her fault, but Ellen never forgave herself for living while Judy died.
Ellen, who had undergone futile counseling, had been looking for a female companion so she could have a friend to replace Judy. That's why Ellen tries to look exactly like whatever roommate she had at the moment...so it would be like Ellen still had a twin sister.
Before moving in with Allie, Ellen had lived with a woman in Tampa. That didn't work out, so Ellen killed the woman and went to New York, later moving in with Allie. No sooner has Allie confided her mounting suspicions to Graham than he receives a brutal beating from Hedy.
Dozing in bed, Sam gets a visit from Ellen, who has disguised herself as Allie. Ellen performs oral sex on him. Sam is too self-involved to notice that she is not Allie. Once he catches on, Sam decides to tell Allie what Ellen is up to, but before Sam can do that, Ellen kills Sam with a spiked heel.
The next thing Ellen does is take Allie hostage in Graham's apartment. Mitchell Meyerson (Stephen Tobolowsky), a client of Allie's who had nearly raped her, comes to the apartment looking for Allie, because Allie had retaliated by erasing all of Mitchell's computer files.
Mitchell notices that Allie has been tied up and gagged with tape. He throws Ellen over a table, but she grabs a gun, puts a pillow over Mitchell's face, and shoots him, using the pillow as a silencer.
Believing she "saved" Allie from another rape attempt, Ellen's logic assures her that Allie will thank her for this protective care, but when Allie responds by trying to escape, Ellen's violence is turned toward Allie.
This leads to a bloody, extended battle deep within the apartment building's basement as Allie has to fight for her life against Ellen. It ends when Allie, in self defense, stabs Ellen to death with a screwdriver.
Production
Bridget Fonda was given the choice to take the part of either Allie or Hedy. In the end she chose to play Allie as she felt that role would be more challenging. It was the first time for each actress to receive $1 million for a role.
Single White Female was #56 on Bravo's 100 Scariest Movie Moments. The film was followed by an unrelated direct to video sequel, Single White Female 2: The Psycho released in 2005, starring Kristen Miller.
In popular culture
The character of Hedy has been discussed as having borderline personality disorder, suffering from a markedly disturbed sense of identity, as she adopts wholesale the attributes of her room mate. A chronic emptiness is implied and her fear of abandonment leads to drastic measures.[1]
The theme whereby Hedy completely changes her appearance to look exactly like Allie has been used multiple times in popular culture. Examples of this include:
- In 1995, the sitcom Sister, Sister directly references the film in the title of the episode "Single White Teenager". In the episode , the twins befriend an unpopular schoolmate who soon transforms her look into exactly that of Tia and Tamera.
- In April 2006, WWE used the theme in a storyline between Trish Stratus and Mickie James in which James, the "psycho fan" of Stratus, wore Stratus' same wrestling attire, dyed her hair blonde, and used the same wrestling maneuvers as Trish after capturing Stratus' WWE Women's Championship. Not long after, Stratus counteracted this by dressing like James and wearing a brown wig.
- "Karma Chameleon," an episode of Wonderfalls, involves a similar plot. Single White Female is directly referenced a number of times.
- In "Just Like Lizzie," an episode of Lizzie McGuire, a seventh-grader named Andie changes her appearance to mimic Lizzie.
- In an episode of Saved by the Bell: The College Years, A.C. Slater's girlfriend accuses her roommate of trying to steal A.C. away from her just like in the movie. A.C. is asked if that's true and says "I don't know--I never saw Single White Female."
- In an episode of Moesha, Kim convinces Moesha that her new friend Theresa, who bought the same dress she did, is just like "Single White Female," and is going to eventually throw her puppy out the window.
- In January 1993, Laura Leighton guest starred on the popular primetime soap Melrose Place (later to become a full cast member) as "Sydney Andrews," who idolized her elder sister "Jane Andrews" (played by Josie Bissett). Her first episode was titled "Single White Sister."
- In season 6 of "Beverly Hills, 90210". Kelly meets a young woman (Tara) at rehab who soon makes herself at home at Kelly and Clare's house. She then proceeds to destroy Kelly's latest relationship, kill her fish, and dress exactly like her, including a new haircut.
- In The Yankee Years, Joe Torre says that Alex Rodriguez had a "single white female obsession" with Derek Jeter.[citation needed]
- The film was referenced to during a segment of Monkey News on The Ricky Gervais Show as Karl Pilkington tells the story of a zoo keeper who invites a monkey to his house who later seduces the zoo keepers wife.
- In the television series Veronica Mars, Veronica references the movie when describing a girl called Kimmy. Kimmy is jealous with Veronica's friend Meg and competes with her for the roles of news anchor, head cheerleader and lead in the school musical. Her similarity in hairstyle is also commented on by others. When Veronica sees Kimmy walking to towards her, she calls her "single white female, Kimmy."
- In Season 3 Episode 3 of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Buffy says of Faith, "This is creepy, but I'm the one getting single white femaled here."
References
- ^ Robinson DJ. Reel Psychiatry:Movie Portrayals of Psychiatric Conditions. Port Huron, Michigan: Rapid Psychler Press. p. 235. ISBN 1-894328-07-8.
External links
