Dream Lover
Architect Ray Reardon (James Spader) is newly divorced and ripe for the come-on carnality of Lena Mathers, played by Mädchen Amick of Twin Peaks. No sooner does Ray marry his dream girl than the nightmare begins. Has Lena lied about her past? Or is Ray having a breakdown? It’s a nifty setup for an erotic thriller. Amick and Spader take a lot of sexual positions where she’s the spider and he’s the fly. And they go at it with astounding conviction.
Just don’t ask what’s what. Nothing in this glossy package — buffed to a high sheen by cinematographer Jean-Yves Escoffier — is touched by logic. Writer Nicholas Kazan (Reversal of Fortune), making his directing debut, also makes the first-timer’s mistakes: arty shots of objects that portend great meaning, editing tricks that suggest a world out of joint and close-ups of the characters’ eyes that hint at dark secrets. Kazan’s technique drafts seductive promises that the empty-headed Dream Lover can’t keep.