To Die For is a 1995 dramedy written by Buck Henry, based on the novel of the same name by Joyce Maynard, which in turn was based on the Pamela Smart story. The film is directed by Gus Van Sant. It stars Nicole Kidman, Matt Dillon and Joaquin Phoenix. Major supporting roles feature Illeana Douglas, Wayne Knight, Casey Affleck, Dan Hedaya and Alison Folland. Kidman was nominated for a BAFTA and won a Golden Globe Award for her performance. The film includes cameos by George Segal, David Cronenberg, author Maynard, and screenwriter Henry. It features original music by Danny Elfman. The film's tagline is: "All she wanted was a little attention. "

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Plot

Suzanne Stone (Nicole Kidman) is a young, beautiful, and ruthless woman who dreams of being a world famous news anchor despite her rather limited intellect and talent. To that end, she marries Larry Maretto (Matt Dillon), because she believes his Mafia connections will keep her financially comfortable, and starts attempting to climb the network news ladder, beginning as a weather girl at a local cable station.

When Larry, who truly loves Suzanne, starts asking her to take time off from her career to start a family, she immediately plots to get rid of him. To this end, she begins a high school project called "Teens Speak Out", and during a dancing project at her house while Larry is away, she seduces a student, Jimmy Emmett (Joaquin Phoenix), and strong-arms him and his friends into killing Larry. Jimmy is reluctant at first, but complies when Suzanne threatens to leave him if he doesn't. With his best friends, Russell Heines (Casey Affleck) and Lydia Mertz (Alison Folland), Jimmy ultimately committs the murder.

The police begin investigating when they stumble across a "Teens Speak Out" video of Suzanne at Jimmy's school in which Jimmy discreetly hints a relationship (albeit a deteriorating one, since Suzanne no longer needs Jimmy) with Suzanne. Jimmy, Russell and Lydia are arrested, but Lydia makes a deal with the police to converse with Suzanne with a tape recorder taped to her stomach, and Suzanne unwittingly reveals her hand in the murder. Despite this undeniable proof of Suzanne's guilt, however, she is acquitted in court, on the basis that the police had resorted to entrapment, and walks free. Jimmy and Russell are sentenced to life in prison and sixteen years, respectively, while Lydia goes free for her cooperation.

In the end, however, Suzanne gets her comeuppance when she fabricates a story about Larry becoming addicted to drugs, desiring to turn over a new leaf and subsequently getting killed by the drug suppliers, who wanted to keep him silent. Larry's father, Joe (Dan Hedaya), hears this on the television, and realises that Suzanne was behind his son's murder, and consequently uses his mafia connections to have her murdered. The hitman (director David Cronenberg in a cameo) lures Suzanne away from her home by pretending to be interested in publishing her life story, murders her quietly, then buries her under a frozen lake, her favorite spot, where she once skated. In a final irony, Lydia, whom Suzanne always dismissed as "trailer trash", gains national attention by telling her side of the story in a television interview, becoming a celebrity.

The final scene shows Larry's sister Janice (Illeana Douglas), practicing her figure skating on the frozen lake where Suzanne's corpse is hidden, thereby literally dancing on her grave, a symbol of biting justice considering Suzanne's habit of overshadowing Janice throughout the movie.

Cast

• Nicole Kidman as Suzanne Stone-Maretto
• Matt Dillon as Larry Maretto
• Joaquin Phoenix as Jimmy Emmett
• Casey Affleck as Russell Hines
• Illeana Douglas as Janice Maretto
• Alison Folland as Lydia Mertz
• Dan Hedaya as Joe Maretto
• Wayne Knight as Ed Grant
• Kurtwood Smith as Earl Stone
• Holland Taylor as Carol Stone
• Susan Traylor as Fay Stone
• David Cronenberg as Man at Lake
• George Segal as Conference Speaker
• Joyce Maynard as Lawyer
• Buck Henry as Mr. H. Finlaysson
• Rain Phoenix

Production

To Die For is a mixture of styles, combining a traditional drama with darkly comic direct-to-camera monologues by Kidman's character, and mockumentary interviews, some tragic, with certain of the other characters in the film.

The film and the novel it is based on were both inspired by the facts that emerged during the trial of Pamela Smart, a school media services coordinator who was imprisoned for seducing a 16 year old student and convincing him to kill her husband. The trial was the first fully televised case in the United States. However, the film is considerably more satirical and arch than Maynard's comparatively straightforward treatment of the story.

The role of Suzanne Stone was originally offered to Meg Ryan, who turned down the part and the $5 million salary offered. Kidman, who was later cast in the role, was paid $2 million. ^[1]

Critical reception

Katherine Ramsland of Crime Library describes the movie as an example of a work displaying women with antisocial traits; Ramsland describes Suzanne as a "manipulator extraordinaire" who harms people through third parties. ^[2] In her review in the New York Times , Janet Maslin called the film "an irresistible black comedy and a wicked delight" and added, "[it] takes aim at tabloid ethics and hits a solid bull's-eye, with Ms. Kidman's teasingly beautiful Suzanne as the most alluring of media-mad monsters. The target is broad, but Gus Van Sant's film is too expertly sharp and funny for that to matter; instead, it shows off this director's slyness better than any of his work since Drugstore Cowboy . . . Both Mr. Van Sant and Ms. Kidman have reinvented themselves miraculously for this occasion, which brings out the best in all concerned." ^[3]

Mick LaSalle of the San Francisco Chronicle said of Kidman, "[she] brings to the role layers of meaning, intention and impulse. Telling her story in close-up - as she does throughout the film - Kidman lets you see the calculation, the wheels turning, the transparent efforts to charm that succeed in charming all the same . . . her beauty and magnetism are electric. Undeniably she belongs on camera, which means it's equally undeniable that Suzanne belongs on camera. That in itself is an irony, a commentary or both." ^[4]

References

1. Nicole Kidman
2. Women Who Kill, Part Two - Crime Library on truTV.com
3. Movie Review - To Die For; She Trusts in TV's Redeeming Power - NYTimes.com
4. Film Review-- Kidman Monstrously Good in `To Die For'