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Single White Female
Having recently split from her fiancé, Allison Jones welcomes new roommate Hedra Carlson. The young women quickly form a bond, but soon Allison begins to notice not all’s well with her new tenant.
1992 · Directed by Barbet Schroeder · 108 min · Thriller · Screenplay in the scene database · 14 frames
Tagline
Living with a roommate can be murder.
Plot
New York City software designer Allison "Allie" Jones is engaged to Sam Rawson. Sam's ex-wife calls, and when it is revealed that he slept with her recently, Allie throws him out, breaking off their engagement. Her neighbor, aspiring actor Graham Knox, comforts her. The next morning, Allie attends a business lunch with Mitchell Myerson, a fashion house owner looking to buy her revolutionary new program. He pressures her into significantly reducing the price; as he is her first and only client, she accepts.
Allie advertises for a new roommate and settles on Hedra Carlson, whom she nicknames "Hedy," and they become friends. Hedy explains that her twin was stillborn and she is alone in the world. Hedy erases Sam's voicemail asking Allie to reconcile with him and buys a puppy named Buddy to console Allie, but becomes jealous when Sam wins Allie back and they seek a new apartment for themselves. Perceiving Allie as having rejected her, Hedy is upset and becomes further frustrated when Buddy does not come to her even when she coaxes him. Allie and Sam later find Buddy's corpse on the ground below her apartment's window. Returning to the apartment, Allie sees that the window was open with a gap wide enough for Buddy to get through. Hedy claims that Buddy's death was an accident because she had thought the bars outside the window had been fixed.
As Allie prepares for an evening meeting at Mitchell's company, she discovers that Hedy has bought copies of much of Allie's clothing. After the meeting, Mitchell tries to coerce Allie into performing sexual acts upon completing their deal, threatening to warn off future clients and not pay her, but she fights back and escapes. Seeing how distraught Allie is, Hedy calls Mitchell and threatens him. To comfort Allie, Hedy takes her to get a haircut, but after Hedy reveals that she has gotten a haircut and coloring to perfectly match Allie's, Allie is unnerved. That night, Allie follows Hedy to an underground sex club and witnesses Hedy using her name. Allie finds a shoebox containing letters addressed to Ellen Besch – Hedy's real name – along with a letter from Sam to Allie and a newspaper clipping on the drowning of Hedy's twin sister Judy when she was nine.
Plot summary from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA.
Crew
- Screenplay: Don Roos
- Cinematography: Luciano Tovoli
- Edited by: Lee Percy
- Music: Howard Shore
- Production design: Milena Canonero
- Produced by: Barbet Schroeder
Cast
- Bridget Fonda as Allison 'Allie' Jones
- Jennifer Jason Leigh as Hedra 'Hedy' Carlson
- Steven Weber as Sam Rawson
- Peter Friedman as Graham Knox
- Stephen Tobolowsky as Mitch Myerson
- Frances Bay as Elderly Neighbor
- Tara Karsian as Mannish Applicant
- Christiana Capetillo as Exotic Applicant
- Jessica Lundy as Talkative Applicant
- Renée Estevez as Perfect Applicant
Production
- Country: United States of America
- Language: English
- Studios: Columbia Pictures
- Budget: $16,000,000
- Box office: $48,017,402
- Themes: based on novel or book, stalker, remote control, puppy, basement, lesbian relationship, photograph, surprise party, mental illness, business card
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