Seducing a stranger

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Movie
German title Seducing a stranger
Original title Perfect Stranger
Country of production United States
original language English
Publishing year 2007
length 109 minutes
Age rating FSK 16
JMK 14
Rod
Director James Foley
script Todd Komarnicki (screenplay),
Jon Bokenkamp (story)
production Elaine Goldsmith-Thomas
music Antonio Pinto
camera Anastas N. Michos
cut Christopher Tellefsen
occupation
synchronization

Seduction of a Stranger (Original title: Perfect Stranger ) is an American thriller by James Foley from 2007. The film was released on April 12, 2007 in German cinemas. In Austria and the United States, it started a day later. The main roles are played by Halle Berry and Bruce Willis .

action

The investigative journalist Rowena Price discovers that a US senator who acts politically against gay rights is homosexual himself. Because an informant retracts his testimony, the editorial team of their newspaper makes a last-minute decision not to publish the story they worked on for six months. Angry and frustrated, she quits her job.

Price happens to meet her old friend Grace again, from whom she receives information that will serve as the starting point for an investigative article about Harrison Hill, the head of a top advertising agency. Grace wants to take revenge on him because he dropped her after a short but intense affair. Some time later, Grace is murdered. Rowena promises Grace's mother to find the culprit. With the help of Miles Haley, a former colleague, she infiltrates Hill's advertising agency as a temporary worker. At the same time, she tries to get in touch with Hill in a chat room, because Grace has also met with him there. It is also intended to provide access to Hill's e-mail in order to get hold of evidence against him.

Miles takes care of all computer work and supports Rowena as best he can because of his unrequited love for Rowena. He also finds evidence of a possible motive: Grace was pregnant, whereas Hill's wife, who also owns the entire fortune, appears to be sterile, as she is said to have visited a fertilization clinic. In addition, he procures the information that Grace was involved in a poisoning with atropine .

Through her temporary work, Rowena can get Hill's attention, but the relationship building is ultimately unsuccessful, as Hill falls into a tell-tale SMS from Miles to Rowena. When confronted in his car, Rowena can at least hide her murder investigation from Hill by encouraging Hill's suspicions that she is a spy at a competing agency.

During a visit to Miles' apartment when he is not at home, Rowena finds evidence in a secret room that his affection for her appears to be manic . She also discovers that Miles also had a sexual relationship with the victim Grace and that he also manipulated the slippery Internet conversation between Rowena and Hill by appearing in chats under his nickname .

Nevertheless, the two manage to prove the relationship between Hill and Grace via electronic correspondence. Since Hill's wife takes large photographs of eyes and dilates the pupils of her models with atropine, the poison was also available to her husband. The evidence gathered is enough to arrest Hill. In the course of the investigation, traces of blood and fiber from Grace mixed with atropine are found in Hill's car. Hill is charged with murder and found guilty, especially since in addition to the motives mentioned during the trial, his life as a ladyboy is also made public. However, doubts are raised in the viewer by the fact that both Miles and Hill's wife are cut in close-ups during the court hearing. In quick cuts, gloved hands are shown pulling the atropine bottle from its hiding place in a bathroom. In the closing mirrored door of a cupboard, the face of the person belonging to it finally appears: It is Rowena herself.

Miles has since found out, who now confronts Rowena with it. It turns out that as a young girl, Rowena was sexually molested by her mother's partner . The viewer was prepared for this in several flashbacks in the course of the film. It turns out that Rowena's mother caught her significant other in the act and then hit him to death with a poker . While the body was buried, the two of them were observed by Grace from the neighboring house. Grace used this knowledge to blackmail Rowena repeatedly over the years. In possession of the incriminating material against Hill, it occurred to her that she would kill Grace and blame the adulterer for the murder.

Miles is now blackmailing Rowena, who then stabs him with a kitchen knife. She immediately tries to cover up the crime by putting Miles' fingerprints on the poison bottle and sticking it to the corpse. After trashing her kitchen to fake a fight, she calls the police. The last shot shows the aghast face of a neighbor who watched the crime from the window across the street.

background

The former Ansonia Hotel - the location of the newspaper editorial office in the film

The film was shot in New York City , especially in Manhattan , from January to May 2006. It is also the first feature film to use the rebuilt World Trade Center 7 at Ground Zero as a location.

Three different film endings were shot. In each, a different person turns out to be the wanted murderer: Rowena Price, Harrison Hill and his wife.

publication

Seduction of a Stranger started in US cinemas on April 13, 2007 and on the opening weekend was able to assert itself as the second-best newcomer behind Disturbia at number 4 on the cinema charts with grossing US $ 11.4 million . Overall, the film came to a total worldwide box office of 73.1 million US dollars, of which it grossed only 23 million US dollars at the US box office.

In Germany, the film hit cinemas the day before, namely on April 12, 2007, and was seen by a total of 258,550 viewers, making it number 90 in the 2007 German cinema charts. After the film has been available on DVD since August 14, 2007 , it had its television premiere on August 16, 2009 on ProSieben . The film was also released on Blu-ray Disc .

Soundtrack

The score was composed by Antonio Pinto . On October 10, 2007, the soundtrack for the film was released on the Lakeshore music label . It contains 24 music tracks.

Not included are Etta James with Don't Cry Baby , heard clearly around the 21st minute of the film, and Seals Walk On By , soft background music during Rowena and Harrison's first date.

Reviews

Kenneth Turan wrote in the Los Angeles Times on April 13, 2007 that the "routine thriller" was "acceptable" - neither the worst movie to watch, nor the opposite of it. However, it is one of those films where the question of the reason for making it in the first place is a mystery. Berry look great and dominate the movie.

Cinema magazine said the film was a “sophisticated and exciting thriller that also addressed the dangers of anonymity on the Internet”. The lexicon of international films judged: "Solid thriller with some surprising twists and turns and experienced actors."

synchronization

The German dubbed version was created at Berliner Synchron under the dialogue direction of Michael Nowka , who also wrote the dialogue book together with Blondah Fritaud . The German model Heidi Klum did not speak to herself, but was dubbed for her short appearance by Schaukje Könning .

role actor Voice actor
Rowena Price Halle Berry Melanie Pukass
Harrison Hill Bruce Willis Manfred Lehmann
Miles Haley Giovanni Ribisi Nico Mamone
Arvis Narron Richard Portnow Jan Spitzer
Cameron Gary Dourdan Charles Rettinghaus
Lt. Tejada Florencia Lozano Anke Reitzenstein
Grace Nicki Aycox Dascha Lehmann
Josie Daniella Van Graas Christin Marquitan
Esmeralda Patti D'Arbanville Almut Zydra
Gina Clea Lewis Cathlen Gawlich
Heidi Klum Heidi Klum Schaukje Könning

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Release certificate for seducing a stranger . Voluntary self-regulation of the film industry , March 2007 (PDF; test number: 109 489 K).
  2. ↑ Age rating for seducing a stranger . Youth Media Commission .
  3. ↑ a b c Seduction of a Stranger. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed November 24, 2019 .Template: LdiF / Maintenance / Access used 
  4. ^ A b Official website ( memento of October 22, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) of New York City
  5. ↑ Downtown Express , March 17, 2006
  6. ↑ WorstPreviews.com , 30 November 2006
  7. ↑ April 13-15, 2007 on boxofficemojo.com (English), accessed September 27, 2011
  8. ↑ Perfect Stranger at boxofficemojo.com , accessed September 27, 2011
  9. ↑ Top 100 Germany 2007 on insidekino.de , accessed on September 27, 2011
  10. ↑ IMDb soundtrack
  11. ↑ Kenneth Turan: Film Review in: Los Angeles Times , April 13, 2007.
  12. ↑ Cinema , accessed November 24, 2019.
  13. ↑ Seduction of a Stranger. In: synchronkartei.de. German dubbing file , accessed on November 24, 2019 .