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To Die For
Directed by Gus Van Sant
Starring Nicole Kidman

Reviewed by Natasha Simons Despite the huge amount of advertising and media hype around To Die For, starring "our Aussie girl" Nicole Kidman, I decided to see the film anyway. What piqued my interest was the rumour that Hollywood didn't like this film; it was too close to home in its exposé of the dark side of people's fascination with TV and violence. I was sadly disappointed. Behind an extremely shallow look at the US cultural fascination with real life dramas on TV is a film with a very anti-woman message. Suzanne Stone (Nicole Kidman) is obsessed with getting on television, because "you aren't really anybody in America if you're not on TV". Stone will do anything, including arranging the murder of her husband, Larry Moretto (Matt Dillon). Stone dominates the lives of all the characters she interacts with, though there is nothing likeable about her character. She is a very dumb "super bitch". Her obsession with becoming a TV star controls everything she does and makes her manipulative and heartless. The film appeals to young people through the soundtrack and the characters of the socially dysfunctional teenagers Stone links up with. Its appeal is also the exploration of the dark side of human nature and the society that shapes it: Stone's greatest moment is when she walks past Moretto's dead body and grieving relatives to greet the lights of the TV cameras. Yet Stone is really the subject of this film. She is a woman who puts her career ahead of the needs of her husband and having the children he wants, and for this she is condemned. But the most damaging and anti-woman part of the film is its comment on domestic violence. Manipulating teenager Jimmy's (Joaquin Phoenix) obsession with her, Stone encourages him to kill her husband, because she says he beats her up and she'll end up "one of those women in the shelters". The truth is, Moretto never lays a hand on her and is in fact scared to death of even saying "no" to her. This deception is only a small part of the film, it is the catalyst for the murder of Moretto. The implication is that domestic violence is a problem mainly because women lie about it. Sexual harassment is portrayed in a similar way, with films like Disclosure helping to drive the message home. To Die For feeds the anti-woman ideology of the right wing and the backlash against women's rights. As a black comedy, it raises some laughs, but the underlying message is deadly serious. Don't pay money to see it.