A young woman fakes her own death in an attempt to escape her nightmarish marriage, but discovers it is impossible to elude her controlling husband.
Acting
Julia Roberts terrified and determined, never better.
Direction
Ruben builds dread from ordinary domestic spaces.
Production
Cape Cod beauty vs claustrophobic beach house horror.
Director
Joseph Ruben
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Released during peak awareness of domestic violence in the early 90s, it helped mainstream conversations about psychological abuse long before 'coercive control' was common terminology.
The towel scene—where Martin obsessively straightens the bathroom—became iconic shorthand for controlling behavior, referenced in everything from sitcoms to true crime analysis.
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