The premise of this made-for-TV movie, and thus sleight-of-handly filmed, is that a female star attorney (Rosanna Arquette), who specializes in defending rape suspects, falls victim to a serial rapist from her own ranks and kills him in the turbulent aftermath of the deed, only be blackmailed by a willing witness. As she deals with the shame and rage of the violation, as well as guilt of her own crime, she gets rid of the evidence and tries to hide her involvement from her police-fiancé, who is handed the case.
The moral of the story is obvious and predictable to an embarrassing extent, replete with pointers as to how to think and feel about he characters and their actions and a lengthy displays of moral justification and retribution. Setting up the story in the close family circuit and distributing the conflict in this moralistic manner makes the film a classic piece of melodrama. And when there isn't enough drama in the story, the hack director pushes in on the villain (cut from a spoof of a 70's NYC cop drama) with a tilting camera. Oh, we're leaning left something must be suspenseful here!
Yet, it is difficult to discard, even not to recommend, not only due to the valid subject of date rape (although it is lamentable that the rapist is made into a kind of stereotype, similar to the ever-present serial killers, to justify the protagonist's killing of him - not letting the simple deed speak for itself) but for the main reason to see it in the first place: Rosanna Arquette. Alright, she's beautiful, but she also genuinely imbues her character with just the frustration and agony that is the focal point of this story, and without which it would fall fall flat. In fact, she's so good it's almost to the detriment of the film, because everyone else seems to be acting in a different movie one made for television with a low budget and with a minor talent crew.
The moral of the story is obvious and predictable to an embarrassing extent, replete with pointers as to how to think and feel about he characters and their actions and a lengthy displays of moral justification and retribution. Setting up the story in the close family circuit and distributing the conflict in this moralistic manner makes the film a classic piece of melodrama. And when there isn't enough drama in the story, the hack director pushes in on the villain (cut from a spoof of a 70's NYC cop drama) with a tilting camera. Oh, we're leaning left something must be suspenseful here!
Yet, it is difficult to discard, even not to recommend, not only due to the valid subject of date rape (although it is lamentable that the rapist is made into a kind of stereotype, similar to the ever-present serial killers, to justify the protagonist's killing of him - not letting the simple deed speak for itself) but for the main reason to see it in the first place: Rosanna Arquette. Alright, she's beautiful, but she also genuinely imbues her character with just the frustration and agony that is the focal point of this story, and without which it would fall fall flat. In fact, she's so good it's almost to the detriment of the film, because everyone else seems to be acting in a different movie one made for television with a low budget and with a minor talent crew.
