Viggo Mortensen in A Perfect Murder

Release: 1998

Director: Andrew Davis
Writer(s): Frederick Knott (play), Patrick Smith Kelly (screenplay)
Based on: Hitchcock's Dial "M" for Murder

Runtime: 107 min

MCAA Rating: R for violence, sexuality and language

Websites:
Official site
IMDb
Open Directory

View movie on new
Brego website

A Perfect Murder Cast and Crew

Viggo Mortensen: David Shaw

Other leading roles:
Michael Douglas: Steven Taylor
Gwyneth Paltrow: Emily Bradford Taylor

A Perfect Murder Synopsis

The husband (Michael Douglas) is a currency trader whose portfolio value is shrinking disasterously. The wife (Gwyneth Paltrow) is the heiress to a $100 million fortune. The marriage is not a happy one, but the promise of long-term affluence keeps them together. The wife pursues an affair with an artist (Viggo Mortensen) who gives her all the passion she doesn't get at home. The husband decides that his wife is worth more dead than alive.

A Perfect Murder Brief Review

This remake of the Hitchcock classic, Dial M for Murder, is aesthetically appealing and the performances are strong. Still it seems to be missing its heart. The police inspector was the only character I felt I might enjoy getting to know better.

For Viggo Mortensen fans, there are a couple of rather steamy love scenes with Paltrow early in the movie, and of course the well-documented fact that the paintings in the artist's studio are Viggo's own works.

A Perfect Murder Soundtrack

Original score by James Newton Howard:
1. Main Title
2. Ever Been to Be to Belize?
3. That's Not Happiness to See Me
4. It's Too Late
5. Intruder
6. Attack
7. He's in the Kichen
8. Safe Deposit Box
9. Can You Ever Forgive Me?
10. You Take Care
11. What Happens If...?

A Perfect Murder Articles & Interviews

Versatile Viggo - Express, June 5, 1998 [Brego.net]

The Hot New 39-Year-Old - Movieline, August 1998
A fun interview in which Viggo shares stories from the filming of movies from Witness to A Walk on the Moon, and describes his drag queen screen test for To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything, Julie Newmar. [Viggo-Works]

"I didn't break up Gwyneth and Ben" - Now Magazine, April 14, 1999 [Brego.net]

Perfect Murder Resources

DVD Review: A Perfect Murder - Detailed review of the film, cast and DVD production values. Offers an interesting analysis of Mortensen's character: "Viggo Mortensen is perfectly cast as the 'artistic' murderer, who easily switches from the charming lover to the cold criminal. Most of his credibility comes from how he plays off the tortured soul, knowing he has to kill the one he believes he loves. When snared like an animal, he becomes as vicious as a wild animal and tries to make the best of the situation."

MovieWeb: A Perfect Murder - A dozen nice high-resolution still shots from the film plus basic background information.

Official Perfect Murder Site - Warner Brothers' official Perfect Murder site is organized as a crime investigation, which may be fun for some but makes it hard to find information. Still there are the usual film clips and trailers, stills and screensavers, brief cast biographies. The site map helps.

Rob's Reviews: A Perfect Murder - Curmudgeonly reviewer Rob Gonsalves rips apart the plot and performances in A Perfect Murder, calling it "twisty and preposterous and boring." I like his description of David Shaw as a "lank-haired hipster artist (Viggo Mortensen, looking like an unholy cross between Kurt Cobain and Harlan Ellison)."

Perfect Murder Photo Gallery

A Perfect Murder DVD cover
(338x475)