1 hour 35 minutes, USA 1995
Director: William Friedkin; Producers: Gary Adelson, Craig Baumgarten and Robert Evans; Screenplay: Joe Eszterhas; Photography: Andrzej Bartkowiak; Production Design: Alex Tavoularis; Editing: Augie Hess; Music: James Horner.
Stars: David Caruso (David Corelli), Linda Fiorentino (Katrina Gavin), Chazz Palminteri (Matt Gavin), Richard Crenna (Lew Edwards), Michael Biehn (Bob Hargrove), Donna Murphy (Karen Heller), Ken King (Petey Vesko), Holt McCallany (Bill Barrett), David Hunt (Pat Callendar), Angie Everhart (Patrice Jacinto)
The movie genre of 'erotic thriller' is a very difficult one to get spot on. There are examples of such movies which cover the broad cinematic spectrum - from Lawrence Kasdan's Body Heat, which was both erotic and thrilling, to Basic Instinct and Body Of Evidence, which were commercially successful but middle-of-the-road with regards to content, to films like Blindfold: Acts Of Obsession, and the Gregory Hippolyte films, which are heavily publicised but really are nothing more than soft porn with a famous face. Jade really falls into the centre category- occasionally thrilling and occasionally erotic.
David Caruso (from NYPD Blue) plays David Corelli, a San Francisco District Attorney with political aspirations. One evening he is called to the house of an important public figure who has been brutally murdered whilst engaging in a bout if sadomasochistic sex. When pictures of the Governor of California, Lew Edwards (Richard Crenna) in a bout of passion are discovered in the victim's house, the fun begins and Corelli finds himself in great danger. All evidence point to the killer being a woman named Jade, a sort of high class prostitute with bizarre sexual tastes and a penchant for wearing fertility masks. However, the further Corelli gets involved in the case, the more he begins to suspect Katrina Gavin (Linda Fiorentino), a business advisor who happens to be his former lover, who also happens to be married to his best friend Matt Gavin (Chazz Palmintieri).
All this is very interesting, but it is more than a trifle confusing. The director, William Friedkin (whose earlier movies include The Exorcist and The French Connection) seems to be unable to hold the attention of the audience for long enough to get them interested in the characters, so he punctuates the film with spectacular car chases and seedy sex scenes. Admittedly, the car chases were good, but at times I felt like I was watching a re-run of Bullitt, albeit with a different driver. Maybe this was the fault of the writer, Joe Eszterhas, who seems to be the erotic thriller king (his previous work include Basic Instinct, Sliver and the upcoming Showgirls). His characters are more like characatures, and nobody ever really says anything of importance. They just give out occasional soundbites to fill us in on plot intricacies. The cast are pretty good, but all have done better work. Most disappointing was Fiorentino however who, after her great performance in The Last Seduction seems to be in danger of being typecast as a dominatrix. Add to this James Horner's surprisingly horrific musical score and a complete cop-out ending and you have, as I said earlier, a middle-of-the-road erotic thriller which only occasionally lives up to its potential.
A film review by Jonathan Broxton 1995