Sleeping with the Enemy

This article is about the film. For other uses, see Sleeping with the Enemy (disambiguation).

Sleeping with the Enemy
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Joseph Ruben
Produced by	Leonard Goldberg
Screenplay by	Ron Bass Bruce Joel Rubin (uncredited)
Based on	Sleeping with the Enemy by Nancy Price
Starring	Julia Roberts Patrick Bergin Kevin Anderson
Music by	Jerry Goldsmith
Cinematography	John Lindley
Editing by	George Bowers
Distributed by	20th Century Fox
Release date(s)	February 8, 1991 (1991-02-08)
Running time	97 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$19 million
Box office	$174,999,005

Sleeping with the Enemy is a 1991 psychological thriller film directed by Joseph Ruben and starring Julia Roberts. The film is based on Nancy Price's 1987 novel of the same name. Roberts plays a woman who escapes from her abusive, obsessive husband from Cape Cod to Cedar Falls, Iowa, where she captures the attention of a kindly college drama teacher.

Plot

Laura Burney (Julia Roberts) lives in a beautiful home by the beach on Cape Cod with her husband, Martin (Patrick Bergin), a charmingly handsome and wealthy investment counselor who is also possessive, abusive, and controlling. It becomes clear that he has OCPD (obsessive-compulsive personality disorder), and while she tries to abide by his needs, she seems to suffer under the strain. Martin believes Laura has been flirting with an attractive neighbor, and he physically assaults her as punishment. The abuse is an ongoing routine, which began immediately after their wedding. To escape Martin, Laura, whom Martin believed to be a non-swimmer, plans and fakes her own death at sea in a storm while the couple are boating. Unbeknownst to Martin, she swims to safety, having recently taken swimming lessons at the YWCA. She secretly returns home, retrieves some clothing and cash she had hidden away in preparation, disguises herself, and leaves home after flushing her wedding ring down the toilet.

Laura moves to Cedar Falls, Iowa. In preparation, she has told Martin that her mother, Chloe Williams (Elizabeth Lawrence), died, and pretended to attend the funeral, but secretly she had moved her to a nursing home in Iowa. She rents a modest house and adopts the name Sara Waters. In Cedar Falls, she meets Ben Woodward (Kevin Anderson), who teaches drama at the local college. A relationship develops, but suffers a setback when Ben discovers that her real name is not Sara. After a date, Laura is unable to be physically intimate with Ben, and the next day, she confesses that she is on the run from an abusive husband. Martin receives a chance phone call from a friend of Laura's from the YWCA, learning of Laura's swimming lessons. His suspicions aroused, Martin heads home and finds the ring in the toilet bowl, where it failed to flush. From the Cape Cod nursing home, he learns that Laura's mother is alive, and has her traced to the nursing home in Iowa. He visits the blind woman without revealing his identity and learns from her that Laura is seeing a college drama teacher in Cedar Falls.

Martin finds Laura and Ben at a local fair, then follows her to her home. After leaving idiosyncratic clues around the house for Laura to find, Martin confronts Laura. Ben appears at the door and Martin, brandishing a gun, threatens to kill Ben if she doesn't make him leave. Laura talks to Ben and he appears to leave, but then breaks down the door and struggles with Martin, who knocks him unconscious. As he aims the gun at Ben, Laura distracts and attacks Martin, who drops the gun, and she manages to take control of it; she fires at Martin but misses. Martin dares her to call the police; Laura calls the police saying that she just killed an intruder. She shoots him three times, Martin falls to the ground, and she drops the pistol. Laura collapses, sobbing, but Martin grabs her and points the gun at her. He pulls the trigger but the gun only clicks empty and Martin sags lifelessly. Ben is revived by Laura and they embrace as Martin's dead body lies on the ground with Laura's wedding ring inches from his hand.

Cast

• Julia Roberts as Laura Burney (nee Williams)
• Patrick Bergin as Martin Burney
• Kevin Anderson as Ben Woodward
• Elizabeth Lawrence as Chloe Williams
• Kyle Secor as Fleishman
• Claudette Nevins as Dr. Rissner

Release

Critical reception

Sleeping with the Enemy received mixed to negative reviews; the film currently holds a 23% 'Rotten' rating on Rotten Tomatoes.

Famed critic Roger Ebert gave the film 1.5 stars upon its release.

Box office

The film's opening ended Home Alone's 11-week #1 run at the box office. By the end of its run, the film had grossed $101,599,005 in the domestic box office; with an international total of $73,400,000, the film's worldwide gross was $174,999,005; based on a $19 million budget, the film was a box office success.

Home media

The film reached #1 in the rental charts.

Awards

The score by Jerry Goldsmith won the BMI Film Music Award, 1992, and the film was nominated for the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films Saturn Award for 1992 in four categories: Best Actress (Roberts), Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actor (Bergin), Best Horror Film and Best Music (Goldsmith).

Remakes

Sleeping with the Enemy had the same storyline of the 1980 Malayalam film Manjil Virinja Pookkal. The film has been remade in India four times, as Yaraana (1995), Daraar (1996), Agni Sakshi (1996) and Koi Mere Dil Se Poochhe (2002), all in Hindi. The Tamil film Aval Varuvala and Telugu film "Pelli" also seem to be inspired by Sleeping with the Enemy. There is also a remake in Pakistan called Khilona (1997) starring Meera and Shaan.

External links

• Sleeping with the Enemy at the Internet Movie Database
• Sleeping with the Enemy at AllRovi
• Sleeping with the Enemy at Box Office Mojo
• Sleeping with the Enemy at Rotten Tomatoes