Fatal Attraction

Continuity mistake: At the start of the film we are introduced to Michael Douglas' family life. His wife is in the bathroom getting ready for their night out, Michael is sat on the couch reading and his daughter, Ellen, is sat on the chair watching cartoons. In one shot Ellen is sat on her own, but in the next shot their dog has magically appeared on her lap.

Continuity mistake: The amount of wine in the Michael Douglas' glass changes in the scene where he is talking to his daughter about rabbits. It fills up without being touched. (00:41:30)

????

Continuity mistake: (DVD only) In the new ending, when Alex attacks Beth at the family's home, Beth has bruises and a cast on her arm, obviously a result of the accident she was in a few days ago. In the original ending, presumably taking place within the same time frame, when the cops come to question Dan about Alex's death, Beth is fine - no bruises, no cast, she doesn't even look tired.

Continuity mistake: Dan plays the tape that Alex made in his car. He stops the tape when he gets home, and after he gives his daughter a pet rabbit, he goes to his den and puts the tape in the tape recorder and presses play - that's all; he doesn't rewind it - but what he hears is the same bit he heard in the car, which is wrong; the tape should have started play where it left off in the car.

kh1616

Continuity mistake: When Alex goes to see Dan in his office, Dan in the first scene is sitting with uncrossed legs, then his legs are crossed, then uncrossed again.

kh1616

Continuity mistake: In the party scene the people behind Stewart Pankin on the slow moving food line change it just a matter of seconds from shot to shot. (00:04:50)

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Continuity mistake: In the very first scene we see Ann Archer pulling down a shade from afar with the curtains pulled to the side. Then we switch to her inside the apartment and see the curtains are already closed. (00:02:00)

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Continuity mistake: Quincy is sleeping on the little girl and keeps changing positions on her lap. (00:02:10)

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Continuity mistake: Playland, Rye NY in the spring, summer and autumn. Alex and the girl walking to the Dragon Coaster. It's spring with the leaves in bloom. Then in stock footage of a different roller coaster being pulled to the top, it's fall with the leaves a golden yellow. Then in other stock footage, the trees are a lush summery green. (01:36:35)

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Continuity mistake: The little girl appears to have been given a haircut after we see her at the empty rabbit cage, most apparent when we see her the following morning. (01:27:00 - 01:30:30)

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Continuity mistake: Early in the movie, there is a black clock on the wall in Dan's kitchen that reads 7:50. Later, when he is in Alex's apartment strangling her, the same black clock is now in her apartment and it, too, reads 7:50.

Jeanne Perrotta

Continuity mistake: When Michael Douglas comes home the first night after being a bad boy with Glenn Close, he is shown in the kitchen talking on the phone to his wife at a little after 8:30 AM. Not only does he talk to her, but he also has a whispery chat with his lover, walks all about the kitchen, sits at the table, and the time on the clock doesn't change once. (00:22:20 - 00:23:05)

Continuity mistake: At the end Michael Douglas is standing in front of his home with the door open in the background with the hallway illuminated. The camera angle now switches to inside the house, but he has to enter the house through a closed door.

Continuity mistake: When Dan throws Alex into the bath, she goes in face down, but suddenly she is face up - which would be a difficult manoeuvre in a small bath.

kh1616

Continuity mistake: When it looks like Alex is dead in Dan's bath, she has a long strand of blood coming out of her mouth, but a second later it's gone, and her eyes, which were white, are no longer white - they are open and look like normal eyes.

kh1616

Continuity mistake: When Alex, naked in bed, jumps up to stop Dan leaving, she attacks his shirt, and you can hear it ripping, but, later, it's completely fine - no ripped bits anywhere.

kh1616

Fatal Attraction mistake picture

Continuity mistake: When Dan leaves the budget office in his rental car, the front license plate is mounted off to one side, unusual for this type of vehicle. When he arrives at the house, it's still the same license plate number, but the plate is now mounted on the centre of the bumper.

Continuity mistake: When Dan's wife is by the dinner table talking about the house, his arm is up, yet a frame later from a different angle is down.

Sacha

Fatal Attraction mistake picture

Continuity mistake: Dan throws his umbrella and it bounces on the edge of the wastebasket but lands on the floor. When he walks next to the wastebasket the umbrella is now inside.

Sacha

Upvote valid corrections to help move entries into the corrections section.

Suggested correction: It lands on the ground and stays there.

Amy Emerick Tice

False. Junk correction. There's a picture online proving it.

Sacha

Continuity mistake: One scene has Glenn Close in bed shot from profile, and the sheet in down exposing her breasts. The film cuts to a frontal shot and the sheet is up around her neck. When it cuts back to profile, the sheet is down again.

More mistakes in Fatal Attraction

Alex Forrest: I had a wonderful time last night. I'd like to see you again. Is that so terrible?
Dan Gallagher: No. I just don't think it's possible.

More quotes from Fatal Attraction
More trivia for Fatal Attraction

Question: What is the significance of Glenn Close and the color white? I noticed that her apartment is white and with the exception of one scene when she's wearing the black leather coat, she is always wearing white. Any thoughts on this?

Enchantress

Chosen answer: With questions such as this, one can either speculate, or one can go directly to the source. So, using IMDb, I looked up the names of the crew on "Fatal Attraction." The costume designer is listed as Ellen Mirojnick. The set decoration was the responsibility of George DeTittas, Sr. I found Ellen Mirojnick on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/Ellenmirojnick/posts/263462080524551?comment_id=263621453841947&offset=0&total_comments=2¬if_t=feed_comment), and posed the question to her. This was the reply she gave: " (I)n our process there is always a purpose for a palette to tell a story dramatically. I chose white for her character because white is powerful and although not essentially a "color" it reflects all other colors, which would in turn reflect where we were in the story. I thought through her silhouettes and use of shades of whites, it would reflect her mood and not give away the demon she kept hidden. WHITE is powerful... As she was!" I have not yet been able to track down Mr. DeTittas for comment. But I have posed the additional question to Ms. Mirojnick regarding whether the color palette motif was a decision shared by different departments on the film. Ms. Mironjnick added the following comments: "she wears white to discuise (sic) her darkness, that somehow is revealed in certain places.. white is all things combined .. it radiatesits (sic) the confusion as if she was in an asylum, but her own."

Michael Albert

More questions & answers from Fatal Attraction

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