Continuity mistake: A few times when Emily fights with the intruder, her hair changes from being in a ponytail, to down. (00:46:30)
A Perfect Murder (1998)
Directed by: Andrew Davis
Starring: Michael Douglas, Gwyneth Paltrow, Viggo Mortensen, David Suchet
Continuity mistake: Emily's hair scrunchie appears in her hair as she is answering the phone and seems to have fallen out during the struggle but reappears and disappears several times throughout the attack.
Revealing mistake: At the end a character is killed and you see him lying on the floor, dead, but still breathing.... (01:43:00)
Trivia: Viggo Mortensen is an accomplished painter, and most of his character's paintings are his own.
Steven: How's that for wet work?
Question: Is it important for the storyline of the movie that Emily (Gwyneth Paltrow) can understand the policeman, when he is speaking Arabic to his wife on the phone?
Question: Why did Michael Douglas expect David to spend 2 hours in the back stairwell between entering the building at 8 p.m. and attacking Gweneth at 10 p.m. after the phone rings? He'd be sitting in the stairwell where anyone could see him, with or without his black ski mask.
Answer: Good point. If a resident in an upscale apartment building like that were to see a suspicious-looking man loitering in the stairwell, he would tell the doorman, who would either investigate or call the police, or both.
Question: I've seen this movie and there's still one thing I can't figure out. Why did Steven want to kill his wife?
Answer: Steven needed money and his wife was worth a lot of money. She was already having an affair and was planning on leaving him. If she left, Steven could be left with nothing and still in financial troubles. By killing her before she divorces him, he'd be entitled to her wealth, plus the money from her life insurance policy.
Answer: Along with the answers by Bishop73 and ChristmasJonesFan, I think Steven also wanted to kill Emily before she could leave him. She complained to her friend that "every single thing always has to be on his terms." As a controlling person, he would not tolerate her leaving him. This is implied during their fight at the end, when he says "I'll tell you when it's over."
Answer: Also, Emily never signed a prenup so if she dies, he gets like a hundred million bucks.
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Answer: Not really. She being a linguist and able to speak the detective's language seems to create a bond of trust and understanding between them.
raywest ★