Killing Me Softly

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Killing Me Softly ★ 2001 (R)

Chinese director Kaige's English-lanugage debut turned out to be an unfortunate choice—a turgid, sexual melodrama based on the novel by the pseudonymous Nicci French. American Alice (Graham) is living in London, seemingly content with boyfriend Jake (Hughes). Then she meets mysterious and intense mountaineer Adam (Fiennes) and she's soon agreeing to marry him despite evidence of his violent temper and how little she knows about him. Bouts of S&M sex follow but it's when Alice learns that her new hubby's previous lover disappeared that she decides maybe she's made a mistake. An unrated version is also available. 100m/C VHS, DVD . Heather Graham, Joseph Fiennes, Jason Hughes, Natascha (Natasha) McElhone, Ulrich Thomsen, Ian Hart; D: Chen Kaige; W: Kara Lind-strom; C: Michael Coulter; M: Patrick Doyle.

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