History Film / FATALATTRACTION

->''I'm not going to be IGNORED, Dan!''

* KarmaHoudini: Alex in the original ending.

* LawOfInverseFertility: Alex gets pregnant despite assuming that she was infertile due to a traumatic miscarriage she had the previous year.

* {{Yandere}}: Alex. Holy ''shit'', Alex. (Know why this movie was a huge hit in Japan? There you go.) Her #7 placement on AFI' s "Villains" List is well earned.

MamaBear[=/=]PapaWolf: Beth and Dan, given their reactions to the threats against Ellen.

* MamaBear[=/=]PapaWolf: Beth and Dan, given their reactions to the threats against Ellen.

* FocusGroupEnding: The original ending wasn't that well-liked (at least in America. A Japanese version exists with the original ending). It's also on the DVD and Blu-Ray.

* BreakInThreat: Alex follows Dan home and clearly continues stalking the family unseen, as proven by her breaking into their home to kill Ellen's pet rabbit, kidnapping Ellen from her school, and breaking into the house again to kill his wife.

* AdultFear: Alex kidnapping Ellen. It's not just every parent's worst nightmare, but all the elements surrounding it--that your child could go off with a stranger just because he/she seemed nice, that other adults who should have protected your child would instead let them go, that someone could have been watching and stalking your child, just waiting for the right moment to snatch them. And even though Ellen is returned safely, the cold hard fact is that Alex could have harmed her if she wanted to. Dan's demeanor in the police station afterwards demonstrates how really and truly terrified he now is.

* IdiotBall: Dan for apparently not using any protection when he slept with Alex, as evidenced by him asking ''her'' about her birth control method. This at a time when the AIDS crisis was slowly but surely becoming more of a worrisome social issue, not to mention the myriad of other STDs out there. Alex as well, who opens her door without looking through the peephole, asking who it is, or having a chain lock on--highly stupid in a city like New York, even more so when you've just kidnapped a man's daughter and the man might just be a tad upset about this.

-->-'''Alex Forrest'''

'''''Fatal Attraction''''' is a 1987 thriller about a married man named Dan Gallagher who cheats on his wife with a co-worker named Alex Forrest while his wife and child are away. Dan expects their affair to just be a one-night stand, but Alex, who is [[{{Yandere}} a bit on the unbalanced side]], has other ideas.

* AssholeVictim: Considering how Dan dumps Alex, you don't really feel sorry for him when she retaliates. The police don't even act at first. [[spoiler: Until Alex kidnaps his daughter, Ellen.]]

* BreakInThreat[=/=]TheVillainKnowsWhereYouLive: Alex follows Dan home and clearly continues stalking the family unseen, as proven by her breaking into their home to kill Ellen's pet rabbit, kidnapping Ellen from her school, and breaking into the house again to kill his wife.

* FocusGroupEnding: The original ending wasn't that well-liked (at least in America. A Japanese version exists with the original ending).
** It's also on the DVD and Blu-Ray.

* MurderTheHypotenuse: Alex tries to do this in the end.

** And conversely, another view has everything that happens to Alex as punishment for (a) daring to advance in a traditionally-male business world, (b) being happily single, successful, and independent at a time when most women her age (30-something) were expected to be married with children--it's hard not to notice the stark contrast between her and Dan's happy homemaker wife. Her extreme reaction is intended to discredit her advocacy of feminism, making this an [[UnfortunateImplications entirely different kind]] of [[{{Anvilicious}} morality tale]].
*** Although none of the other businesswomen in the film are portrayed as unhappy and unsatisfied with their lives. Alex's problems seem to stem more from her personality problems (perhaps caused in part by the [[FreudianExcuse traumatic early death of her father]] which made it hard for her to properly bond with people) than it does from her trying to succeed in a "traditionally male business world."

** Beth and Dan easily qualify too. [[spoiler:While it is true that it was self-defense, Beth and Dan did kill a pregnant woman, first trying to drown her, then shooting her in the heart.]]
*** [[spoiler: We don't know if she was really pregnant. He could have lied to Dan and paid the doctor to say that in order to convice Dan to remain with her.]]

''Fatal Attraction''--#28 on AFI's "Thrills" list-- was the top grossing movie of 1987, was nominated for several Academy Awards, and became hugely popular both in the United States and internationally. Alex Forrest--AFI' s #7 "Villain"--was cited as a notable film example of someone with erotomania. The movie was also the cause of much discussion about marital infidelity (and the DoubleStandard gender politics involved in the StalkingIsLove trope) for a good while afterward.

* TheVillainKnowsWhereYouLive: Alex follows Dan home and clearly continues stalking the family unseen, as proven by her breaking into their home to kill Ellen's pet rabbit, kidnapping Ellen from her school, and breaking into the house again to kill his wife.

''Fatal Attraction'' was the top grossing movie of 1987, was nominated for several Academy Awards, and became hugely popular both in the United States and internationally. Alex Forrest was cited as a notable film example of someone with erotomania. The movie was also the cause of much discussion about marital infidelity (and the DoubleStandard gender politics involved in the StalkingIsLove trope) for a good while afterward.

* MamaBear: Beth.

* PapaWolf: Dan. After all the horrible things she's done, Alex kidnapping Ellen is the last straw for him.

* {{Yandere}}: Alex. Holy ''shit'', Alex. (Know why this movie was a huge hit in Japan? There you go.)

* AssholeVictim: Considering how Dan dumps Alex, you don't really feel sorry for him when she retaliates. The police don't even act at first. [[spoiler: Until Alex kidnaps his daughter Ellen.]]

''Fatal Attraction'' was the top grossing movie of 1987, was nominated for several Academy Awards, and became hugely popular both in the United States and internationally. Alex Forrest was cited as a notable film example of someone with borderline personality disorder and dependent personality disorder. The movie was also the cause of much discussion about marital infidelity (and the DoubleStandard gender politics involved in the StalkingIsLove trope) for a good while afterward.

*** Although none of the other businesswomen in the film are portrayed as unhappy and unsatisfied with their lives. Alex's problems seem to stem more from her personality problems (perhaps caused in part by the traumatic early death of her father which made it hard for her to properly bond with people) than it does from her trying to succeed in a "traditionally male business world."

* AssholeVictim: Considering how Dan dumps Alex, you don't really feel sorry for him when she retaliates. The police don't even act at first. [[spoiler: until Alex kidnaps his daughter Ellen.]]