Line #42 Film/ToDieFor


1	[[quoteright:315:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/to_die_for_1995.jpeg]]
2
3	->''"You're not anybody in America unless you're on TV. On TV is where we learn about who we really are. Because what's the point of doing anything worthwhile if nobody's watching? And if people are watching, it makes you a better person."''
4	-->-- '''Suzanne Stone Maretto'''
5
6	''To Die For'' is a 1995 American BlackComedy film directed by Creator/GusVanSant, adapted by Creator/BuckHenry from the 1992 [[TheFilmOfTheBook novel of the same name]] by Joyce Maynard.
7
8	It is an incredibly dark satire on celebrity obsession. Creator/NicoleKidman stars as Suzanne Stone Maretto, a beautiful and ruthlessly ambitious (if not particularly talented or overly bright) young woman desperate to become a world-famous news anchor – even if she has to commit murder along the way.
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10	The supporting cast includes Creator/JoaquinPhoenix, Creator/MattDillon, Creator/CaseyAffleck, Creator/IlleanaDouglas, Creator/DanHedaya, Creator/WayneKnight, Creator/KurtwoodSmith, and Creator/HollandTaylor.
11
12	----
13	!!This book and the film provides examples of:
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15	* AmbiguouslyGay: Lydia worships Suzanne to romantic levels, and Suzanne accuses her of being a "perverted lesbian", which also has an implication of RapeAndSwitch since Lydia was molested by her mother's boyfriend. However, Lydia says that she wants to sleep with Music/MotleyCrue, but it's left ambiguous if she's just saying that to avoid coming out to her class.
16	* AmbitionIsEvil: Suzanne's maniacal desire to make it on TV leads her to murder.
17	* AscendedExtra: Janice, Larry's sister, is given many more scenes in the film than in the book.
18	* BlackComedy: The entire plot is played for ''very'' dark laughs with Suzanne's ruthless personal ambition contrasting with her own vapidity and the shallowness of her goals.
19	* BouquetToss: Subverted when bridesmaids Janice and Suzanne's sister deliberately ignore Suzanne's tossed bouquet.
20	* ButForMeItWasTuesday: In the novel, Suzanne tries to seduce a network executive to get a job. Years later, the guy says that so many ambitious, unqualified women who want to be on TV come after him that he has absolutely no memory of the specific incident with Suzanne, but can speculate about how it went.
21	* TheCameo:
22	** Creator/DavidCronenberg as [[spoiler:a Mafia hitman]].
23	** Creator/GeorgeSegal as a conference speaker.
24	* CastingCouch: It's strongly implied that Suzanne has sex with a man on her honeymoon because she believes he can help her career. He doesn't.
25	* CastingGag: In the novel, Suzanne Stone Maretto mentioned [[HypotheticalCasting wanting]] Creator/NicoleKidman to play her in a movie. Kidman went and did.[[invoked]]
26	* ChekhovsGun:
27	** In the beginning, Suzanne's father says that he was not happy that his daughter married an Italian American because maybe his father was in the mob. [[spoiler:In the end, it turns out that he is because he asks a hitman to kill Suzanne.]]
28	** Invoked and discussed with a literal example around Lydia and Suzanne's discussion that [[spoiler:Lydia took her mother's gun to threaten her mother's perverted boyfriend. This is the gun that she uses to kill Larry.]]
29	* ConsistentClothingStyle: In the film, after starting her job at the channel but before starting her affair with Jimmy, Suzanne almost always wears [[BrightIsNotGood brightly-colored]] [[LadyInAPowerSuit power suits: a skirt and a cropped jacket.]]
30	* CountryMatters: Subverted. Janice says that she'd describe Suzanne with a four-letter word beginning with C. The word is "cold".
31	* CreatorCameo:
32	** Screenwriter Creator/BuckHenry as Mr. H. Finlaysson.
33	** Joyce Maynard (who wrote the novel the movie's based on) as Suzanne's lawyer.
34	* DeathByAdaptation: [[spoiler: Suzanne is assassinated by a Mafia hitman and buried in ice as revenge for her husband, Jimmy's, death. In reality, Pamela Smart, who the movie is based on, got caught and convicted for murdering her husband Greg and was sentenced to life in prison without parole.]]
35	* DemotedToExtra: Several characters (such as Suzanne's sister and the parents of Jimmy, Russell, and Lydia) have far more scenes in the novel.
36	* TheDitz: Most characters actually. Suzanne would be TheDitz in any other movie but next to Larry and Jimmy...
37	* DumbBlonde: PlayedWith. While Suzanne [[BookDumb clearly lacks book smarts]] and general self-awareness, she is fairly gifted at manipulation and intimidation (or at least, picking the right people to manipulate and intimidate).
38	* {{Ephebophile}}: Suzanne grooms and has sex with a fifteen-year-old Jimmy, though it's left ambiguous whether she's genuinely attracted to him or just exploiting him to kill her husband. More clearly, while her relationships with them are platonic, she also prefers the company of his friends and schoolmates Russell and Lydia over most adults (in addition to possible hero worship).
39	* EvenTheGirlsWantHer: Lydia has as much HeroWorship for Suzanne as the boys do. Suzanne, despite her general stupidity, actually does pick up on this and mentions Lydia's "lesbian tendencies" when trying to bully the girl.
40	* EveryoneLovesBlondes: Suzanne is viewed as being extremely beautiful and has blonde hair.
41	* FavorsForTheSexy: Suzanne and Jimmy. And truly dark favors.
42	* FaintInShock: Janice faints after learning [[spoiler:her brother had been killed]].
43	* FauxlosophicNarration: Suzanne - played for laughs.
44	* FemmeFatale: Suzanne's sex-oriented manipulations and generally dark actions definitely paint her as this. See TheVamp below.
45	* FilmNoir: [[PlayedForLaughs PlayedFor]] BlackComedy. Suzanne's the FemmeFatale, and Jimmy's the sap. The crime is murder of her husband.
46	* FramingDevice: The story is framed by an interview of Suzanne's and Larry's families in a television studio set, interviews of Janice, Jimmy, and Lydia, and the video of herself that Suzanne filmed.
47	* TheFunInFuneral: Downplayed at [[spoiler:Larry's]] funeral; it's not funny to anyone in attendance, but Suzanne actually plays a cassette tape of Eric Carmen's version of "All By Myself" at the graveyard, to the shocked/confused faces of the other attendees, including the priest presiding over it.
48	* HairContrastDuo: The blonde, [[{{Narcissist}} narcissistic]] Suzanne is contrasted against her [[HollywoodHomely apparently unfortunate-looking]] and [[InformedFlaw awkward]] sister-in-law Janice and her friend Lydia.
49	* HiddenWire: The police gives Lydia a miniature microphone in order to get evidence that Suzanne is the silent partner of her husband's murder.
50	* HighPoweredCareerWoman: Parodied. Suzanne is a weather reporter who is extremely ambitious, arrogant, and single-minded, being convinced that she's going to be a huge success.
51	* HomoeroticSubtext: Lydia seems to be just as entranced by Suzanne as Jimmy and Russell.
52	* HorrorDoesntSettleForSimpleTuesday: Suzanne manipulates Jimmy and Russell to kill Larry on their first anniversary. Jimmy's murder plays out over an ostensibly CoincidentalBroadcast of Suzanne [[DramaticIrony wishing him a happy anniversary]] live on air.
53	* ItsAllAboutMe: Psychologists agree that Suzanne is eligible for a diagnosis of narcissistic personality disorder.
54	** Playing "All By Myself" at her husband's funeral was a poor choice.
55	** At the family dinner party, when Larry's sister begins talking about herself and her recent success, Suzanne looks visibly annoyed to have everyone paying attention to Janice instead of her.
56	* HollywoodPudgy: Invoked. Suzanne tells Larry that he he's developing a "tire" around his middle and he's "getting fat" while they're at a pool party. He is not fat, but it's conflicted since Suzanne herself is an UnreliableNarrator.
57	* HollywoodThin: Suzanne herself obsessively comments on the bodies of others and regards them as fat if they aren't rail-thin.
58	* HormoneAddledTeenager: All the teenage boys are [[DumbassTeenageSon extremely dumb]] with their aggressive horniness. Several boys in the class literally ''bark'' at her. Lydia is implied to have a crush on Suzanne, too, though she's much more subtle about it.
59	* HypotheticalCasting: Invoked. In the novel, Suzanne Stone Maretto states she would like to see "that actress that just got married to Creator/TomCruise in real life" play her in a movie about this. (Kidman went and did in TheFilmOfTheBook.)
60	* KarmaHoudiniWarranty: [[spoiler:The cops gain evidence on Suzanne via Lydia wearing a wire but her lawyer gets it declared inadmissible in court because it was acquired through entrapment. ''Then'' the acquitted Suzanne goes too far by painting Larry as a drug addict which causes his father to order a hit on her.]]
61	* KickTheDog: Averted [[spoiler: although it didn't look good for Walter when the hitman took him and Suzanne for a ride.]]
62	* KilledOffscreen: [[spoiler:Larry's father arranges for a hit to be put out on Suzanne for killing her husband. She's approached by a [[AffablyEvil soft-spoken, friendly hitman]] who walks her offscreen to kill her. The next and last time we see her, she's floating in a frozen lake.]]
63	* LegFocus: When Suzanne talks to the class, several [[HormoneAddledTeenager horny teenage boys]] perv over her.
64	* LysistrataGambit: Suzanne threatens to stop having sex with Jimmy to force him to murder her husband. She threatens to start a relationship with Russel if he does not obey.
65	* TheMafia: PlayedWith: Suzanne's father's fears that her Italian-American husband comes from a Mafia family are intended to come across as ridiculous and borderline racist. [[spoiler: Turns out they ''are'' a Mafia family but they only react when ''Suzanne'' has a man killed, and then the only person they hurt is Suzanne herself in revenge.]])
66	* {{Metaphorgotten}}: When Suzanne is convincing Ed Grant to hire her for his local cable station:
67	--> '''Suzanne:''' Everybody has to start somewhere. Do you know where Edward R. Murrow started?
68	--> '''Ed:''' No, I don't.
69	--> '''Suzanne:''' No. Well... neither do I offhand. But I don't think it was at the top, do you?
70	* MisterMuffykins: Larry gives Suzanne a Pomeranian which she calls "Walter" (after Creator/WalterCronkite). She later tells Jimmy that she cannot divorce because Larry would take Walter away from her.
71	* MoodWhiplash: In keeping with Suzanne's lack of sympathy for consequences, she goes straight from having [[spoiler:a serious conversation with Jimmy convincing him to kill Larry to dancing to [[SoundtrackDissonance "Sweet Home Alabama".]]]]
72	* TheNarcissist: Suzanne has been described as a textbook case of Narcissistic Personality Disorder.
73	* NiceGuy: Larry is a very nice guy... [[StayInTheKitchen mostly]].
74	* OhCrap: Suzanne becomes very alarmed when her boss tells her that the police confiscated the videotapes she made with her accomplices.
75	* PoliceAreUseless: Subverted. The criminals are [[StupidCrooks completely incompetent]] and the police catch on to them immediately. The police can also see through Suzanne's StepfordSmiler Act. [[spoiler: Unfortunately, the most solid proof that Suzanne is the mastermind of the crime is ruled inadmissible in court, so they cannot convict her.]]
76	* RapeAsBackstory: Lydia was molested by her mother's boyfriend, a fact which she confides in Suzanne. [[spoiler:It's also how Lydia ends up telling Suzanne about her mother's gun.]]
77	* SmallNameBigEgo: Suzanne thinks she's something special. Even though the biggest gig she lands is as a weather reporter for a local cable station, she continues to believe she's the next big thing in television.
78	* StayInTheKitchen: Larry wants Suzanne to do this instead of pursuing her career. It's what gets him killed.
79	* StepfordSmiler: Rarely are Suzanne's smiles real.
80	* TheStinger: Janice figure skates triumphantly [[spoiler: over Suzanne's icy grave]] as "Season of the Witch" plays.
81	* SympatheticMurderer:
82	** Suzanne is convinced she's one. The reality is otherwise.
83	** Jimmy can be seen as one by audience members. [[spoiler: It helps that, unlike Suzanne, Jimmy shows that he's conflicted up until the moment he commits the murder and appears remorseful about what he has done.]]
84	** [[spoiler: A second-hand example with Larry and Janice's father Joe; after realizing that Suzanne was responsible for his son's death, he has her whacked by a mob hitman as revenge.]]
85	* SweaterGirl: One of the only times where Suzanne isn't shown wearing her ConsistentClothingStyle of brightly colored [[LadyInAPowerSuit skirt suits]] is when she dances with Jimmy wearing a tight-fitting green sweater. It's heavily implied that this is intentional on her part as she then tells him she's going upstairs to take it off because she's getting sweaty in order to seduce him.
86	* TalkShowAppearance: While the film has a good portion of it told through a documentary and flashbacks, another portion has both Suzanne and Larry's parents being interviewed on a national talk show and their varying viewpoints of their children's lives, their marriage and the tragedy.
87	* TheUnfairSex: Averted with the heartless character of Suzanne.
88	* TheUnfavorite: Suzanne appears to get a lot more attention from her parents than her sister does.
89	* TheThreeFacesOfEve: The three main female characters. Sociopathic FemmeFatale Suzanne is the seductress due to her widely accepted sex appeal (and sleeping with Jimmy). Larry's sister Janice is the wife, as a more grounded, family-orientated, and domestic person. The sole girl in Jimmy's group, Lydia, is the child, both because of her age and because she naively hero-worships Suzanne.
90	* ThinkOfTheCensors: Twice:
91	** When Suzanne interviews the teenagers [[ShowWithinAShow in the documentary]] about their life goals, Russell mocks Lydia by saying that hers is "to fuck the Music/NewKidsOnTheBlock", which angers the latter[[note]]since she insists that it's really Music/MotleyCrue[[/note]] and causes the former to scold him about his language, saying how the station could be fined and the project could be pulled over it.
92	** When in prison, Jimmy admits to the interviewer of the documentary that serves as the film's FramingDevice that sometimes when he's alone in his cell at night, he thinks of Suzanne and he "jerks off". This only earns him an audible groan from the interviewer to which he apologizes.
93	* TooDumbToLive: Suzanne exhibits a lot of airheaded moments throughout the film, but probably the most egregious case is [[spoiler: agreeing to meet a man alone, in the middle of nowhere, who claims to be a studio executive without any credentials to back that up, and following him underneath a bridge to an icy lake where... sure enough, he kills her.]]
94	* UnreliableNarrator: The movie is almost entirely structured around Suzanne talking herself up and describing how much people admire her, intercut with scenes of people contradicting her.
95	* UsedToBeASweetKid: The home video of a young Suzanne talking about how she wants to be on TV would be pretty sweet if not for her actions as an adult. Averted in the novel, where she stole a prized family heirloom from her sister out of jealousy as a kid.
96	* TheVamp: PlayedWith; Suzanne has the ruthlessness and the looks but lacks the brains to pull it off properly -- her 'seduction' and 'manipulation' are hilariously ham-fisted and obvious. Luckily her targets are even dumber than she is.
97	* VeryLooselyBasedOnATrueStory: Was inspired by the real-life [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pamela_Smart Pamela Smart]] case.
98	* VillainProtagonist: Suzanne, a heartless murderess, is the protagonist (and narrator).
99	* WomenAreWiser: Very relatively. Suzanne is pretty airheaded (though not exactly stupid), but Lydia is shown to be easily the most intelligent of the group that Suzanne entangles in her plan.

Context Film / ToDieFor