John Chard
Pathological Intoxication and the Freudian Flower Arranging Theory.
Final Analysis is directed by Phil Joanou and written by Robert Berger and Wesley Strick. It stars Richard Gere, Kim Basinger, Uma Thurman, Eric Roberts, Keith David, Paul Guilfoyle and Robert Harper. Music is by George Fenton and cinematography by Jordan Cronenweth.
A psychiatrist becomes romantically involved with the sister of one of his patients...
There comes a time in every film fan's life - those who commit to writing reviews, starting blogs etc - where you happen upon a film that you find oneself very much going against the general consensus grain, Final Analysis is one such film for myself. Not that it's a great under appreciated gem or anything like that, but revisiting some 25 plus years later I have found it to be far better than I found it back in the day.
Alfred Hitchcock is my absolute number one favourite director of all time, but I'm never closed off as many often are to any sort of homage or thematically charged movie in lieu of the great man. In fact I'm encouraged that he still influences modern day directors this way. It also helps me that for fifteen years I have buried myself in all things film noir, which has given me opportunities to pick out fine noirish traits in otherwise reviled films of the neo-noir type. Case for the defence closed then!.
Final Analysis is very Hitchcockian but lite, so much so it plays as "Vertigo's" illegitimate offspring. In fact it's even De Palma lite, who was one of the best exponents of Hitch type suspensers. It's a little clumsy at times and trips itself up, with director Joanou failing to build on the promise of his neo-noir of 1990 - the blistering "State of Grace". While stretching it out to a two hour run time by throwing twist after twist at it - when the writing isn't good enough to veer away from Hitchcock conventions, is a bad move.
However, the core basis of a film noir world painted here is quite vivid, with two femme fatales, Freudian splinters and many trawls down a murky dark lane of mystery. The look is terrific (various Calif locations), this does after all feature the work of the cinematographer who photographed "Blade Runner". There a numerous gorgeous shots, light filtered through slats, up tilts into spiral golds, sublime primaries, while the court room sequences are magnificently akin to something that "Roger Deakins" would achieve further down the line.
Cast performance wise it's not something to shout from the rooftops about, but nothing that hurts the pic. I'm a big fan of Gere, but here he's on auto-pilot, which is where Joanou should have earnt his corn. Basinger sexes it up and does good enough crafty, but it's a turn that doesn't come alive till late in the day, likewise Thurman in the sister role. David isn't in it enough and just seems to serve as a point of reference at various junctures, but faring much better are Roberts (super smarm charm with deadly heartbeats), and Guilfoyle as the lawyer balancing court determination with private yearnings.
I couldn't recommend with utter confidence, but I would suggest that neo-noir/Hitchcock fans may find a revisit more beneficial when picking through the bones of it. 7/10
