Ira Levin's 1953 novel of the same name provides the inspiration for this offbeat thriller which features an homme fatale who marries for money, is driven by an unusual obsession and kills without compunction. He's dangerous, duplicitous and driven by a lust for wealth, power and status that's so strong that it makes him deal ruthlessly with any impediments that get in his way. Because he's handsome, an inveterate schemer and also appears to be very personable, the danger he poses isn't readily apparent to other people and it's this quality that's well exploited to provide "A Kiss Before Dying" with most of its suspense.
Since his early childhood, Jonathan Corliss (Matt Dillon) had been obsessed by the wealth and power of the Carlsson family who owned the local copper mining company and this triggered in him a determination to achieve the same level of success and prestige in his own life. As a student at the University of Pennsylvania, he takes his first steps to achieving his goal by dating Dorothy Carlsson (Sean Young), the blonde daughter of the company's owner. Their relationship is kept a secret from their fellow students and goes well until Dorothy tells Jonathan that she's pregnant and feels compelled to get married without delay, even though this would inevitably mean being disinherited by her very conservative father. Jonathan seems to play along with the idea of getting married when the couple go to Philadelphia City Hall but arranges to arrive when the marriage licence bureau is closed and then suggests that they pass their waiting time up on the roof of the building. It's there that he takes the opportunity to throw Dorothy off a ledge to her certain death and casually leaves the building unnoticed as a crowd gather's around his victim's blood-covered body.
Dorothy's death is treated as a suicide by the authorities but her twin sister Ellen (also played by Sean Young) doesn't believe this verdict for a minute. She knows it would have been totally out of character for her sister to do such a thing and her view is reinforced by the discovery that on the day of her death, Dorothy had bought a new pair of shoes.
Jonathan hitch-hikes to New York and his conversation with his driver fortuitously provides him with all the material he needs to assume a new identity when he becomes a social worker and colleague of Ellen Carlsson who he befriends and later marries. As Jay Faraday, Jonathan gradually seems to achieve what he wanted after cleverly gaining the confidence of Ellen's father, Thor Carlsson (Max von Sydow) and being appointed to a high-powered job in his company. Ellen's continued determination to discover the truth about her twin's death, however, continues to cause problems which he naturally confronts very directly.
What makes Jonathan Corliss' obsession so unusual is the way in which he seems to regard the Carlssons as being synonymous with everything he craves rather than just being an example of it and it's this that makes him such a danger to that family. His obsession stems from his modest background and his childhood, during which he used to stare at the freight trains passing by his home and noticed the words "Carlsson Copper Corp" which were prominently displayed on the sides of each truck.
The brooding quality that Matt Dillon shows at various junctures effectively signals the presence of his obsession and the subtle ways in which he balances his character's psychopathic and more conventional behaviours also makes his performance both strong and effective. There are also good supporting performances from Max von Sydow and Diane Ladd (as Jonathan's mother) but Sean Young's portrayal of Ellen is quite expressionless at times and for this reason fails to be convincing.
The plot of the 1956 forerunner of this movie (which starred Robert Wagner and Joanne Woodward) has been tweaked to make it better attuned to its 1980s setting and is also well-served by having been injected with plenty of pace and tension. The story itself is also sufficiently different from most similar thrillers to easily sustain its audience's high level of interest from start to finish.
Since his early childhood, Jonathan Corliss (Matt Dillon) had been obsessed by the wealth and power of the Carlsson family who owned the local copper mining company and this triggered in him a determination to achieve the same level of success and prestige in his own life. As a student at the University of Pennsylvania, he takes his first steps to achieving his goal by dating Dorothy Carlsson (Sean Young), the blonde daughter of the company's owner. Their relationship is kept a secret from their fellow students and goes well until Dorothy tells Jonathan that she's pregnant and feels compelled to get married without delay, even though this would inevitably mean being disinherited by her very conservative father. Jonathan seems to play along with the idea of getting married when the couple go to Philadelphia City Hall but arranges to arrive when the marriage licence bureau is closed and then suggests that they pass their waiting time up on the roof of the building. It's there that he takes the opportunity to throw Dorothy off a ledge to her certain death and casually leaves the building unnoticed as a crowd gather's around his victim's blood-covered body.
Dorothy's death is treated as a suicide by the authorities but her twin sister Ellen (also played by Sean Young) doesn't believe this verdict for a minute. She knows it would have been totally out of character for her sister to do such a thing and her view is reinforced by the discovery that on the day of her death, Dorothy had bought a new pair of shoes.
Jonathan hitch-hikes to New York and his conversation with his driver fortuitously provides him with all the material he needs to assume a new identity when he becomes a social worker and colleague of Ellen Carlsson who he befriends and later marries. As Jay Faraday, Jonathan gradually seems to achieve what he wanted after cleverly gaining the confidence of Ellen's father, Thor Carlsson (Max von Sydow) and being appointed to a high-powered job in his company. Ellen's continued determination to discover the truth about her twin's death, however, continues to cause problems which he naturally confronts very directly.
What makes Jonathan Corliss' obsession so unusual is the way in which he seems to regard the Carlssons as being synonymous with everything he craves rather than just being an example of it and it's this that makes him such a danger to that family. His obsession stems from his modest background and his childhood, during which he used to stare at the freight trains passing by his home and noticed the words "Carlsson Copper Corp" which were prominently displayed on the sides of each truck.
The brooding quality that Matt Dillon shows at various junctures effectively signals the presence of his obsession and the subtle ways in which he balances his character's psychopathic and more conventional behaviours also makes his performance both strong and effective. There are also good supporting performances from Max von Sydow and Diane Ladd (as Jonathan's mother) but Sean Young's portrayal of Ellen is quite expressionless at times and for this reason fails to be convincing.
The plot of the 1956 forerunner of this movie (which starred Robert Wagner and Joanne Woodward) has been tweaked to make it better attuned to its 1980s setting and is also well-served by having been injected with plenty of pace and tension. The story itself is also sufficiently different from most similar thrillers to easily sustain its audience's high level of interest from start to finish.