''Final Analysis'' is a 1992 American

neo-noir Neo-noir is a revival of film noir, a genre that had originally flourished during the post-World War II era in the United Statesroughly from 1940 to 1960. The French term, ''film noir'', translates literally to English as "black film", indicating ...

erotic Eroticism () is a quality that causes sexual feelings, as well as a philosophical contemplation concerning the aesthetics of sexual desire, sensuality, and romantic love. That quality may be found in any form of artwork, including painting, scu ...

thriller film Thriller film, also known as suspense film or suspense thriller, is a broad film genre that evokes excitement and suspense in the audience. The suspense element found in most films' plots is particularly exploited by the filmmaker in this genre. ...

directed by

Phil Joanou Phil Joanou (born November 20, 1961) is an American director of film, music videos, and television programs, known in part for his ongoing relationship to the band U2. Biography Joanou was born in La Cañada Flintridge, California, and began m ...

and written by Wesley Strick from a concept by

forensic psychiatrist Forensic psychiatry is a subspeciality of psychiatry and is related to criminology. It encompasses the interface between law and psychiatry. According to the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law, it is defined as "a subspecialty of psychiat ...

Robert H. Berger. It stars

Richard Gere Richard Tiffany Gere ( ; born August 31, 1949) is an American actor. He began in films in the 1970s, playing a supporting role in '' Looking for Mr. Goodbar'' (1977) and a starring role in ''Days of Heaven'' (1978). He came to prominence with ...

, Kim Basinger,

Uma Thurman Uma Karuna Thurman (born April 29, 1970) is an American actress and former model. She has performed in a variety of films, from romantic comedies and dramas to science fiction and action films. Following her appearances on the December 1985 an ...

Eric Roberts Eric Anthony Roberts (born April 18, 1956) is an American actor. His career began with a leading role in '' King of the Gypsies'' (1978) for which he received his first Golden Globe Award nomination. He was nominated again at the Golden Globes ...

Keith David Keith David Williams (born June 4, 1956) is an American actor. He is known for his signature deep voice and commanding screen presence in over 300 roles across film, stage, television, and interactive media. He has starred in such films as '' T ...

, and

Paul Guilfoyle Paul Vincent Guilfoyle () (born April 28, 1949) is an American television and film actor. He was a regular cast member of the CBS crime drama ''CSI: Crime Scene Investigation'', on which he played Captain Jim Brass from 2000 to 2014. He retu ...

. The executive producers were Gere and Maggie Wilde. The film received mixed critical reviews, but was positively compared to the works of

Alfred Hitchcock Sir Alfred Joseph Hitchcock (13 August 1899 – 29 April 1980) was an English filmmaker. He is widely regarded as one of the most influential figures in the history of cinema. In a career spanning six decades, he directed over 50 featur ...

, particularly ''

Vertigo Vertigo is a condition where a person has the sensation of movement or of surrounding objects moving when they are not. Often it feels like a spinning or swaying movement. This may be associated with nausea, vomiting, sweating, or difficulties w ...

.'' It is the final film of

director of photography The cinematographer or director of photography (sometimes shortened to DP or DOP) is the person responsible for the photographing or recording of a film, television production, music video or other live action piece. The cinematographer is the ch ...

Jordan Cronenweth Jordan Scott Cronenweth, (February 20, 1935 – November 29, 1996) was an American cinematographer based in Los Angeles, California. A contemporary of Conrad Hall, he was recognized for his distinctive style of heavily textured, ''film noir' ...

Plot

Psychiatrist Isaac Barr treats Diana Baylor for

obsessive–compulsive disorder Obsessive–compulsive disorder (OCD) is a mental and behavioral disorder in which an individual has intrusive thoughts and/or feels the need to perform certain routines repeatedly to the extent where it induces distress or impairs general ...

. Diana suggests Isaac meet her sister, Heather Evans, who may be able to shed light on her neuroses. Heather tells him that Diana was sexually abused by their father after their mother left. She reveals to him that she is unhappily married to gangster Jimmy Evans. Isaac confesses that he finds her irresistible, and the two have sex. Afterwards, Heather divulges that their father died in a fire, which Diana was suspected of starting. At a restaurant with Jimmy, Heather has an episode of " pathological intoxication" after drinking wine and is taken to the hospital. After recovering, she sneaks away with Isaac to an abandoned lighthouse. While climbing the stairs, she drops her purse and lets loose a metal dumbbell handle, which she claims she keeps for protection. Isaac's friend, defense attorney Mike O'Brien, informs him that Jimmy is under federal investigation for several financial crimes, and warns him to stay away from Heather. Isaac nevertheless follows her and Jimmy to a restaurant and confronts Jimmy. Claiming she feels ill, Heather leaves the restaurant, and gets a ride home from Isaac. Later that night, she drinks cough medicine, which brings on another episode. As Jimmy forces a kiss on her, she grabs one of his metal dumbbells and hits him over the head, killing him. Heather is arrested for murdering Jimmy. Isaac hires Mike to represent her, and enlists expert on pathological intoxication to testify on her behalf. Heather is found not guilty by reason of insanity. She is sentenced to confinement at to a psychiatric facility, where she will be evaluated. Isaac assures Heather she will be released soon. Isaac listens to a colleague's speech on one of

Sigmund Freud Sigmund Freud ( , ; born Sigismund Schlomo Freud; 6 May 1856 – 23 September 1939) was an Austrian neurologist and the founder of psychoanalysis, a clinical method for evaluating and treating pathologies explained as originating in conflicts i ...

's patients who had persistent dreams of arranging flowers, the same dream Diana had described to him during a session; Isaac realizes that Diana fabricated those stories. He talks to a courthouse guard who recognized Heather before her trial, and he recalls that she had been a spectator in the courthouse whenever Isaac testified as an expert witness. Mike tells Isaac that Jimmy's brother recently died, making Heather the beneficiary of Jimmy's $4 million

life insurance Life insurance (or life assurance, especially in the Commonwealth of Nations) is a contract between an insurance policy holder and an insurer or assurer, where the insurer promises to pay a designated beneficiary a sum of money upon the dea ...

policy. Isaac goes to the hospital to confront Heather, who admits to the ruse and threatens to incriminate him with the dumbbell she used to murder Jimmy, which has Isaac's fingerprints on it. Police detective Huggins, who suspects Isaac of killing Jimmy, warns him that he is being watched. Isaac tells Heather that he has reported her crime to two assistant district attorneys who want to interview her. She agrees, confident that

double jeopardy In jurisprudence, double jeopardy is a procedural defence (primarily in common law jurisdictions) that prevents an accused person from being tried again on the same (or similar) charges following an acquittal or conviction and in rare case ...

will protect her. During the evaluation, Heather fabricates a story about Isaac killing Jimmy. At Heather’s request, Diana joins her, but fails to bring the dumbbell; the investigators, meanwhile, are revealed to be psychiatrists. Heather loses her temper and threatens both Isaac and Diana, and has to be sedated. Isaac meets with Diana, who assures him that she dropped the dumbbell into the bay, but Isaac does not trust her. Isaac enlists Pepe Carrero, a former client, to follow Diana when she visits her sister. Although Heather wants Diana to deliver the dumbbell to Huggins, Diana is too nervous to go through with it. Heather coerces her to switch clothes in the bathroom, allowing Heather to escape the hospital as "Diana". Pepe follows Heather, and tries to steal the dumbbell, but she shoots him in the chest. She telephones Huggins and arranges to meet him at a marina. Before going to the hospital, Pepe directs Isaac to the marina, where Isaac takes the dumbbell from Heather. She kidnaps him and Huggins and forces the latter to drive away from the marina. A rainstorm hits, and Huggins crashes into the ocean. Isaac escapes the sinking car and Heather follows him to the lighthouse. As she chases Isaac onto the balcony, he deduces that Heather was the one who was raped by her father, not Diana, and she must have started the fire that killed him. Huggins appears to arrest Heather, who tries to shoot him. Isaac pulls her over the edge of the balcony, however, sending her falling to her death. Diana is tried as Heather’s accomplice, but is found not guilty. She then goes on a date with a wealthy man, posing as Heather.

Cast

as Dr. Isaac Barr * Kim Basinger as Heather Evans *

as Diana Baylor *

as Jimmy Evans *

as Detective Huggins *

as Mike O'Brien * Robert Harper as Dr. Alan Lowenthal * Agustin Rodriguez as Pepe Carrero * Rita Zohar as Dr. Grusin * George Murdock as Judge Costello *

Shirley Prestia Shirley Rose Prestia (August 18, 1947 – October 8, 2011) was an American actress. She guest starred in a number of notable television series including ''Family Ties'', ''Cheers'', ''St. Elsewhere'', ''The Golden Girls'', '' The Facts of Life'', ...

as D.A. Kaufman *

Tony Genaro Anthony Genaro Acosta (October 15, 1941 – May 7, 2014) was an American film, television and stage actor. He was perhaps best known to audiences for his role as Miguel in the 1990 film, '' Tremors''. Genaro was born in Gallup, New Mexico. He en ...

as Hector * Wood Moy as Dr. Lee * Corey Fischer as Dr. Boyce *

Rico Alaniz Americo Zorilla "Rico" Alaniz (October 25, 1919 – March 9, 2015) was a Mexican-American actor. Early years Alaniz was born in Juárez, Mexico, and began riding when he was a child. Selected filmography * '' The Capture'' (1950) - Policema ...

as Hugo *

John Roselius John Roselius (August 19, 1944 - October 29, 2018) was an American film and television actor. He appeared in numerous films, guest starred on many TV shows, and was the principal actor in over 200 television commercials. He starred in the famed ...

as Sheriff's Deputy * Erick Avari as Moderator (uncredited) *

Harris Yulin Harris Yulin (born November 5, 1937) is an American actor who has appeared in over a hundred film and television series roles, such as '' Scarface'' (1983), ''Ghostbusters II'' (1989), '' Clear and Present Danger'' (1994), '' Looking for Richard' ...

as Prosecuting Attorney (uncredited)

Production

Harold Becker Harold Becker (born September 25, 1928) is an American film and television director, producer, and photographer from New York City, associated with the New Hollywood movement and best known for his work in the thriller genre. His body of work ...

Joel Schumacher Joel T. Schumacher (; August 29, 1939June 22, 2020) was an American film director, producer and screenwriter. Raised in New York City by his mother, Schumacher graduated from Parsons School of Design and originally became a fashion designer. H ...

, and

John Boorman Sir John Boorman (; born 18 January 1933) is a British film director, best known for feature films such as '' Point Blank'' (1967), ''Hell in the Pacific'' (1968), ''Deliverance'' (1972), '' Zardoz'' (1974), '' Exorcist II: The Heretic'' (1977 ...

were variously attached as director. The original script was set in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

, but was changed due to an ongoing union strike.

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17t ...

was chosen due to its "character" and iconic locations. The climax originally took place on the

Golden Gate Bridge The Golden Gate Bridge is a suspension bridge spanning the Golden Gate, the strait connecting San Francisco Bay and the Pacific Ocean. The structure links the U.S. city of San Francisco, California—the northern tip of the San Francisco Pen ...

, but the sequence was re-written due to budget constraints. The climax instead took place at a lighthouse, filmed at

Pigeon Point Lighthouse Pigeon Point Light Station or Pigeon Point Lighthouse is a lighthouse built in 1871 to guide ships on the Pacific coast of California. It is the tallest lighthouse (tied with Point Arena Light) on the West Coast of the United States. It is sti ...

in Pescadero. Other filming locations included the

San Francisco County Superior Court The Superior Court of California of the County of San Francisco is the state superior court with jurisdiction over the City and County of San Francisco. History In 1976 the Court helped to create the San Francisco Pretrial Diversion Project, a ...

, the Letterman Army Hospital, and the Kimpton Sir Francis Drake Hotel. Television comedy writer Susan Harris provided uncredited script rewrites.

Reception

Box office

The first week's gross was $6,411,441 and the total receipts for the film's run were $28,590,665. In its widest release the film was featured in 1,504 theaters across the United States.The Numbers
box office data. Accessed: August 9, 2013. The film grossed $47 million overseas for a worldwide gross of $75 million.

Critical response

Film critic

Roger Ebert Roger Joseph Ebert (; June 18, 1942 – April 4, 2013) was an American film critic, film historian, journalist, screenwriter, and author. He was a film critic for the ''Chicago Sun-Times'' from 1967 until his death in 2013. In 1975, Ebert beca ...

liked the screenplay and thought director

, known for these types of thrillers, would have liked it as well. He wrote, "I'm a sucker for movies that look and feel like this. I like the pounding romantic music, the tempestuous sex scenes, the crafty ways that neurotic meddlers destroy the lives of their victims, and of course the handcrafted climax..." Ebert also thought the movie was needlessly complex.

Vincent Canby Vincent Canby (July 27, 1924 – October 15, 2000) was an American film and theatre critic who served as the chief film critic for ''The New York Times'' from 1969 until the early 1990s, then its chief theatre critic from 1994 until his death in ...

, film critic for ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

,'' was pleased with the work of the actors in the film and wrote, "Mr. Gere and Ms. Basinger are attractive as the furious lovers, but Mr. Roberts is the film's electrical force whenever he is on screen. Ms. Thurman does well as a sort of upscale slavey." The staff at ''

Variety Variety may refer to: Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats * Variety (radio) * Variety show, in theater and television Films * ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont * ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...

'' magazine gave the film a positive film review, writing, "''Final Analysis'' is a crackling good psychological melodrama rom a screen story by Robert Berger and Wesley Strickin which star power and slick surfaces are used to potent advantage. Tantalizing double-crosses mount right up to the eerie final scene." Many reviews were mixed. Kathleen Maher of the ''

Austin Chronicle ''The Austin Chronicle'' is an alternative weekly newspaper published every Thursday in Austin, Texas, United States. The paper is distributed through free news-stands, often at local eateries or coffee houses frequented by its targeted demogra ...

'' wrote, "Joanou, with his puppy dog devotion to ''noir'' thrillers and Hitchcock, is hoping to get it all right by painting by the numbers. He's mixed parts of ''

Double Indemnity ''Double Indemnity'' is a 1944 American crime film noir directed by Billy Wilder, co-written by Wilder and Raymond Chandler, and produced by Buddy DeSylva and Joseph Sistrom. The screenplay was based on James M. Cain's 1943 novel of the same ...

,'' '' The Big Sleep,'' and ''

,'' but the result doesn't even live up to ''

Dead Again ''Dead Again'' is a 1991 neo-noir romantic thriller film directed by Kenneth Branagh and written by Scott Frank. It stars Branagh and Emma Thompson, with Andy García, Derek Jacobi, Hanna Schygulla, Wayne Knight, and Robin Williams appearing i ...

''..." Maher was also critical of the two leads: "That Basinger and Gere are going to wind up in bed is no secret, but their courtship is excruciating, full of why-are-they-whispering scenes. At least Basinger gets better as she gets going, but Gere reverts to that shell-shocked acting style he adopts when lost at sea." Rita Kempley, writing in ''

The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large n ...

'', called the film "an implausible psycho thriller" and said director Joanou "doesn't have any of his own ideas." The film has an approval rating at

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wan ...

of 56% based on 27 reviews.

Accolades

Nominations

* MTV Movie Awards ** Most Desirable Female, Kim Basinger (lost to Linda Hamilton for '' Terminator 2: Judgment Day'') *

Golden Raspberry Awards The Golden Raspberry Awards (also known as the Razzies and Razzie Awards) is a parody award show honoring the worst of cinematic under-achievements. Co-founded by UCLA film graduates and film industry veterans John J. B. Wilson and Mo Murphy, ...

** Worst Actress - Kim Basinger (also for ''

Cool World ''Cool World'' is a 1992 American live-action/animated black comedy fantasy film directed by Ralph Bakshi and written by Michael Grais and Mark Victor. Starring Kim Basinger, Gabriel Byrne and Brad Pitt, it tells the story of a cartoonist w ...

''; lost to

Melanie Griffith Melanie Richards Griffith (born August 9, 1957) is an American actress. She began her career in the 1970s, appearing in several independent thriller films before achieving mainstream success in the mid-1980s. Born in Manhattan, New York City, ...

for '' Shining Through'' and '' A Stranger Among Us'') ** Worst Picture - Charles Roven, Paul Junger Witt, and Tony Thomas (lost to ''Shining Through'') ** Worst Screenplay - Wesley Strick (also story) and Robert Berger (story) (lost to '' Stop! or My Mom Will Shoot'')

References

External links

* * * * * * {{Phil Joanou 1992 films 1992 romantic drama films 1992 thriller films 1990s erotic thriller films 1990s psychological thriller films American erotic thriller films Films about obsessive–compulsive disorder Incest in film American neo-noir films American psychological thriller films American romantic drama films 1990s English-language films Films about psychiatry Films about sisters Films directed by Phil Joanou Films produced by Charles Roven Films scored by George Fenton Works set in lighthouses Films set in San Francisco Films set in the San Francisco Bay Area Films shot in San Francisco Warner Bros. films 1990s American films