To Die For (1995)

To Die For (Gus Van Sant, 1995) Nicole Kidman plays Suzanne Stone, a local tv weather-girl with a particularly aggressive addiction to celebrity. Her new-found fame conflicts with her ordinary home-life and her marriage to a mechanic, despite the financial stability it gives her. So she plots to murder her husband (Matt Dillon), as his lack of status might hold back her fortunes. She recruits three teenage misfits (Joaquin Phoenix, Casey Affleck, Alison Folland), whom she's met while doing a documentary called "Teens Speak Out", to carry out the homicide. But, when her in-law's attempt to pin the murder on her, she turns on the kids with blackmail and the local police with entrapment. Despite being found not guilty, she's only too eager to keep building her career. After all, there's no such thing as bad publicity. To Die For is a black comedy mixed with film-noir (that pairing almost never works as it tends to pile on the ironies) on the sociopathy of celebrity. It was written by Buck Henry (based on a novel by Joyce Maynard, which in turn was inspired by the Pamela Smart case) and directed by Gus Van Sant. 

"You're not anybody in America unless you're on TV."

Those who had seen her in BMX Bandits, "Bangkok Hilton," and Dead Calm knew that Kidman was more than "Mrs. Tom Cruise," but it wasn't until To Die For that she emerged from her superstar husband's shadow and began creating a separate career. An arch performance just shy of camp, it was the first of the actress' many forays into aberrant personalities that have subsequently dominated her career, and, for some, has proved troubling to her audience base. On the other hand, she's become one of those actors who have defied "typing"—one never knows what Kidman one is going to get.  And, as time has moved on and the bar for celebrity has sunk as low as a snake's belly, the film looks positively prescient.

It certainly was indicative of the careers of Phoenix (who had previously been billed as "Leaf" Phoenix) and Affleck, both of whom have gone to Oscar-winning careers. And Kidman—who would win her Oscar seven years after this movie—etches an indelible portrait of a femme fatale, hot-blooded in her manipulation and cold-blooded in her abandonment. Making an audition tape, Kidman's Stone looks directly into the camera with knowing seductiveness and invites the watcher in on her little dark secrets and fervent desires for TV work.

The wiliness of the actress playing the character is matched by the character's own wickedness and the two seem to fuse. Reason enough to watch the film, but Kidman is nearly matched in ferocity by the fine Illeana Douglas, as the Dillon character's sister, who is equally capable of killing for love. It's a movie that will keep you unnerved until the final black comic cold-hearted image.