The defence The Prestige Tourist
“Form is the argument.”
Every composed frame and deliberate cut is evidence that control can be thrilling in its own right.
Back to trending 
Sleeping with the Enemy
Drama · Thriller · 1991
A young woman fakes her own death in an attempt to escape her nightmarish marriage, but discovers it is impossible to elude her controlling husband.
Movie details
Sleeping with the Enemy
“She is a stranger in a small town. She changed her name. Her looks. Her life. All to escape the most dangerous man she's ever met. Her husband.”
1991 Drama · Thriller 1h 39m
Critical arithmetic
One number, for now.
Scores change. Arguments endure.
TMDB
6.5 / 10
Community rating
A young woman fakes her own death in an attempt to escape her nightmarish marriage, but discovers it is impossible to elude her controlling husband.
CriticWise case file
What this film says about your taste.
Not a recommendation score. A measure of how closely the film’s taste signals resemble yours.
The archetype split
Who fights over Sleeping with the Enemy?
For the defence
The Prestige Tourist
“You like your greatness pre-approved.”
Read their case For the prosecution
The Popcorn Loyalist
“Big screen, big feelings, no apologies.”
Read their objectionThe split comes from the same five-axis model used by the test, not audience ratings or review sentiment.
Taste neighbourhood
Nearby on the taste map.
TMDB supplies the candidates. CriticWise reorders them by craft, strangeness, prestige, emotion, and pace.
Derailed
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When two married business executives having an affair are blackmailed by a violent criminal, they are forced to turn the tables on him to save their families.
Not Without My Daughter
Drama · 1991
An American woman, trapped in Islamic Iran by her brutish husband, must find a way to escape with her daughter as well.
Acrimony
Drama · 2018
Faithful wife Melinda, who is tired of standing by her devious husband Robert, is enraged when it becomes clear she has been betrayed. That's when she lost it, and now she cannot let it go.
Adulterers
Thriller · 2016
On a steamy New Orleans afternoon, Sam Deuprey decides to surprise his beautiful wife, Ashley, for their anniversary and comes home early. But Ashley is not alone in the bedroom. She and her lover, Damien are about to learn how far a jealous husband will go.
Careful What You Wish For
Drama · 2015
A guy gets more than he bargained for after entering into an affair with the wife of an investment banker. Soon, a suspicious death and substantial life insurance policy embroil him in a scandal.
Straw Dogs
Drama · 2011
A young couple moves to a quaint southern town. Soon their perfect getaway turns out to become a living hell when dark secrets and lethal passions spiral out of control.
Addicted
Drama · 2014
A gallerist risks her family and flourishing career when she enters into an affair with a talented painter and slowly loses control of her life.
Butterfly on a Wheel
Crime · 2007
A sociopathic kidnapper methodically pushes a desperate pair of parents to their absolute breaking point.
The Killing of a Sacred Deer
Drama · 2017
Dr. Steven Murphy is a renowned cardiovascular surgeon who presides over a spotless household with his wife and two children. Lurking at the margins of his idyllic suburban existence is Martin, a fatherless teen who insinuates himself into the doctor's life in gradually unsettling ways.
Panic Room
Crime · 2002
Trapped in their New York brownstone's panic room, a hidden chamber built as a sanctuary in the event of break-ins, newly divorced Meg Altman and her young daughter Sarah play a deadly game of cat-and-mouse with three intruders - Burnham, Raoul and Junior - during a brutal home invasion. But the room itself is the focal point because what the intruders really want is inside it.
Where it lives
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Names above the title
The people responsible.
Cast & crew
Directed by
Joseph Ruben
Written by
Ronald Bass
Julia Roberts
Laura Burney / Sara Walters
Patrick Bergin
Martin Burney
Kevin Anderson
Ben Woodward
Elizabeth Lawrence
Chloe Williams
Kyle Secor
John Fleishman
Tony Abatemarco
Locke
Claudette Nevins
Dr. Rissner
Court is in session
Put Sleeping with the Enemy on trial.
Two incompatible taste archetypes. One film. Read the arguments, then issue a completely binding cultural ruling.
The prosecution The Popcorn Loyalist
“Technique in search of a pulse.”
Immaculate construction is still construction. The film may be too busy proving its craft to feel alive.