Editing Sleeping with the Enemy

{{Short description|1991 film by Joseph Ruben}}
{{about|the film}}
{{Use American English|date=January 2025}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=November 2022}}
{{Infobox film
| name           = Sleeping with the Enemy
| image          = Sleeping With The Enemy.jpg
| caption        = Theatrical release poster
| director       = [[Joseph Ruben]]<ref>{{cite news|title=Joseph Ruben Finally Gets His Crane : Movies: A veteran director of low-budget fare makes it to majors with 'Sleeping With the Enemy.'|work=[[The Los Angeles Times]]|date=1991-02-08|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1991-02-08-ca-723-story.html|access-date=2011-01-11|first=Kari|last=Granville|archive-date=November 4, 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121104185229/http://articles.latimes.com/1991-02-08/entertainment/ca-723_1_joseph-ruben|url-status=live}}</ref>
| producer       = [[Leonard Goldberg]]
| screenplay     = [[Ronald Bass]]
| based_on       = {{Based on|''[[Sleeping with the Enemy (novel)|Sleeping with the Enemy]]''|Nancy Price<ref name="Nancy Price">{{cite web |last=Price |first=Nancy |url=http://www.nancypricebooks.com/bio.htm |title=Nancy Price - Biography |publisher=Nancypricebooks.com |access-date=2012-11-17 |archive-date=March 16, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120316222006/http://www.nancypricebooks.com/bio.htm |url-status=live }}</ref>}}
| starring       = {{plainlist|
* [[Julia Roberts]]
* [[Patrick Bergin]]
* [[Kevin Anderson (actor)|Kevin Anderson]]
}}
| music          = [[Jerry Goldsmith]]
| cinematography = [[John Lindley (cinematographer)|John Lindley]]
| editing        = [[George Bowers (filmmaker)|George Bowers]]
| distributor    = [[20th Century Fox]]
| released       = {{Film date|1991|2|8|United States}}
| runtime        = 97 minutes
| country        = United States
| language       = English
| budget         = $19 million<ref name="boxofficemojo1">[http://admin.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?page=main&id=sleepingwiththeenemy.htm ''Sleeping with the Enemy'' at Box Office Mojo] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110708090044/http://admin.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?page=main&id=sleepingwiththeenemy.htm |date=2011-07-08 }}</ref>
| gross          = $175 million<ref name="boxofficemojo1"/>
}}

'''''Sleeping with the Enemy''''' is a 1991 American [[psychological thriller]] film directed by [[Joseph Ruben]] and starring [[Julia Roberts]], [[Patrick Bergin]], and [[Kevin Anderson (actor)|Kevin Anderson]]. The film is based on Nancy Price's 1987 [[Sleeping with the Enemy (novel)|novel of the same name]].<ref name="Nancy Price"/> Roberts plays a woman who fakes her own death and moves from [[Cape Cod]] to [[Cedar Falls, Iowa]], to escape from her controlling, obsessive, and abusive husband, but finds her peaceful new life interrupted when he discovers her actions and tracks her down.

''Sleeping with the Enemy'' was released theatrically on February 8, 1991. It received generally negative reviews from critics, but it was a box-office success, grossing $175 million on a production budget of $19 million. The film also broke the record at the time for the highest domestic opening for a film with a female lead, grossing $13 million on its opening weekend and surpassing the previous record held by ''[[Aliens (film)|Aliens]]'', which grossed $10 million in its first weekend.

==Plot==
Laura Burney has a seemingly idyllic life and a happy marriage to Martin, a successful Boston investment counselor, and they live in a luxurious home overlooking the sea of [[Cape Cod]]. Beneath Martin's charming, handsome exterior, however, is an obsessive and controlling person who has [[Physical abuse|physically]], [[Psychological abuse|emotionally]], and [[Marital rape|sexually]] [[Intimate partner violence|abused]] Laura throughout their nearly four-year marriage. Then, in a recurring pattern, he apologetically showers her with flowers and gifts.

Martin accepts an invitation from their neighbor, a doctor, for an evening sail, despite knowing that Laura fears water and cannot swim. As a severe storm unexpectedly breaks, Martin and the doctor struggle to control the vessel, while Laura is swept overboard. After an extensive Coast Guard search, Laura's body is never recovered, and she is presumed dead from drowning, leaving Martin inconsolable.

Laura is revealed to actually be alive. After secretly learning to swim, she planned to fake her own death to escape Martin's abuse. During the storm, she jumped overboard, swam ashore, and returned home. She cut her hair, donned a wig, flushed her wedding ring down the toilet, and took her stashed belongings and money and headed to a nearby bus station.

Laura moves to [[Cedar Falls, Iowa]]. Previously, she had told Martin that her blind, stroke-impaired mother, Chloe, had died, but Laura had secretly moved Chloe to an Iowa nursing home. Laura rents a house, finds a job, and settles into a new life as "Sara Waters". Her neighbor, Ben Woodward, a young drama teacher at a local college, is attracted to Laura, though he suspects she has a checkered past. They have an agreeable date, but when a kiss turns more physical, Laura resists and demands that Ben leave. She later admits to him that she escaped an abusive marriage.

Martin learns that Laura had taken swim lessons, leading him to believe she did not drown and is alive. This is confirmed when he finds Laura's wedding ring in the toilet, which had not properly flushed as she had believed. Martin travels to Chloe's nursing home, masquerading as a detective, and learns that Chloe's "nephew" has just visited. Laura, disguised as a man, is also at the nursing home and barely misses encountering Martin. Martin discovers Laura's whereabouts and learns about Ben. He trails the couple to Laura's new house and breaks in while she and Ben are outside. He also stalks them during their date at a local carnival. When Laura returns home, she notices the small clues Martin deliberately left inside the house: the hand towels perfectly aligned and the contents of the kitchen cabinets lined up to Martin's exacting standards.

Martin then confronts Laura as Ben smashes the door down and attempts to subdue Martin, who knocks him unconscious. As Martin aims his gun at Ben, Laura distracts him by slamming her knee into his groin. She grabs Martin's gun and holds him at gunpoint. As Laura calls the police, Martin expects her to tell the police to protect her from him, as she had done in the past, but Laura shocks Martin by informing the police she has killed an intruder and then shoots Martin three times in the chest. A wounded Martin seizes Laura by the hair and grabs the gun, aiming it at her in a desperate attempt to kill her, but the gun clicks empty. Martin then dies from his wounds, while Laura and Ben embrace and wait for the police.

==Cast==
{{castlist|
* [[Julia Roberts]] as Laura Williams Burney / Sara Waters
* [[Patrick Bergin]] as Martin Burney
* [[Kevin Anderson (actor)|Kevin Anderson]] as Ben Woodward
* [[Elizabeth Lawrence (actress)|Elizabeth Lawrence]] as Chloe Williams 
* [[Kyle Secor]] as John Fleishman
* [[Claudette Nevins]] as Dr. Rissner
* Tony Abatemarco as Locke
* Marita Geraghty as Julie
* Harley Venton	as Garber
* Sandi Shackelford as Edna
* Bonnie Johnson as Iris Neppert
}}

==Filming==
Filming began in Wilmington on April 2, 1990, and continued through May 12.<ref>https://eu.starnewsonline.com/story/news/2016/02/08/sleeping-with-the-enemy-brought-julia-roberts-and-one-heck-of-a-house-to-wrightsville-beach/30992991007/</ref>

==Release==
===Critical reception===
{{as of|July 2024}}, the film held a 24% "Rotten" rating on review aggregator [[Rotten Tomatoes]], based on 38 reviews with an average rating of 4.6/10. The site's consensus states: "A game Julia Roberts gives it her all, but ''Sleeping with the Enemy'' is one stalker thriller that's unlikely to inspire many obsessions of its own."<ref>{{Cite web |title=Sleeping with the Enemy |url=https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/sleeping_with_the_enemy |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171128021913/https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/sleeping_with_the_enemy/ |archive-date=November 28, 2017 |access-date=November 28, 2024 |website=[[Rotten Tomatoes]]}}</ref> On [[Metacritic]], the film holds a weighted average score of 48 out of 100, based on 22 critics, indicating "mixed or average" reviews.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Sleeping with the Enemy Reviews |url=https://www.metacritic.com/movie/sleeping-with-the-enemy/ |access-date=November 28, 2024 |website=[[Metacritic]] |publisher=[[Fandom, Inc.]]}}</ref> Audiences polled by [[CinemaScore]] gave the film an average grade of "A−" on an A+ to F scale.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Home |url=https://www.cinemascore.com/ |access-date=2024-11-29 |website=CinemaScore |language=en-US}}</ref>

[[Roger Ebert]] gave the film 1.5 stars out of a possible 4 upon its release, saying while the film had good performances and the opening scenes "briefly seemed to have greatness in its grasp", ''Sleeping with the Enemy'' quickly fell into cliches and [[plot holes]] and became "a [[slasher movie]] in disguise, an up-market version of the old [[exploitation film|exploitation]] formula where the victim can run, but she can't hide."<ref>{{cite news |last=Ebert |first=Roger |author-link=Roger Ebert |date=1991-02-08 |title=Sleeping with the Enemy (1991) |work=[[Chicago Sun-Times]] |url=https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/sleeping-with-the-enemy-1991 |via=RogerEbert.com |access-date=June 4, 2020 |archive-date=June 4, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200604235314/https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/sleeping-with-the-enemy-1991 |url-status=live }}</ref> Another mostly negative review came from Owen Gleiberman of ''[[Entertainment Weekly]]'', who wrote that the film "has the bare bones of a tantalizing thriller" and praised Robert's performance ("you can practically feel her pulse"), but also felt Bergin's role was too "mechanical" to be believed, and placing blame on the "deadwood" script.<ref>{{cite magazine |title=Sleeping With the Enemy |url=https://ew.com/article/1991/02/08/sleeping-enemy/ |magazine=[[Entertainment Weekly]] |date=1991-02-08 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230312182251/https://ew.com/article/1991/02/08/sleeping-enemy/ |archive-date=2023-03-12 |url-status=live |last1=Gleiberman |first1=Owen}}</ref>

===Box office===
The film's opening ended ''[[Home Alone]]''{{'}}s twelve week run atop the box office.<ref>{{cite news|title=WEEKEND BOX OFFICE : 'Sleeping,' 'L.A.' Knock 'Home' Out|work=[[The Los Angeles Times]]|date=1991-02-12|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1991-02-12-ca-1221-story.html|access-date=2011-01-11|first=Pat H.|last=Broeske|archive-date=August 25, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150825161845/http://articles.latimes.com/1991-02-12/entertainment/ca-1221_1_box-office|url-status=live}}</ref> By the end of its run, the film had grossed $101,599,005 in the domestic box office; with an international total of $73,400,000, the film's worldwide gross was $174,999,005; based on a $19 million budget, the film was a box office success.<ref>{{mojo title|sleepingwiththeenemy|Sleeping with the Enemy}}</ref> The film was released in the [[United Kingdom]] on April 12, 1991, and opened on #2, behind ''[[Highlander II: The Quickening]]''.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.25thframe.co.uk/charts/chart.php?chart=19910412|title=Weekend box office 12th April 1991 - 14th April 1991|publisher=www.25thframe.co.uk|access-date=30 January 2017|archive-date=February 2, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170202061225/http://www.25thframe.co.uk/charts/chart.php?chart=19910412|url-status=live}}</ref> The next week, the film remained in the same position.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.25thframe.co.uk/charts/chart.php?chart=19910419|title=Weekend box office 19th April 1991 - 21st April 1991|publisher=www.25thframe.co.uk|access-date=30 January 2017|archive-date=February 2, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170202061451/http://www.25thframe.co.uk/charts/chart.php?chart=19910419|url-status=live}}</ref>

==Soundtrack==
The original music for the film was composed and conducted by [[Jerry Goldsmith]]. [[Columbia Records]] released an album concurrently with the film containing just over 38 minutes of score plus the [[Van Morrison]] song "[[Brown Eyed Girl]]". In 2011, La-La Land Records issued a limited edition album of 3500 copies expanding Goldsmith's score (but omitting the song).

==Home media==
The film reached #1 in the rental charts in September 1991,<ref>{{cite news|title=Video Rental Chart : Sales Reduce 'Home' Rentals|work=[[The Los Angeles Times]]|date=1991-09-05|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1991-09-05-ca-2500-story.html|access-date=2011-04-21|first=Dennis|last=Hunt|archive-date=November 6, 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121106152940/http://articles.latimes.com/1991-09-05/entertainment/ca-2500_1_video-rental-chart|url-status=live}}</ref> and ended up as the ninth most rented movie that year in the United States.<ref>{{cite web|date=January 4, 1992 |title=Top Video Rentals |url=https://www.worldradiohistory.com/Archive-All-Music/Billboard/90s/1992/Billboard-1992-01-04.pdf |page=42|magazine= [[Billboard (magazine)|Billboard]]}}</ref> It was released on [[LaserDisc]] in Australia, the United States, United Kingdom and Japan by [[20th Century Fox Home Entertainment|Fox Video]] in 1991.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Laser-Disc-Laserdisc-Movie-Sleeping-With-The-Enemy-Julia-Roberts-/391303316420?hash=item5b1b7ec3c4:m:mETPt28OPcYyXVTAQxN21CA|title=Laser Disc Laserdisc Movie Sleeping With The Enemy Julia-Roberts|work=ebay.com.au|access-date=November 6, 2015}}</ref> It also received various releases on [[VHS]], was released on [[DVD]] on 2 September 2003, and subsequently entered the market of [[Blu-ray]] in June 2011. As of August 2023, it still hasn't been released on 4K.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.dvdsreleasedates.com/movies/2077/Sleeping-with-the-Enemy-(1991).html|title=Sleeping with the Enemy|publisher=DVD Release Dates|language=en|access-date=23 July 2013|archive-date=November 21, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171121051513/https://www.dvdsreleasedates.com/movies/2077/Sleeping-with-the-Enemy-(1991).html|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.dvdempire.com/1571153/sleeping-with-the-enemy-blu-ray.html|title=Sleeping with the Enemy Blu-ray|work=DVDEmpire.com|access-date=November 6, 2015|archive-date=August 31, 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140831083559/http://www.dvdempire.com/1571153/sleeping-with-the-enemy-blu-ray.html|url-status=live}}</ref>

===Awards===
The score by [[Jerry Goldsmith]] won the [[Broadcast Music Incorporated|BMI]] Film Music Award, 1992, and the film was nominated for the [[Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films]] [[Saturn Award]] for 1992 in four categories: [[Saturn Award for Best Actress (film)|Best Actress]] (Roberts), [[Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actor (film)|Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actor]] (Bergin), [[Saturn Award for Best Horror Film|Best Horror Film]] and [[Saturn Award for Best Music|Best Music]] (Goldsmith).

==Remakes==
In February 2019, it was reported that a remake of ''Sleeping with the Enemy'' was in development at [[Searchlight Pictures]], with [[Nia DaCosta]] helming the project.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Evangelista |first1=Chris |title='Sleeping with the Enemy' Remake To Bring The Glory Days Of Trashy '90s Thrillers Into The 21st Century |url=https://www.slashfilm.com/564601/sleeping-with-the-enemy-remake/ |website=[[/Film]] |access-date=March 8, 2022 |date=February 26, 2019 |archive-date=March 8, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220308191951/https://www.slashfilm.com/564601/sleeping-with-the-enemy-remake/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
{{wikiquote}}
* {{IMDb title|0102945|Sleeping with the Enemy}}
* {{mojo title|sleepingwiththeenemy|Sleeping with the Enemy}}
* {{rotten-tomatoes|sleeping_with_the_enemy|Sleeping with the Enemy}}

{{Joseph Ruben}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sleeping With The Enemy (Film)}}
[[Category:1991 films]]
[[Category:1990s English-language films]]
[[Category:1990s American films]]
[[Category:1991 drama films]]
[[Category:1991 psychological thriller films]]
[[Category:20th Century Fox films]]
[[Category:American erotic thriller films]]
[[Category:American neo-noir films]]
[[Category:American psychological thriller films]]
[[Category:Cross-dressing in American films]]
[[Category:English-language thriller films]]
[[Category:Fiction about mariticide]]
[[Category:Films with screenplays by Ronald Bass]]
[[Category:Films about domestic violence]]
[[Category:Films about obsessive–compulsive disorder]]
[[Category:Films about stalking]]
[[Category:Films based on American novels]]
[[Category:Films directed by Joseph Ruben]]
[[Category:Films scored by Jerry Goldsmith]]
[[Category:Films set in Iowa]]
[[Category:Films set in Massachusetts]]
[[Category:Films shot in North Carolina]]
[[Category:Films shot in South Carolina]]