I Watch Films: To Die For

 

To Die For

Suzanna Stone is obsessed with appearing on television. She marries Larry Maretto, who is in the middle of taking over his family's restaurant. Financially stable (and decorating and entertaining in ways that appear in the media) she goes to work for a local TV station, becoming the weather girl, and trying out various ideas on making programs.

She starts filming some delinquent high schoolers for a program called Teens Speak Out. When her husband suggests she concentrate on family and the restaurant business she seduces one of the boys and has him kill her husband. It is a TV sensation.

It’s shot in a partially faux-documentary style with people addressing the camera, responding to (unheard) questions, talk shows, footage from the news etc. It’s often funny, often dark. There’s a few good bits, especially Larry’s sister who is an ice skater and gives a lot of the background in the documentary sections, which seamlessly fills in the blanks. Suzanna’s envy when she reveals that the ice dance troupe will have a TV special is especially good. There’s a funny bit where the fact that the Maretto’s are Italian-American and run a restaurant has everyone more-or-less joking about mafia connections that pays off in the end.

Watch This: It’s funny, stylish and has something to say about media obsession
Don’t Watch This: It’s grimy, exploitative of a real murder and no one cares about being on TV anymore, except as a stepping stone to being an influencer