Body of Evidence

1993 "An act of love, or an act of murder?"
4.6| 1h41m| R| en| More Info
Released: 15 January 1993 Released
Producted By: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Country: United States of America
Budget: 0
Revenue: 0
Official Website: http://www.mgm.com/#/our-titles/226/Body-Of-Evidence
Info

When an elderly millionaire is found dead with cocaine in his system, his will leaves $8 million to Rebecca Carlson, who was having an affair with him. District attorney Robert Garrett decides to prosecute Rebecca, arguing that she deliberately engaged in wild sex with the old man to overexcite him and lead to his premature death. Defense attorney Frank Dulaney defends Rebecca in court while getting sucked into a dangerous affair with her.

Watch Online

Body of Evidence (1993) is now streaming with subscription on Prime Video

Director

Uli Edel

Production Companies

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer

AD
AD

Watch Free for 30 Days

Stream on any device, 30-day free trial
Watch Now
Body of Evidence Videos and Images
View All
  • Top Credited Cast
  • |
  • Crew

Body of Evidence Audience Reviews

ThiefHott Too much of everything
Phonearl Good start, but then it gets ruined
FirstWitch A movie that not only functions as a solid scarefest but a razor-sharp satire.
Kirandeep Yoder The joyful confection is coated in a sparkly gloss, bright enough to gleam from the darkest, most cynical corners.
SnoopyStyle In Oregon, the wealthy Andrew Marsh dies of a heart attack with evidence of a cocaine-filled sex game. D.A. Robert Garrett (Joe Mantegna) investigates. Marsh's secretary Joanne Braslow (Anne Archer) immediately points the finger at his girlfriend Rebecca Carlson (Madonna). Lawyer Frank Dulaney (Willem Dafoe) takes her case. She is arrested for murder with the motive that all of his $8 million estate is left to her. Despite being married to Sharon (Julianne Moore) with a son, Frank starts an affair with Rebecca.Madonna is annoying. She is meant to be a femme fatale. She can't be annoying. She's definitely not sexy. She's the main flaw in this movie. Willem Dafoe overacts. He gets Joanne's accusation and goes off the deep end immediately. He's not the only one as this movie seems intent on overplaying every scene. Madonna is essentially playing the same role as Sharon Stone in Basic Instinct. The difference is that Stone is a much better actress in a movie that is more skillfully made. I'm not offended but I am bored. The courtroom is horribly paced. Madonna is even bad at flirting and the sex is cheesy bad.
jessegehrig Perfect proof that great movies are made by accident- because Body Of Evidence was no accident, it was somebody's plan A. Someone actually thought this movie was a million dollar idea,f*cking Christ. So many talented and dynamic actors wasted in one movie- Dafoe, Mantegna, Moore, Prochnow, Langella. Wasted so self-important Madonna can be a big movie star, wasted! Wow, leave it to Madonna to make sex boring. If Madonna is a feminist icon, I would say that the women of the world have truly been cheated. Feminists, you can do better than Madonna, literally every woman in the world is a more suitable feminist icon than Madonna. This is some of what the world is made of.
Jackson Booth-Millard Basic Instinct was a big hit cult film, and not long after it came out filmmakers decided to try and create another film with similar concept, and it was a vehicle that one of the world's most successful solo female singers was up for, I only watched it to see whether she deserved her anti-Oscar award, from Razzie nominated director Uli Edel (The Little Vampire). Basically elderly Andrew Marsh (Michael Forest) is found dead handcuffed to his bed, it is determined he died from complications of erotic asphyxiation, i.e. a heart attack during sex while watching pornography, but there is suspicion that the woman he was with, Rebecca Carlson (Razzie winning Madonna),may have murdered him. Rebecca is facing the courtroom, with lawyer Frank Dulaney (Razzie nominated Willem Dafoe) representing her for the defence, and as it goes on it is discovered that Marsh did not take drugs because of his heart condition, but cocaine was found in his system, so the combination could be what killed him, and his young girlfriend may be prosecuted from inducing him to the substances during sex. The key motives imposed by prosecution lawyer Robert Garrett (Joe Mantegna) is that Marsh changed his will before his death so that Rebecca would inherit his $8 million fortune, so a murder, using aggressive sex and drugs to kill him, would be the faster way to get the money, but she claims that she knew nothing about this while he was alive. As the court case continues Frank starts getting too close to his client, and despite being happily married to wife Sharon (Julianne Moore) he starts an affair with Rebecca, and just like with Marsh it is sex filled with bondage, sadomasochism and intensity. In the case there is mention of other possible relationships Marsh may have had before his death, including a sexual relationship with his private secretary Joanne Braslow (Fatal Attraction's Razzie nominated Anne Archer), but also Garrett finds Jeffrey Roston (Frank Langella) who admits to an intense relationship with her as well, so it is not clear what the conclusion will be. Frank insists that the jury hearing Rebecca talk about her relationship with Marsh may not give her the best chance of getting off, but she wants them to hear everything from her side, and the jury do come to a decision that means she is not guilty of murder and she is acquitted. Before leaving court however Rebecca whispers to Frank that she is actually guilty, and she knows that she cannot be accused of the same crime twice, so he later goes to her house, and court witness Dr. Alan Paley (Jürgen Prochnow) is there as well, where they admit that they worked together to kill Marsh. Rebecca openly admits that has used her sexual prowess on men to get her own way, she used Frank to get away with murder, and Payley in the heat of the moment, and knowing he could be caught for perjury, gets enraged and attacks her, Frank does everything he can to stop him, but he kills Rebecca with two shots, and she falls out the window into the water below to her death. Also starring Stan Shaw as Charles Biggs, Charles Hallahan as Dr. McCurdy, Lillian Lehman as Judge Burnham, Mark Rolston as Detective Reese, Jeff Perry as Gabe and Richard Riehle as Detective Griffin. Besides Desperately Seeking Susan and Evita it is obvious Madonna is not the best actress, her performances in Dick Tracy and Swept Away as the worst, but I don't think she is absolutely terrible copycatting Sharon Stone, it is debatable she may have done this film to help sales of her coffee table book "Sex", but anyway, she is alright. The rest of the cast are obviously more used to acting well and do so fine, the story is obviously mostly remembered for the sex stuff, with Madonna getting her clothes off a lot and trying to be seductive, only sometimes doing it (the masturbation on the floor scene for example), but actually I found the courtroom drama plot really interesting, so all in all it isn't a bad erotic thriller. It was nominated the Razzies for Worst Picture and Worst Screenplay. Okay!
itamarscomix Those three words seem to run through most of the reviews for this title, yet still it maintains its very low 4.1 average rating. It's probably one of the best of the exploitative, sleazy erotic thrillers of the 90's. That's not high praise, but it also places it quite far away from the worst films ever made.The weakest link in the film - and maybe the one responsible for much of its bad reputation is Madonna. Having tried her might at several mediocre comedies, Madonna chose this thriller as her first serious role, and she doesn't quite make it. Her acting isn't quite horrible - but she's clearly trying to channel the femme fatales of the classic Film Noirs, and placing herself in the same category as the likes of Barbara Stanwyck, Marlene Dietrich and Kim Novak, she's nowhere near good enough. It's also not as good as her previous femme fatale role on Dick Tracy, which was just self-aware and campy enough to work. But Body of Evidence takes itself too seriously for Madonna's performance to pass. Surprisingly, she isn't even good enough at being sensual and seductive, making the sexual scenes quite awkward (as lovely as it is to see so much of Madonna's skin, that is).But surprisingly, most of the other scenes work quite well. Willem Dafoe and Joe Mantegna are good enough as the rival lawyers to make the courtroom scenes very effective, and as a courtroom drama alone (paying as little mind as possible to Madonna's scenes) it's well written, well acted and quite entertaining. Julianne Moore is good in her few short scenes as Dafoe's wife, and much of the supporting cast is also solid. All of these make it an entertaining enough thriller, filled to the brim with clichés but still managing to hold a little punch at the end. It's by no means a great film but it's also not that bad.