She-Devil (1989 film)

She-Devil
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Susan Seidelman
Screenplay by	Barry Strugatz Mark R. Burns
Based on	The Life and Loves of a She-Devil by Fay Weldon
Produced by	Jonathan Brett Susan Seidelman
Starring	Roseanne Barr Meryl Streep Ed Begley Jr. Sylvia Miles Linda Hunt
Cinematography	Oliver Stapleton
Edited by	Craig McKay
Music by	Howard Shore
Production company	Orion Pictures
Distributed by	Orion Pictures
Release date	December 8, 1989 (1989-12-08)
Running time	99 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$16 million
Box office	$15.4 million (US)

She-Devil is a 1989 American black comedy film directed by Susan Seidelman and written by Barry Strugatz and Mark R. Burns. It stars Meryl Streep, Roseanne Barr (in her film debut) and Ed Begley Jr. A loose adaptation of the 1983 novel The Life and Loves of a She-Devil by British writer Fay Weldon, She-Devil tells the story of Ruth Patchett, a dumpy, overweight housewife, who exacts devilish revenge after her philandering husband leaves her and their children for glamorous, best-selling romance novelist Mary Fisher.

Produced by Orion Pictures, She-Devil was released on December 8, 1989, and grossed $15.5 million at the box office. Streep earned a Golden Globe Award nomination for Best Actress - Motion Picture Musical or Comedy the following year.

Plot

Overweight mother Ruth Patchett attempts to please her accountant husband Bob, who is trying to boost his business. After Bob meets romance novelist Mary Fisher at a party, they begin an affair. Ruth, aware of the affair, confronts Bob while his parents are visiting, and Bob leaves her. Angry, Ruth vows revenge on him and Mary.

Ruth lists Bob's assets, representing his home, his family, his career and his freedom, planning to cross off each one after destroying it. With Bob away at Mary's and the kids at school, she procures Mary's financial records and overloads the electricity of the house, destroying the house in an explosion. She leaves the kids with Mary and Bob and announces that she will not be returning.

Bob's second asset, his family, deteriorates, as Mary struggles with her newfound maternal role which causes a rift in her relationship with Bob and begins to interfere with her ability to write her newest novel, which is loosely based on her current relationship. However, her publisher Paula considers it strange and off-putting as there is a chapter about laundry.

Ruth takes a job at a nursing home under the pseudonym Vesta Rose, where she befriends Francine, Mary's foul-mouthed, estranged mother, and arranges for her to return to Mary's life. She also meets nurse Hooper, who has worked for the nursing home for twenty-two years and put aside her earnings for a considerable life savings. Despite horrifying Hooper by secretly switching the senior citizens' sedatives and mundane routines for vitamin and caffeine pills and enriching activities, Ruth gains Hooper's trust by introducing her to desserts.

After Ruth is fired from the home for dumping a urine filled bed pan on Francine's bed to frame her as a bed-wetter and prevent her return, she and Hooper form a partnership and start an employment agency for women rejected by society. The agency is successful, and the women Ruth helped assist in her revenge. Olivia, a young blonde, applies to the agency, is hired as Bob's secretary and starts having sex with him at the office. This causes Mary to become lonely and desperate, which makes Bob rebuff her sexual advances. When Olivia proclaims her love for Bob, he dumps and fires her. Olivia reveals to Ruth that Bob is a fraudster who steals from his clients by skimming interest off their accounts, then transferring it to his offshore account in Switzerland.

As Mary is being interviewed for a puff piece by People, Francine reveals embarrassing secrets about her that destroy her career. Olivia and Ruth hack Bob's computer to conduct an embezzlement, then report this to the IRS. Ruth also mails pictures of Bob bedding Olivia to Mary. Intent on regaining control of her life, Mary forces Francine and Bob's children to behave, then throws an elegant party with her friends. There, state troopers appear with a warrant for Bob's arrest. Bob's lawyer bribes a corrupt judge to ensure a favorable verdict, and unknowingly informs Mary that Bob was stealing from her account as well. Furious, Mary leaves Bob and sells her mansion. A woman who gained employment as a court clerk via Ruth's agency repays Ruth by reassigning Bob's case to an unbiased judge. Bob is convicted of embezzlement and sentenced to eighteen months in prison, thus destroying his fourth and final asset: his freedom. As Bob is taken away, he realizes that his greed, selfishness, and infidelity towards Ruth left him with nothing.

Sixteen months later, Ruth and her children visit a reformed Bob. He is now on considerably more amicable terms with Ruth following their divorce and looking forward to catching up with his children after his upcoming release from prison. Meanwhile, Mary revived her career by becoming a more mainstream author and is at a book signing about a new tell-all book, where she signs a book for Ruth but does not recognize her. Next in line after Ruth is a man whom Mary tries to flirt with, as she has not completely changed her ways. Ruth smiles as she walks down a busy street in Manhattan, accompanied by women from her firm.

Cast

• Roseanne Barr as Ruth Patchett
• Meryl Streep as Mary Fisher
• Ed Begley Jr. as Bob Patchett
• Linda Hunt as Hooper
• Sylvia Miles as Mrs. Fisher
• Elisebeth Peters as Nicolette Patchett
• Bryan Larkin as Andy Patchett
• A Martinez as Garcia
• Maria Pitillo as Olivia Honey
• Mary Louise Wilson as Mrs. Trumper
• Susan Willis as Ute
• Jack Gilpin as Larry
• Robin Leach as himself
• Nitchie Barrett as Bob's secretary
• June Gable as a realtor
• Sally Jessy Raphael as herself
• Doris Belack as Paula
• Lori Tan Chinn as Vesta Rose woman
• Rosanna Carter as Judge Brown

Music

The film score for She-Devil was composed by Howard Shore. A soundtrack album was released on November 15, 1989 by Mercury Records. Shore's score was later released in a limited edition of 1,000 copies by Music Box Records.

Reception

On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 48% of 25 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 4.8/10. Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 45 out of 100, based on 21 critics, indicating "mixed or average" reviews.

Streep was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Comedy or Musical.

Location

The film was shot on location at 161 Cliff Road, 11777 Port Jefferson, New York. The house was demolished in 2017; the 30-bedroom estate belonged to Bulgarian operetta singer and actress Nadya Nozharova, also known as Countess Nadya de Navarro Farber, who died in 2014. The home was built in 1870 and was almost 19,000 sq ft (1,800 m²). The countess lived in the home for over 40 years.

See also

• Sathi Leelavathi (1995) — Tamil remake of this film

External links

• She-Devil at IMDb
• She-Devil at the TCM Movie Database
• She-Devil at Rotten Tomatoes
• She-Devil at the AFI Catalog of Feature Films