MOVIE REVIEW : ‘ATTRACTION’: A HIT FOR KELLERMAN

Sally Kellerman is such a treat in “Fatal Attraction” (selected theaters) that if you’re among her admirers, that’s reason enough to see this otherwise fairly silly Canadian film. With long, flowing golden hair--and long, flowing skirts--she’s rarely had a chance to look so spectacularly glamorous on the screen or to be so emphatically the star.

Tawny, husky-voiced, witty and stylish, Kellerman plays a dedicated Toronto psychiatrist married happily to a trim, virile-looking Establishment attorney (Lawrence Dane). But all this changes the moment she’s in a car collision with psychology professor Stephen Lack. They’re so angry they’re both ready to sue--if they weren’t so attracted to each other. So instead of subpoenas, they present each other with a new Mercedes. (Don’t worry about how they can afford it; only in the movies could people of their apparent economic status make such gestures.)

It turns out that Lack is something of a prankster, and he brings out in Kellerman a long-dormant playfulness. Soon they’re into games that heighten their sexual passion for each other; soon they discover that the greater the danger, the greater the turn-on.

Producer Michael Grant, who has Alan Bridges’ “The Hireling” and “The Return of the Soldier” among his credits, turns director on “Fatal Attraction.” He unfortunately goes for a sleek, romantic tone when the escalating absurdities of James Sanderson and Paul Illidge’s script demand the terse, implacable drive of Edgar Ulmer’s “Detour.” As a result, the movie simply isn’t up to the level of Kellerman, so flatteringly photographed amid the shadowy lighting designs of distinguished cinematographer Anthony Richmond.

Nor is Lack her equal. He is skilled and attractive, but to pull off this increasingly hysterical tale Kellerman needs a co-star with the presence and unabashed sexuality of a Tommy Lee Jones to make it all seem credible. After all, she is prepared to risk her neck simply to make love to this guy.

Kellerman and Lack are virtually the whole show, although there’s a brief, welcome but actually rather extraneous appearance by John Huston as Lack’s free-spirited sculptor father. Don’t expect an “In the Realm of the Senses.” “Fatal Attractions” (rightly rated R) is much too tasteful and discreet for that. But do be prepared for a finish so delirious as to bring back memories of “Duel in the Sun.”