Separate Lives (1995)

The e-cop Tom Beckwith has just quit his police job in order to study psychology. But his professor, Lauren Porter, is more interested in his criminology abilities than in his progress in ... See full summary »

Director:

David Madden

Writer:

Steven Pressfield

Stars:

James Belushi, Linda Hamilton, Vera Miles

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
James Belushi	...	Tom Beckwith
Linda Hamilton	...	Lauren Porter / Lena
Vera Miles	...	Dr. Ruth Goldin
Elisabeth Moss	...	Ronni Beckwith
Drew Snyder	...	Robert Porter
Mark Lindsay Chapman	...	Keno Sykes
Marc Poppel	...	Detective Joe Gallo
Elizabeth Arlen	...	Dee Harris
Josh Taylor	...	Charles Duffy
Ken Kerman	...	Detective Boyle
Michael Whaley	...	Detective Miller
Jackie Debatin	...	Darlene
Joshua Malina	...	Randall
Lisa Vanderpump	...	Heidi Porter
Craig Stepp	...	David Mills

Storyline

The e-cop Tom Beckwith has just quit his police job in order to study psychology. But his professor, Lauren Porter, is more interested in his criminology abilities than in his progress in psychology. Because of traumatic circumstances during her childhood she is suffering from schizophrenia, and it looks like her other ego has just killed somebody. So Tom Beckwith tries to help her by observing her, combining his professional abilities as an ex-cop and his recently gained knowledge of psychology.

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Plot Keywords:

psychology | professor | police | schizophrenia | ex cop | 

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Taglines:

She hired him to watch her.

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Genres:

Drama | Mystery | Romance | Thriller

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Certificate:

R

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

8 September 1995 (USA)

Also Known As:

Dihasmeni prosopikotita

Box Office

Gross:

$961,147 (USA)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Interscope Communications, Trimark Pictures, Vidmark Entertainment

Technical Specs

Runtime:

102 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Color:

Color

Did You Know?

Trivia

Vera Miles' final acting role.

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Connections

Referenced in John Candy: Comic Spirit (2005)

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Soundtracks

"Forceps"
Performed by Spahn Ranch
Courtesy of Intravenus Music, 2BC Music, and Cleopatra Records
Produced by Robert Morton (as Rob Morton) and Matt Green
Written by Robert Morton (as Rob Morton) and Athan Maroulis

User Reviews

"Do you want me to open the door for you?"

James Belushi is an ex-cop turned psychology student, hired by his tutor (Linda Hamilton) to monitor her behaviour, since she's been having blackouts. She's more worried about the recent murder of someone she knew, and that the murder weapon has seemingly turned up at her house. Our boy James, a widow with a daughter, sets out to find out the truth.

Well, it turns out the during the day Linda is a proper college professor with morals and such like, but at night she's a scantily clad, chain smoking nympho who hangs around in nightclubs with bad actors with crap accents. She never remembers what happens the next day, so did she kill somebody during one of these blackouts?

Belushi tries to get to the bottom of things, tailing Linda and getting a kicking off some people, introducing himself to the other Linda and such like. The film occasionally slides into giallo territory with a black gloved killer and references to a past trauma, and is all the better for it, and I can't fault Belushi or Hamilton, but a little more action would have been welcome. It's also quite easy to peg what's going on.

Still, for folks that want to see Linda Hamilton in skimpy dresses, putting the moves on people and swearing – this is the film for you. Be warned though - this film sat in my collection for years before I got round to watching it. It's just that kind of film.