Minister Dr. Fleming undone by a human succubus (metaphorical)

The mystery of the enigmatic Anna Barton is never truly explained. Her effect on British minister of trade, Dr. Stephen Fleming reminds me of a succubus, except Anna Barton is a fully human female with no supernatural overtones. More, she doesn't want any from Fleming-no blackmail, no money, no power, not even a marriage. She enters Fleming's life as a karma temptation which he fails immediately.

We never know what the attraction Anna had for a middle-middle-aged British man over his youthful son. Could it be that power is an aphrodisiac? Perhaps, but not in Anna's case. Unlike other Fatal Attraction type movies, Anna asks for nothing in return. She's not even clingy. She's a man's dream come true. She waits for him to call and she always responds, yes, right now, immediately, as you want.

Another poster derided this movie as a middle-aged man's fantasy and while that might be correct on the surface, clearly the movie went far down the Alice In Wonderland rabbit hole with two people inexplicably intertwined through sex and emotional dysfunction.

Anna caused the most damage by being there for Stephen. But was Stephen ever in a position to say, no? We all say that about heroin addicts, that they can quit whenever but it's not that simple. Stephen Fleming had an addition that was as powerful as heroin could be. He was not going to be able to leave on his own. He might physically but the craving would still be there.