MovieChat Forums > A Perfect Murder (1998) Discussion > implausible: don't they have an answerin...

implausible: don't they have an answering machine?!

posted 19 years ago by Gilmarien
13 replies | jump to latest

It seems implausible to me that in a household as wealthy as this Emily has to get out of the bath to answer the phone. In fact, they probably have not only an answering machine but a personal answering service. I realize that the plot demands that she answer the phone herself, but surely that could have been gotten around in the script. And am I the only person who doesn't bother to get out of the bath or shower if the phone rings? If it's important, they'll call back. As Walter Matthau once said in another movie, "the telephone has no constitutional right to be answered."
In many other ways, on the other hand, I think this is actually a more interesting movie than the original Hitchcock version.

How did it come to this?

[–] yukisgiraffe 19 years ago

Steven tells david that that phone is on a different line to all the others, a personal line just for the kitchen, therefore if that phone rings she would have to get out of the tub..

[–] perennial08 17 years ago

Which totally makes sense. They have at least one servant, one who makes meals for them, and it's extremely likely they'd have a line to the kitchen just to communicate with her (or in case she needs to call out, to them or others).

In response to those who think she's not the type to get out of the bath: The phone rang continuously for quite some time, disturbing her relaxation - there does come a point where it's not ignorable. Further, Steven knew she would get up to answer it. She may be wealthy, but she's also an intelligent and hardworking individual, not a gadabout heiress.

[–] gh-hagi 19 years ago

Same here, although this movie is lower rated, I think it's better than the original. There was a guy that said the Michael Douglas is an underrated actor, I agree with him, too. He's much better than Pacino, for instance, in my opinion.

[–] mykldly98 19 years ago

Plus, she was trying to have a tranquil moment in the tub, and that's kinda hard to do with the phone ringing. It seems like she was waiting for the person to just hang up but that didn't happen.

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[–] Limeginger 18 years ago

I also thought it was odd that when Emily called David from her mother's house and he missed the call that he didn't hit *69 and call her back. He was in the fetal position in tears for missing her call and because he thought--until he heard her voice on his answering machine--that she had been murdered. You could say he didn't hit *69 because he didn't want to call her at a number that would be imprudent but you can tell the character isn't thinking that way. It's a plot hole.

As for answering the phone...it's a stretch that she would get up to answer the phone, but Stephen did know his wife's habits pretty well, and knew she wouldn't be able to just let it ring.

[–] lobotomyboy63 18 years ago

As stated here, why not just a device or service and let her soak in the tub?

When you have a rich main character I think it's a safe assumption that they have all the features on their phones (and cars and house and everything else), so I'd expect her to let a machine answer it.

Maybe I could justify her getting out of that tub if she knew, coming on THAT line, that it was her husband or someone from her inner circle...the persistent ringing would mean it was an emergency, so she better answer it. But I'd really suspect they have a phone in the bathroom.

They really should have written around this. With new advances like caller ID, *69, LUDs, this crime drama needs updating.

[–] pboake 18 years ago

I agree they were hoping to cover with that separate kitchen line thing.

Remember the Dial 'M' for Murder was made in the era BEFORE answering machines so they had to write around a situation they were stuck with.

--PB--

[–] dazzyboy2004 17 years ago

I agree, I don't think a character like Emily would have bothered getting out of the tub to answer the phone.

[–] 17 years ago

[deleted]

[–] mail-2775 15 years ago

I noticed this, too, doubting that anyone rich, or even most any New Yorker, would get out of the bath when the point of it was to relax. Some suspension of disbelief is required for enjoying a thriller like this, which has to have a lot of things in it that never could have happened.

[–] sage2112 9 years ago

Well, Steven told her he would call. She was already feeling guilty and saying things like "he deserves to be told everything". She was even going to tell him that night. So it's not implausible that she felt like she should answer his call.

[–] yesanything 9 years ago

Yeah, I thought about the answering machine also. There were lots of other improbabilities - I just wonder if they are intentional or writing mistakes.

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