MovieChat Forums > A Perfect Murder (1998) Discussion > Two questions about the blackmail plot

Two questions about the blackmail plot

posted 9 years ago by joetigersfan
4 replies | jump to latest

1. Douglas tries to hire Mortensen to murder his wife. Mortensen tape records their conversation, then uses it to blackmail Douglas. But if you recall, he waited until AFTER the attempted murder to blackmail Douglas. Why wait till THEN? I mean, after you walk out with the tape, you are sitting pretty. Why not leave, call Douglas ten minutes later, play the tape for him, and say "Ok, Steven. I now OWN you. That'll be my 400K plus whatever more money I feel like squeezing from you till the day you die." Yes, I know that no murder attempt would have been made at that point, but still, you've got Douglas on conspiracy to commit murder. At the very least you've got enough to destroy his reputation and make his life very uncomfortable. So why not blackmail him THEN?

2. When the two meet so Douglas can pay off the 400K in hush money, Mortensen extends his hand. Douglas pauses for a moment, smiles and shakes Viggo's hand. Some might wonder why anyone would shake the hand of someone who just blackmailed them. My take was that it was an acknowledgment among thieves. It was the two of them saying to each other "We're both scumbags. We both know it. We both deserve each other." Anyone else agree? A different take?

[–] NikolaAvramov 9 years ago

1. 400 thousand reasons not to. The guy was greedy and he had no chance on walking out of the whole thing clean because of Steven's investigator friends.
2. My bet is as good as yours. I got it the exact same way you did. You'd have to ask the screenplay writer.

[–] joetigersfan 9 years ago

Nik, I want to focus on your first answer. If I'm hearing you right that, if Viggo blackmails Douglas right away, Viggo wouldn't be "protected" by the attempted murder? What I mean is, yes he has embarrassing and incriminating discussions on tape but if no murder has been attempted, it is not (yet) a police matter and therefore Douglas can handle this privately. Douglas, who is megarich, can hire a team of stealth goons to go after Viggo and Viggo is essentially unprotected. Is that your theory?

[–] spookyrat1 9 years ago

Douglas, who is megarich, can hire a team of stealth goons to go after Viggo and Viggo is essentially unprotected. Is that your theory?

Yes. Emily warns David early in the film that Steven is a dangerous hombre and not to get involved with him. I think the original idea was to get the money via sub-contracting out the wet work, with Steven presumably paying up. When that fell through, blackmail reared its head.🐭

[–] NikolaAvramov 9 years ago

No, no, no.
I was referring to Douglas' incriminating evidence against Vigo that can have him arrested. The evidence Douglas showed him in their first meeting.
From there on - Vigo was trapped. The difference between 100 000$ and 500 000$ was a good motive, if he was going to be on the run.
Second - yes. If Vigo was going to run from the whole thing, blackmailing Douglas on an attempt of murder, rather than an alleged conspiracy to commit murder was better.

This way they were in impasse, but Vigo was mobile and free while Douglas had a sword over his head in his rich wife learning about what he did.

So, my interpretation was - Vigo wanted a good and solid way out, WITH a leverage to be had against Douglas... and he obviously planned on fulfilling his threat, anyway. We know that - because he did it by sending her the tape anyway.
I found that realistic for a con man.