| Disclosure | |
|---|---|
_poster.jpg) Theatrical release poster | |
| Directed by | Barry Levinson |
| Screenplay by | Paul Attanasio |
| Based on | Disclosure byMichael Crichton |
| Produced by |
|
| Starring | |
| Cinematography | Tony Pierce-Roberts |
| Edited by | Stu Linder |
| Music by | Ennio Morricone |
| Distributed by | Warner Bros. |
Release date |
|
Running time | 128 minutes[1] |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $55 million[2] |
| Box office | $214 million[2][failed verification] |
Disclosure is a 1994 Americanpsychological thriller film[3] directed byBarry Levinson, starringMichael Douglas andDemi Moore. It is based onthe novel byMichael Crichton, released the same year.[4] The cast includesDonald Sutherland,Caroline Goodall andDennis Miller. Douglas plays an employee whose ex-girlfriend (Moore), an executive, files asexual harassmentcomplaint after she fails to seduce him.Disclosure was released byWarner Bros. on December 9, 1994, received mixed reviews from critics and grossed $214 million against its $50 million budget.
Bob Garvin, the founder and CEO of the technology company DigiCom, is happily married and plans to retire following amerger with a textbook company. Manufacturing chief Tom Sanders expects to be promoted to run DigiCom after the merger. Instead, Meredith Johnson, Tom's ex-girlfriend, is brought on as Garvin's heir apparent, as Garvin wanted to "break the glass ceiling". After calling Tom to her office to discuss a manufacturing problem with a new line of CD-ROM drives, Meredith seduces him. He allows her to performoral sex, but rebuffs her attempts for intercourse. As Tom leaves, Meredith threatens him.
The next morning, Tom discovers that Meredith has filed asexual harassment complaint against him with the help of the legal counsel Phillip Blackburn. To save the merger from a scandal, causing Garvin to lose $100 million if the deal falls through, DigiCom officials demand that Tom accept reassignment to Texas. If Tom accepts, he will lose hisstock options, his career will be ruined, and he will be left jobless when the other location is sold following the merger.
Tom receives an anonymous e-mail from "A Friend" directing him to Catherine Alvarez, an attorney specializing in sexual harassment cases. Tom decides to sue DigiCom, alleging Meredith harassed him, which causes animosity with his wife and colleagues. At the initial mediation, a tearful Meredith lies and blames Tom. Garvin, believing the merger will fail without her, proposes Tom drop the lawsuit in exchange for keeping his position.
Tom realizes he misdialed a number on his cell phone during the encounter with Meredith, recording the entire event on a colleague's voicemail. Tom rejects Garvin's proposal and plays the recording at the next meeting, discrediting Meredith. Meredith defends her behavior, saying that Tom's protests in the recording were expressions of a desire to be dominated.
DigiCom agrees to a settlement calling for Meredith to be quietly removed after the merger. As Tom celebrates, he receives another e-mail from "A Friend" warning him that all is not what it seems. Tom overhears Blackburn telling Meredith that although they lost the sexual harassment suit, they will make Tom look incompetent at the next morning's merger conference since Tom is unaware of the cause of problems on the CD-ROM production line in Malaysia. Since the production line is Tom's responsibility, he can be fired for cause.
Accessing the company database for clues, Tom finds his access privileges revoked. Using avirtual reality device with access to the company database, he accesses DigiCom's files but finds that Meredith is already deleting them. Tom's Malaysian colleague faxes him copies of incriminating memos and videos. They show that Meredith, and one of the heads of operations in Malaysia, changed Tom's production specifications to gain the Malaysian government's favor and cut costs to make DigiCom appear more profitable to complete the merger. These changes caused problems with the CD-ROM line. To save her career and cover for her mistakes, Meredith, with Blackburn's support, staged the sexual encounter with Tom to in hopes of forcing him out of the company.
When Tom makes his presentation at the conference, Meredith brings up the production problems, saying they were his responsibility. Tom states that she made the changes that led to the problems. When she denies having even been to the plant, Tom plays Malaysian news footage of her visiting the production line. Meredith is fired. While cleaning out her office, Meredith reveals to Tom that she has become disillusioned with Garvin following his unexpected turn against her, and refuses to accept accountability for her mistakes.
Garvin announces the merger's completion and names corporate counsel Stephanie Kaplan to head up the Seattle operation, a decision Tom supports. Stephanie makes Tom her second-in-command. Tom asks Stephanie's son, Spencer, a University of Washington student, if he knows "A Friend". Spencer confirms he is Professor Arthur Friend's research assistant at the university. Tom realizes that Spencer had access to Friend's email account, enabling Stephanie to warn Tom as "A Friend". He happily resumes his position as head of manufacturing
Michael Crichton sold the movie rights for $1 million before the novel was published.[5][6]Miloš Forman was originally attached to direct but left due to creative differences with Crichton.[5]Barry Levinson andAlan J. Pakula were in contention to take the helm and Levinson was hired.
Annette Bening was originally set to play Meredith until she became pregnant and soon dropped out.[7]Geena Davis andMichelle Pfeiffer were then considered before Levinson decided to castDemi Moore. Crichton wrote the character Mark Lewyn for the film specifically withDennis Miller in mind. The character from the book was somewhat modified for the screenplay to fit Miller's personality.
The visual effects and animation for the film, including in particular the virtual reality corridor sequence were all created and designed by the visual effects technicians atIndustrial Light & Magic.[8]
The movie was filmed in and aroundSeattle,Washington.[9] The fictional corporation DigiCom is located inPioneer Square, on a set which was constructed for the film. Production designer Neil Spisak said, "DigiCom needed to have a hard edge to it, with lots of glass and a modern look juxtaposed against the old red brick which is indigenous to the Pioneer Square area of Seattle. Barry liked the idea of using glass so that wherever you looked you'd see workers in their offices or stopping to chat. This seemed to fit the ominous sense that Barry was looking for, a sort ofRear Window effect, where you're looking across at people in their private spaces."[8]
Also shown are theWashington State Ferries and Capt. Johnston Blakely Elementary School onBainbridge Island, where Douglas's character's family lives. Other locations includeWashington Park Arboretum,Volunteer Park, theFairmont Olympic Hotel on University St.,Pike Place Market andSmith Tower (Alvarez's law office).[10] The director of photography was British cinematographerTony Pierce-Roberts.
The film's marketing touted it as the first Hollywood movie with major stars to address the topic of sexual harassment.[7][11]
Thepress kit for the film was the first multimedia press kit issued by Warner Bros. with them producing it onfloppy disk.[12]
The score ofDisclosure was composed, orchestrated and conducted byEnnio Morricone.Original Motion Picture Soundtrack from the Film Disclosure was released byVirgin Records on January 24, 1995.[13]
Disclosure was a financial success, grossing $214 million worldwide ($83 million in U.S. and Canadian ticket sales and $131 million in other territories), against a budget of about $55 million.[15][16][failed verification] It became one of directorBarry Levinson's most successful films after his initial successes withGood Morning, Vietnam andRain Man.[17] Its success extended to thevideo rental market, and was the third most rented movie of 1995 in the United States.[18]
Critical response was mixed, with some lauding the film's take on sexual harassment and others critiquing its plot, character development and implausibility.Mick LaSalle of theSan Francisco Chronicle praised the film and said Douglas makes for "a complex and sympatheticEveryman", adding, "along the way it paints a picture of corporate America that in itself is a kind of horror story".[19]Ian Nathan ofEmpire gave it four stars out of five and called it "genuinely gripping", further stating that "Demi Moore makes an awesomefemme fatale".[20]
CriticRoger Ebert called the film's theme "basically a launch pad for sex scenes" and further said, "yet the movie is so sleek, so glossy, so filled with Possessoporn (toys so expensive they're erotic), that you can enjoy it like aSharper Image catalog that walks and talks."[11] He also criticized its convoluted plot, of which he said, "I defy anyone to explain."[11] He added: "As the movie started, I expected a sexy docudrama about sexual harassment. What I got was more of a thriller andwhodunit, in which the harassment theme gets misplaced. Too bad, since the best scenes involve the attorneys for Moore and Douglas, and especially the scenes where Douglas' attorney sets out in chilling detail what a lawsuit is likely to do to his life. There's also an intriguing subplot involving Douglas' relationship with his wife (Caroline Goodall). Much could have been made of this material. Much has been made of it. But not the same much."[11]
Marjorie Baumgarten ofThe Austin Chronicle observed: "In its rush to push hot buttons,Disclosure neglected some essentials of good storytelling."[21]The New York Times criticJanet Maslin wrote much of the film "is talky and uneventful, with legal maneuverings and corporate strategies substituting for more energetic drama".[22] Maslin concluded, "The storytelling ofDisclosure is too forced and polemical to be on a par with better Crichton tales likeJurassic Park. This time, it's the author who's the dinosaur."[22]
Some critics described the characters as flat and lacking dimension.[23][24][25]The Washington Post'sDesson Thomson felt that the script left out key sections of the novel.[25] Others noted Meredith's motives went unexplored,[26][27][4] with some opining Moore is stuck playing a thankless femme fatale role.[28][26][29] TheLos Angeles Times'Kenneth Turan said while the film is "adequately entertaining", it lacks a "creative passion."[4] He added "screenwriter Attanasio, who dealt thoughtfully with ethical dilemmas inQuiz Show, works in a more limited moral palette inDisclosure, where questions of who is right and who is wrong are plainly obvious. The idea that sexual harassment is about power, not sex, and that a woman in power can potentially misbehave just like a man may be news to certain segments of the population, but they are not news enough to light a much-needed fire under this production."[4] The climacticvirtual reality scene has since been singled out for its datedness and "silliness".[30][31][23]
Critics claimed that the movie was about the male cultural fear offeminism and powerful women in the workplace.[26][27][32] Some critics expressed their disappointment that though the film purported to be about sexual harassment, the topic is merely used as a plot device as part of a broader corporatethriller story.[29][24][4][17] In theChicago Tribune, Michael Wilmington wrote: "there's afairy tale quality about Crichton's resolution. SupposedlyDisclosure is about sexual harassment as a universal problem. But, on a deeper level, it's probably about the fear of men in the modern corporate world that women have them at a disadvantage. It suggests that a really evil, conscienceless-and sexy-woman can manipulate that changed climate to destroy a decent but non-political man (because she'll be believed when he won't)."[23]
The supporting cast, particularly Roma Maffia and Donald Sutherland, received positive reviews.[21][28][29][22] Commendation was also given to the film's production design, particularly the DigiCom offices.[22][24][4][23]
The film has an approval rating of 59% onRotten Tomatoes based on 63 reviews. The site's consensus states: "While entertaining and fitfully provocative,Disclosure ultimately trades narrative depth for glossy cynicism and superficial treatment of its serious themes."[33]Metacritic, which uses aweighted average, assigned the film a score of 58 out of 100, based on 19 critics, indicating "mixed or average" reviews.[34]
The adult animated sitcomBig Mouth parodied the film in "Disclosure the Movie: The Musical" (season 3 episode 10), featuring a raunchy stage musical adaptation starring pre-teen students.[37]
