This is a racey and seductive mystery/drama. One of my favorite movies. Alan Alda is also stars in this movie.

Annabella Sciorra looks so attractive in this movie unlike her next movie she was in right after this called (The Hand that Rock's the Cradle) in that movie she looked older but not in (Whispers in the Dark) where she looks young the best part is you get to see her naked and have sex.

This movie is clearly an opportunity to cash in on "Basic Instinct's" success. The film deals both with psychotherapy, and excessive amounts of sex. The police lieutenant is a ripe candidate for analysis - wonder if that accomplished anything judging from the film.

I give WHISPERS IN THE DARk an extra star for attempting to say something about adult sexuality, an area into which very few American movies seem to want to venture. Annabella Sciorra stars as Ann, a young psychiatrist with trust issues of her own. She has been unable to keep any relationship going with any man. The one boyfriend she's living with has a serious drinking problem and on top of it confronts her (underneath a terribly symbolic painting of a wailing girl) with an ultimatum that he's leaving her, adding insult to injury because she realizes she should long ago have stepped up to the plate and walked out on *his* ass instead of vice versa.

Most of Ann's immediate problems stem from her interactions with her two star patients, an artist and his dealer. John Leguizamo's the artist, born with a curse that sets him apart from his fellow man: when he meets a beautiful woman, he doesn't want to make love to her, he wants to hear her whimper with suffering. Leguizamo contributes a convincing portrayal of a total creep, but he's so little you wonder could he really do any damage to anybody? How tall is he, five feet one? Even Annabella Sciorra seems to tower over him and she's a tiny little thing. However Leguizamo's black leather pants were expertly fitted and give him enough of the old Hollywood oomph to make this a great debut for him, even though you've seen him do this shtick in every role he's played since then. Ann's other patient, Eve, the gallerist, is played by the one and only Deborah Kara Unger (here billed before she thought of adding "Kara" to her name) in a completely over the top performance as a woman who can't stay dressed for more than a few minutes at a time. She's like Anna Nicole Smith here, or Anita Ekberg in 8 1/2, a big mountain of sex like a vanilla ice cream sundae. Annabella Sciorra wonders if she's attracted to Eve; well, of course she is, you'd have to be made of stone not to respond to Eve. And Eve seems attracted to her; during one session, she confesses her desire to take off all her clothes and to masturbate in front of her shrink. Okay.

All three stars are great and they're backed up by an interesting passel of thesps including Jill Clayburgh, who once played all the variations on the part Sciorra landed here--the worried, independent, neurotic NY professional woman. Jill Clayburgh gives one speech while jogging at a good clip of about twenty miles an hour, and it's a long speech too! (About getting so worked up by listening of patients' erotic revelations that she would switch their appointments to the end of the day so that she'd hear them out, then rush home and rape Leo.) (Her husband, not Leo Di Caprio.)

Leo is played by Alan Alda. The rape thing is supposed to be amusing, but given the way it plays out in the film it gives you the cold chills when you rewind and play it forward again.

Whispers in the Dark (1992), an entertaining whodunit/whydunit, may also fall conveniently under the category, "white-collar thriller". Similar to films produced around this period: Malice (1993), Hand that Rocks the Cradle (1992), and Single White Female (1992), Whispers in the Dark focuses its attentions on Ann Hecker (Annabella Sciorra) whose psychiatric practice may suffer irreparably as a result of engaging the attentions of Doug McDowell (Jamey Sheridan), a robust pilot who flirts with Ann one morning while standing in a crowded elevator.

What begins as a minor flirtation sets in motion a series of events, one of which results in the murder of one of Ann's clients, Eve Abergray (Deborah Kara), who had a history of exploring sexually deviant acts with an unnamed boyfriend of similar erotic tastes. As the film progresses, Ann has just cause to suspect Doug of foul play. Larry Morgenstern (Anthony LaPaglia), a tough and unflinching detective, harasses Ann for her session notes and resents what he feels to be the inanities of her chosen profession. Yet as the film continues, Crowe offers a higher body count than one would expect from the closed world of artists and their attendant shrinks. At any given point, anybody might be capable of murder. Ann's mentor, Leo Green (Alan Alda), a likeable and easy going director of psychiatric medicine, aids Ann in her own need to process a past that has left her haunted and troubled, particularly in her relations with men.

At the conclusion of the film, one wonders if Crowe's intention was to offer a timely critique of helping professions. Crowe weaves into his storyline, the limits of psychiatric medicine by throwing into relief those moments when professionals fail to apprehend accurately the real danger brewing just beneath the surface. Sciorra and Sheridan give decent performances as potential lovers seeking one another in the midst of a murder investigation. Whether they end up with one another is part of the mystery. For another example of a thriller which moves the sophistication notch up a few levels, view Lantana (2001) which also stars Anthony LaPaglia.

Annabella Sciorra is VERY sexy in this film as a psychiatrist who is trying to both treat her patients' dysfunctional behavior as well as her own bizarre sexuality at the same time. Her performance alone is worth the price of the DVD.

The other big name in the cast is Alan Alda of MASH (Hawkeye Pierce) fame. There were times in this movie that I thought it was the Hawkeye Pierce inside of Alda that relished the chance to slam psychologists.

While the plot is fairly predictable, there are a few unexpected twists and turns along the way. The most thought-provoking aspect of the movie is just how unwieldy & powerful that shrinks can get. This is something that scares me - especially if they're vindictive and / or crazy themselves!

If you're looking for a dark & erotic psychological thriller, this one might be up your alley. I can think of worse ways to spend my evenings than having Annabella Sciorra as a guest on the screen of my HDTV!