Surely, when someone mentions Adrian Lyne you’d think you’d been hearing about him for a long, long time. Chances are you’re right. In the 1980s he was talked about a lot, due to some very popular releases that in some ways shaped the decade’s cinematic identity. Lyne’s films get featured on ’80s lists over and over. That’s where some of you know him from.
However, would you believe us if we told you he’s only directed nine features in more than 40 years of his career? In fact, the release of Deep Water marked Lyne’s 20-year anniversary of returning to the director’s chair after not making a film. Versions of the reason vary. We can speculate all we want, but there’s something fundamental we can guess, and it’s that the modern industry may consider ’the erotic thriller’ that Lyne mastered more problematic than before.
In any case, we’re glad he came back, even if Deep Water wasn’t a particularly great movie. There’s a personality to his filmmaking that is terribly missed in today’s more formulaic style of commercial cinema, and he explores sexuality in a way that has been sanitized in much of the mainstream cinematic landscape. Now that he’s back (and hopefully he can stay around this time), we’ve picked the best feature films of his career and put them together in one nifty, steamy list with a top pick that’s as divisive as it is different from what you’d expect from Lyne.
MOVIEWEB VIDEO OF THE DAY
7 Deep Water (2022)
Hulu
Lyne’s return in over 20 years was met with some skepticism by those who didn’t know him and his style of cinema. But he trusted the hell out of two young screenwriters (one of them Euphoria’s showrunner Sam Levinson) to adapt a modern version of a Patricia Highsmith novel (the author of Strangers on a Train and The Talented Mr. Ripley). What he came up with was Deep Water, an awkward yet very erotic tale of a marriage dealing with a twist in its dynamics.
MOVIEWEB VIDEO OF THE DAY
MOVIEWEB VIDEO OF THE DAY
MOVIEWEB VIDEO OF THE DAY
Ben Affleck and Ana de Armas lead the way in Hulu’s character-driven Deep Water, which could actually gain cult status in the future. Even if it isn’t the most Lyne-ish film of his career, it was cool to see him do what he does best — or at least to try it in 2022.
6 9½ Weeks (1986)
MGM/UA Entertainment Co.
Kim Basinger and Mickey Rourke dominated the 80s erotic drama territory with 9½ Weeks. The film, famously known for its striptease scene with Joe Cocker’s You Can Leave Your Hat On playing in the background, is an honest take on the difficulties of a being a couple while darker desires are revealed. Fortunately, Lyne had two invaluable resources in his performers, who drive the film into its explosive success in the box office. It’s simply one of Lyne’s sexiest films.
5 Indecent Proposal (1993)
Paramount Pictures
The one with the question that arose in every single relationship by the people who saw it back in 1993. Demi Moore and Woody Harrelson star as a young married couple trying to make ends meet, when a millionaire, Robert Redford, offers them a million dollars if he can spend one night with Diana (Moore). You can guess how things go when the young couple accepts the proposal. A box office success also panned by critics, that sits solidly as one of Lyne’s commercial hits.
4 Flashdance (1983)
But the proposal wasn’t the first. Flashdance was also met with critics firmly rejecting its musical style mixed with a compelling dramatic story about a girl who dreams of becoming a ballerina while she’s forced to work in a steel mill.
This was Don Simpson and Jerry Bruckheimer’s first collaboration in cinema, and the rest was history, resulting in films like Beverly Hills Cop, Top Gun, and The Rock. Perhaps you just know the film’s award-winning ’80s soundtrack, but this was also Lyne’s first Hollywood hit.
3 Unfaithful (2002)
20th Century Fox
In Unfaithful, a married woman starts an affair with a stranger and when her husband finds out, a more violent resolution is considered. This is Lyne operating at his directorial best, with trustworthy performers Richard Gere and Diane Lane playing the two leads and going into thriller territory with a great adaptation of Claude Chabrol’s French ’60s film.
2 Fatal Attraction (1987)
Lyne would finally get recognized in 1987 with the psychological thriller Fatal Attraction. Michael Douglas and Glenn Close saw their careers grow to new heights due to this very controversial movie about an affair gone bad. The woman refuses to let go of a married man, and then she shows her true self, which happens to be a very dangerous one.
1 Jacob’s Ladder (1990)
TriStar Pictures
Lyne going down the rabbit hole results in his best film to date. Jacob’s Ladder is a nightmare developed into film, and it tells the story of an infantryman who starts having visions after serving in the Vietnam War. These are really powerful, nightmarish hallucinations that actually inspired some of today’s scariest video games. Tim Robbins as Jacob is the representation of a broken soul trying to make sense of a shattered mind. It’s hard to understand how this is Lyne’s only foray into horror — he is one of those minds we need in horror, and now that he’s back, hopefully he’ll revisit the genre.
