Harcèlement

STALKING LAURA, a true story about one man's increasing obsession with a work colleague which leads to eventual tragedy, is an astonishingly good film and quite possibly one of my favourite made-for-TV movies of all time. On the face of it, it looks like every other TV-movie ever made: matter of fact, routine, bogged down with the 'true story' hook. Indeed, for the first half of the production, all is familiar and safe, rather than gripping.

The film is anchored by Richard Thomas delivering a completely surprising turn as the villain of the piece. Thomas underplays it, selling us his nice-guy John Boy Walton character with a few hidden undertones; a little too insistent here, a gaze lingering too long here. Shields is perfectly adequate as the increasingly frustrated object of his obsession, but the film belongs to Thomas.

Then he flips and the film becomes something else: gripping, gutsy, compelling, harrowing and completely shocking. I wasn't expecting what happened next, but from that point in I was glued to the screen. Few films have the guts to tackle such disturbing – and, indeed, increasingly familiar, at least in the news – subject matter, but this movie handles it with aplomb. Kudos then, to both scriptwriter and director for making an unforgettable movie.

This type of film could seem over-the-top, but thanks to a believable performance by Richard Thomas, and a surprisingly decent performance by Brooke Shields, the viewer is interested in the story, and not distracted by personalities.

You will see some interesting information regarding stalking, as well. For example, when Thomas speaks to Penny (human resources) who divulges Laura's personal information (including her birthday, residence and family information). This film was made in 1993, and I was surprised that the company was not held liable for Laura's problems with this man.

As this is based on a true story, we see Richard Thomas gradually unraveling as he stalks Laura (Shields), he seems initially harmless, then obsessed. The breaking point occurs when he is fired. He has, he says to his friends, nothing to lose, and starts asking if the office is protected with bullet-proof glass. His co-workers laugh, thinking this is a joke.

This is an interesting and true story, which is well-presented. 9/10

Richard Thomas was excellent playing a really sick individual. Brooke Shields was good and too gorgeous for words.

Just a word re: a previous reviewer saying she should have just gone out with him once and that she was a snob.. No, no, no...that just encourages stalkers and can actually make it worse. She did nothing wrong...she was the VICTIM!! It gets kind of blurred sometimes...(Sorry to sound preachy, but, I teach health and healthy relationships in HS and I try so hard to help the kids know the difference).

Anyway, good docudrama and can help give some insight into these potentially dangerous situations.

This movie was very creepy to me because this kind of thing happens every day.

What I can never understand, though, is why people don't notify law enforcement when things start to get out of hand (one has to be careful with employers, as they're quite often "good-old-boy networks" only concerned about protecting their own, as well as covering their own behinds). If I were the personnel director and I heard comments like he was making, I would have notified the police as soon as he left! However, this film was made in 1993, before workplace and school shootings became fairly commonplace.....

That withstanding, I've never been a victim of stalking, but you can bet that I would also never let things get as far as they tend to do with many people (maybe it's the way I was raised, or because I have a pretty good self-esteem, who knows).

Nevertheless, I find these types of films much more captivating and closer to home than the usual stuff out there.

It's too bad that there are such people in this world.......

this was not a bad movie at all and i have to say,having been a fan of Brooke shields for years i think this was her first outing at actually being able to show her acting strength.she has just gotten better and better but i was totally impressed with her performance.the movie itself can slow in parts a little bit the last half hour certainly makes up for it.i did not expect such an entertaining finale from a t.v movie.although Richard Thomas did a great job,this is Brooke's film as her screen time shows and she made the most of it.the only let down with the film are the co-stars .the look of them and their acting abilities are woeful and you wonder how they got their jobs-all except for Laura Blacks flatmate that is,who does a fair job.