Fatal Attraction

Continuity mistake: In the elevator scene as you look down the shaft from above, the air is crystal clear with no smoke in sight. Then in a few seconds smoke appears near the windows but in the next shot when the elevator stops the smoke is gone. (00:20:10)

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Continuity mistake: As a little girl is sitting on the couch with the dog, there is a book to the left of her which is gone in the next shot. (00:02:35)

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Continuity mistake: When Michael Douglas is listening to Alex's tape it's midday when he enters the East River Drive underpass and comes out the sun has clearly set. Alex's tape doesn't skip a beat. (01:17:00)

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Continuity mistake: In the scene where Beth is desperately trying to find Ellen, she approaches a stopped Chevrolet Caprice wagon and rear ends it. When the camera switches to an interior shot of Beth's vehicle during the collision, the vehicle in front has changed to a Ford LTD wagon.

Continuity mistake: While eating together, Alex tells Dan that she stood up her date, and raises her hand. From the opposite angle it's lowered.

Sacha

Continuity mistake: When Dan and Alex are under the rain, a black man in a gabardine passes by Dan, and a frame later passes by Alex, in the opposite direction.

Sacha

Continuity mistake: Dan is having a drink with Alex and he talks about his parents' divorce. His glass swaps from being on the table to in his hand between shots.

Sacha

Continuity mistake: After Glen Close kicks Michael Douglas out of her apartment he's standing next to her bicycle holding his stuff. It can be assumed that he put the stuff on the bicycle seat because in the next shot his hands and the handlebars are empty. But later as we see him getting ready to leave again his stuff is the on handlebars. (00:34:35 - 00:37:10)

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Continuity mistake: When the little girl is playing in the back yard outside the rabbit cage it's winter, not a leaf in the tree she is under. In the very next shot as they get into their car all shrubs and trees in this shot have their leaves. (01:23:10)

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Continuity mistake: When Glenn Close calls Michael Douglas in the middle of the night, his clock radio reads 2:13. In the next shot, without him touching it, the clock is dimmer and has been moved so we can't see the new time. Then about a minute later, the clock radio reads 2:20.

Fatal Attraction mistake picture

Continuity mistake: Dan throws his umbrella and it bounces on the edge of the wastebasket but lands on the floor. When he walks next to the wastebasket the umbrella is now inside.

Sacha

Upvote valid corrections to help move entries into the corrections section.

Suggested correction: It lands on the ground and stays there.

Amy Emerick Tice

False. Junk correction. There's a picture online proving it.

Sacha

Continuity mistake: In the famous bathtub scenes there's a close-up of Alex's feet with blood dripping on her right foot. Later when we see her in the tub the blood is in a different spot on her foot. (01:51:40 - 01:53:15)

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Continuity mistake: When the phone rings as Beth paints, Beth puts her roller in the tray and goes to answer the phone. When she returns the roller is in a different position than it was before.

Continuity mistake: When Michael Douglas puts on his headphones to listen to the tape in his den, he puts the headphone with the cord on his left ear. When his wife startles him the cord is on his right ear.

Continuity mistake: One scene has Glenn Close in bed shot from profile, and the sheet in down exposing her breasts. The film cuts to a frontal shot and the sheet is up around her neck. When it cuts back to profile, the sheet is down again.

More mistakes in Fatal Attraction

Alex Forrest: I had a wonderful time last night. I'd like to see you again. Is that so terrible?
Dan Gallagher: No. I just don't think it's possible.

More quotes from Fatal Attraction

Trivia: The opera that Glenn Close buys the tickets for is Madame Butterfly. That is the song she is listening to when we see the first signs that she is losing it. Note: At the end of Madame Butterfly the heroine kills herself over a lover. In the director's cut of Fatal Attraction Glenn Close cuts her throat in the bathroom of Michael Douglas' house thereby killing herself over a lover.

More trivia for Fatal Attraction

Question: What is the significance of Glenn Close and the color white? I noticed that her apartment is white and with the exception of one scene when she's wearing the black leather coat, she is always wearing white. Any thoughts on this?

Enchantress

Chosen answer: With questions such as this, one can either speculate, or one can go directly to the source. So, using IMDb, I looked up the names of the crew on "Fatal Attraction." The costume designer is listed as Ellen Mirojnick. The set decoration was the responsibility of George DeTittas, Sr. I found Ellen Mirojnick on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/Ellenmirojnick/posts/263462080524551?comment_id=263621453841947&offset=0&total_comments=2¬if_t=feed_comment), and posed the question to her. This was the reply she gave: " (I)n our process there is always a purpose for a palette to tell a story dramatically. I chose white for her character because white is powerful and although not essentially a "color" it reflects all other colors, which would in turn reflect where we were in the story. I thought through her silhouettes and use of shades of whites, it would reflect her mood and not give away the demon she kept hidden. WHITE is powerful... As she was!" I have not yet been able to track down Mr. DeTittas for comment. But I have posed the additional question to Ms. Mirojnick regarding whether the color palette motif was a decision shared by different departments on the film. Ms. Mironjnick added the following comments: "she wears white to discuise (sic) her darkness, that somehow is revealed in certain places.. white is all things combined .. it radiatesits (sic) the confusion as if she was in an asylum, but her own."

Michael Albert

More questions & answers from Fatal Attraction

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