Adrian Lyne uses smoke and dramatic lighting to make desire feel immediate. We rate him most when he gives the people equal attention: Jacob's Ladder shows how frightening and tender his films can be.
Fi1m perspective
An ordinary subway journey becomes unsafe before we can say what is wrong in Jacob's Ladder (1990). Jeffrey L. Kimball's cinematography keeps the space familiar, and Brian Morris's production design gives the grotesque effects a credible setting. We were frightened because the place had become threatening before the effects needed to prove it. This is Lyne working well: the lighting and surroundings make us uneasy without distracting us from the person caught inside them.
His move from British advertising into features helps explain that attention to the image. Foxes (1980) focused on teenage girls' lives; Flashdance (1983) made music, dance and aspiration central. With 9½ Weeks (1986) and Fatal Attraction (1987), seduction and its consequences became more prominent. Smoke and backlighting can make desire feel immediate, although we do not always learn enough about the people doing the desiring.
Jacob's Ladder puts those visual skills to a different use, and Tim Robbins is crucial to why it works. Robbins makes Jacob worth worrying about, while Lyne keeps bodily fear and grief present rather than letting the film become a puzzle to solve. The practical effects are upsetting because their distortions remain recognisably human, even when the cutting is aggressive. That concern for Jacob makes the film tender without making it any less alarming.
Bruce Joel Rubin's script is sometimes too eager to explain its religious ideas, particularly when the images have already made us feel them. That earnestness requires patience, but it does not undo the film's sympathy for Jacob. The charge that Lyne's polish conceals thin material has more force with Indecent Proposal (1993), where the handsome finish can leave us waiting for emotional depth.
Unfaithful (2002) returned to infidelity and marital breakdown, with psychologically detailed performances beneath the gloss. After two decades away from features, Deep Water (2022) brought him back to another troubled marriage. Start with Jacob's Ladder if the erotic thrillers have never appealed, and allow it a few speeches too many.
Biography
Adrian Lyne is an English film director. He was born on 4 March 1941 in Peterborough, Cambridgeshire, and educated at Highgate School in London.
Lyne began his career directing television commercials before making his feature debut with Foxes (1980). Subsequent films include Flashdance (1983), 9½ Weeks (1986), Fatal Attraction (1987), Jacob's Ladder (1990), Indecent Proposal (1993), Lolita (1997) and Unfaithful (2002). He received an Academy Award nomination for Best Director for Fatal Attraction.
