Laura marries Martin Burney who appears to be the perfect man, he is handsome and successful, yet the dream of the perfect man becomes a nightmare as Martin is a control freak who abuses her both physically and mentally. Once she decides enough is enough she plots her escape by way of faking her own death by drowning, a new life beckons, but she will always be looking over her shoulder to see if Martin finds out the truth and tracks her down.

Thus the vehicle for Julia Roberts pans out as your just above average thriller. It has some decent moments that keep it from drifting into tedium, the set up perfectly portrays the double life that some people lead, on the social circuit it appears the couple are happy and at one with each other, yet behind their own walls there is violence and the crushing of the spirit. The final third of the film is also well worthy of the word thriller, for the tension is nigh on unbearable as we slowly come to the conclusion, whilst Julia Roberts as Laura does a very tidy job as this sort of modern day princess escaping the evil clutches of her keeper. Must mention the great use of Berlioz's Symphonie Fantastique, it's eerie and impacts hard for the scenes it is used for.

Patrick Bergin plays his role well enough, it's just that his villainy is never fully realised, we see enough to know that what he does is wrong, yet it feels a bit too polished. Whilst a sequence that sees Laura dress up as a man is clearly the low point of the film, it really does stretch the viewers patience, and sadly insults their respective intelligence. It's a mixed bag that isn't quite a waste of time, it just doesn't leave you with anything other than a feeling of being semi fulfilled, shame as it could have been brilliant with a bit more bravery and brains in the script, 6/10.

Abusive relationships are quite the problem. Especially because women have problems to get out of them. Now the fact Julias character can do that ... well seemingly can do that, is a nice things. Although her approach or the way she achieves it, is quite riddled with holes (planning wise). There are also a lot of other convenient things (ring in the toilet, phone call, visit at a certain facility at the exact same time and so forth) that happen, that normally should make you cringe in terror.

So either suspend your disbelief in a way you haven't done before ... like really ... really ... really suspend it all the way to the moon. Or be prepared to roll your eyes quite a lot. Having said that, the actors do their things amidst all the cliches and the movie still kind of works on a basic level. Tension is there and you can see why Julia was considered everyones sweetheart for quite some time - no pun intended

One of the best-known entries in the psycho-thriller genre, thanks to the starring presence of Julia Roberts. This time the story is the husband-from-hell, and watching Roberts dealing with him at the film's outset makes for engaging viewing. What follows is entirely predictable and fairly watchable, although it's safe to say that this film is fairly dated – it was made in the early '90s, a period which seems to date films far more than those from a few years before or after, for some reason.

I'm no fan of Roberts, but she's pretty good here, underplaying her role for the most part and rarely resorting to shrill histrionics. Patrick Bergin is fine as the creepy, controlling husband, although most will find Kevin Anderson's hairy teacher a bit of an irritating character. The film manages to avoid slasher stereotypes for the most part and only screws up on one occasion, during an absolutely awful fashion montage segment showing Roberts dressing up in various hats etc. – straight out of PRETTY WOMAN and totally out of character for somebody who was previously very scared, fragile and introverted.