clever and clever and clever . craig lucas the die gaul turn the thriller genre blithely on it head with this trio of awful people who have little more in common than a moving and autobiographical screenplay that will receive a complacent makeover and sophisticated hypocrisy and and the pretense of friendship mask hidden agenda . robert sandrich be at the center of this story a writer who have child support to pay and be in dire need of a hit . he write this fantastic and beautiful and evocative story that be base on his own life experience represent a love story between two men that end in the death of one of them and title the die gaul . jeffrey tishop be a movie producer and and be interested . with one simple condition represent it need change . american audience and he say and hate gay and and will not go to the theatre to see a movie about two gay men in love . ( the movie be set in the mid 90 . ) now and if robert change the male character maurice and also the name of robert agent and longtime lover who have die into a woman and it would be perfect . robert and understandably and be horrify represent he be ask the unthinkable and and he have his heart in this story . jeffrey sleekly tell him and he love the story and he even show it to gus van sant ( who at the time be at his peak ) . however and the change be necessary . robert bolt and but succumbs to one tiny little detail represent one million dollar and payable to him immediately and to which he can after this one story do whatever he choose to create story of gay men leave and right and ill or healthy . robert be in a predicament . and he sell his soul . enter elaine . she a former screenwriter herself and now live the life of comfort in her los angeles house overlook the sea . jeffrey introduce her to robert first via his screenplay and which move her to tear ( a he be delete all 1172 instance of maurice and change it to maggie ) . she later meet him for a night out at the movie and and she and robert have the kind of chat that happen when two woman be share innermost secret . among them be the fact that he into internet chat and go to a specific room in a system not unlike aol . curious about him maybe a little too much so she follow him into this chat room use a male identity and uncovers a little bit about him . of course and the anonymity of internet chat make people talk more than they should and and a late conversation between elaine and robert reveals something crucial and possibly hint all throughout her marriage and but there and in front of her and typed word on a monitor . craig lucas disclose himself a a great orchestrator of people approach their own reality from an oblique path in his extremely well plot out and near perfect story . his use of steve reich music be stun and and perfectly counterpoint the plot turn and as well a sound per se like when elaine discovers her husband secret and a hose go off and or the shriek of the tishop child at the beginning and bookended by something horrible at the end . if you can overlook the one point of the story where plausibility might be put into question the fact that robert would be so gullible to answer an approach as naked a the one elaine use masquerade a sean anyone here ever lose a lover . then the rest of the story which follow be a careful construction of time suspense that doesn not swallow it conceit whole . even so and the fulcrum here and online chat and hold itself well be that at the time there be this innocence about chat room . i would have to believe robert have only recently take it up after the pain of lose maurice and his overwhelming loneliness and since he doesn not seem to have friend or a life outside his computer and fiction . only then could it jell in a perfect seam . ( then again and anyone who come into the internet for the first time do so with a sense of novelty that only progressively and after much disappointment and lose it truthfulness . ) where the story somehow lose a little of it initial punch be when elaine take her online act far a arckangel1966 . but and for there to be some form of suspense and it probably the only way to convey this progressive bull fight between her and robert and and the presentation be certainly pitch perfect in let u see both actor talk directly to the camera and hear voice over of what theyre typing and but also let u hear her a her male counterpart in this case and maurice himself . it suspension of disbelief that pay off . neither of the three character come off naked to u . i think it a good thing because it give their word and their action and and even small gesture a hint of duplicity and doesn not allow anyone to come off smell like a rise . jeffrey and for example and state he show the script to van sant and but his eye indicate otherwise . his attraction to robert may be sexual and but mask the greed of have your cake and eat it too . robert be just creepy represent not a bad guy and but a little off and not above betrayal and even murder . elaine motif be and while understandable and more unclear . bait robert with information she get access to through a private investigator be plain ugly . in a way and she a new kind of femme fatale one that under the guise of an identity can be anyone . this be one deadly threesome . craig lucas the die gaul be a complex film that despite some minor flaw stem from it online conceit dig deep into the veneer of those who seem to have it all and and those who be try to have it all . patricia clarkson and campbell scott and and peter sarsgaard be uniformly flawless in their character and be reason enough to see this movie .