bridget fonda be the sexually satisfied wife of handsome hart bochner . one afternoon she come home and call him honey and and quietly fix him a drink and only to find that he sulk . minute go by while she compliantly put up with his frown silence . suddenly and he burst into a rage and accuse her of infidelity in the complete absence of any reason to do so and call her the c word and slam her head against a cabinet and slap her around and and wind up fling her off the second floor balcony and break her hand and a couple of rib . she wake up in the hospital where and it be reveal and she be deaf and although we notice that she read lip perfectly . that avoid all the awkwardness associate with an asl interpreter or have her squawk word in a simulacrum of language . all right . let me just lay out the basic plot element . this beautiful and devote handicapped woman be beat by her husband and misunderstood by her elderly mother and betray by her sister and have her bank account empty by unknown hand and almost rap by a fat man who accost her in a bar and be think to have murder her now miss husband and and be pursue by two cop ( kiefer sutherland and steven weber ) and one of whom be interested only in justice while the other seem to dislike all woman and be embarrass by their presence . the end find her stand alone at a deserted bus stop with a hand full of cash alone and tearful and but brave . now and a pop quiz . there be only one multiple choice question . this story be write by represent ( a ) a man or ( b ) a woman . not to sound sexist . one could a easily pose a scenario about a decorated military hero and trained warrior who be capture by his enemy and betray by his organization and beaten and tortured and escape to exact revenge and and wind up with the woman he love and whom he think he would lose long ago . the direction be functional and conventional . when fonda regain consciousness in a hospital bed and we see from her point of view the face of the anxious doctor and nurse look down at her that be and at the camera an echo of every scene in myriad second rate movie in which the gurney be be hurriedly wheel down the corridor and people wear starched white coat and festoon with stethoscope hover over the camera . hart bochner have play a number of evil people in an interesting way some of the character be stupid ( die hard ) and some be rather more than plain rude ( and the sea will tell ) . his virile handsomeness have a kind of evil tint to it . it would be too easy to cast him a a hero . nice and intentionally bland performance by steven weber a the dumb cop maybe the best in the film . bridget fonda be interest too . her acting range be limit but it on full display here . what make her an object of interest be her almost stereotypical beauty . she like a high school prom queen . very feminine . of course she can not help it if she slither around or move her hand so gracefully . neither can she do anything about her nose . for most of it length it perfectly normal and attractive but at it very tip there be a bump outward that follow the natural flare of her nostril . the tip of that nose be full of intrigue . a for the movie pfui .