I found this movie, if not terribly believable, very moving and emotional when I saw it some years back. Julia Roberts brings a real vulnerability to all her roles, and is perfect here as the affluent but both mentally and physically abused wife.

The sad tale revolves around an apparently perfect upper middle class couple who share a beach home...the beautiful young Laura (who has every material comfort) and her obsessive and abusive husband, Martin. Laura lives in terror of her abuser, finally seizing a chance to escape by faking her own death and and fleeing to another town, where she assumes an entirely new identity. Meanwhile, Martin becomes ballistic when he discovers that his wife is not really dead and goes after her...

I admit it, the plot is pretty far fetched, a lot of holes in the story, some events depicted not very believable. Leave your logic behind. Still, I was able to overlook all this and focus my attention on Laura's plight, hoping she could evade (or eliminate) this intellectual brute, and build a new life for herself with a new love.

The portrayal of Laura's terror is vivid as she tries to appease her obsessive husband, who becomes violent if she fails to keep the pantry shelf items in perfect alignment. The most chilling scene of all is the rape, with its accompaniment of Martin's favorite classical music, a piece which thereafter haunts his young wife. No sympathy here for the husband, whose unfolding actions simply go from unspeakable to unthinkable.

Not a particularly believable plot but engrossing, nevertheless, and a pair of vividly drawn characters who elicit strong emotions. However, the best part of this movie is definitely its message. Contrary to the typical image, spousal abuse is no respecter of social class. It would have been much more difficult for me before this film than it is now to picture an affluent, educated, sophisticated abuser.

Sleeping with the Enemy is a 1991 American romantic psychological thriller film directed by Joseph Ruben and starring Julia Roberts, Patrick Bergin and Kevin Anderson. The film is based on Nancy Price's novel of the same name of 1987. Roberts plays a woman who escapes from her abusive husband, from Cape Cod to Cedar Falls, Iowa, where she captures the attention of a kindly college drama teacher.

In "Sleeping With The Enemy" things are not always as they appear to be. On the surface, Laura Burney (Julia Roberts) and her husband Martin (Patrick Bergin) are a wealthy and contented couple who enjoy a comfortable lifestyle and spend their leisure time at their luxurious house by the beach at Cape Cod. In reality though, Laura lives in a state of constant fear which has been created by Martin's abusive behaviour.

Martin is a control freak with an obsessive compulsive disorder and a very cold personality. He gets insanely jealous when he imagines that Laura may be attracted to someone else and even exercises control over what clothes she wears. He beats her when her behaviour displeases him and then gives her flowers to show how much he cares about her.

Within this relationship, the terrified Laura appears to be completely obedient and passive but in reality, she has for some time been planning to escape. Her husband knows her as a person who isn't able to swim and has a fear of water. In reality, she's secretly taken swimming lessons and this eventually enables her to fake her own death when the couple are involved in an accident at sea and she falls overboard and disappears.

Laura secretly moves to Cedar Falls in Iowa, changes her name, makes a fresh start and soon meets Ben Woodward (Kevin Anderson) who's a drama teacher at the local college. She enjoys their friendship and also being able to visit her invalid mother at a nearby nursing home.

Martin is under the impression that Laura's mother had passed away some time ago but when he starts to find pieces of information which make him suspect that his wife is still alive, his investigations soon reveal that the reality is somewhat different and that Laura's mother is actually a resident at the nursing home near Cedar Falls.

Laura who seemed to have successfully escaped from her abuser soon discovers that, in reality, her intensely possessive and extremely violent husband will go to any lengths to ensure that she doesn't gain her freedom.

"Sleeping With The Enemy" is an entertaining movie which focuses on a form of violence which is rarely featured in commercial thrillers and maybe it's for this reason that some of scenes in which Laura is beaten seem so shocking, even to audiences whose exposure to on-screen violence has hardened their responses.

Julia Roberts gives a sympathetic performance as a victim of domestic abuse who is trapped in a nightmare from which there seems to be no way out and also convincingly portrays the anxieties which her character continues to experience when she starts her new life in Iowa. Patrick Bergin is believable as a violent psychopath whose need for perfection in all things has grown to an absurd proportion and in addition, Kevin Anderson is good as Ben who in complete contrast to Martin is good natured, sensitive and caring.