PR Newswire - USA ; 02-Oct-2000 12:00:00 am

"Forever Mine" is both a noir thriller and a sultry, deeply romantic ode to Hollywood movies of the Golden Era. On the surface, it is a classic story about the power of a pure, timeless true love. But true to form, writer-director Paul Schrader replaces the clear-cut heroes and villains of old with multi-faceted characters whose actions and motivations are always in question.

"Forever Mine" stars an impressive cast highlighted by Joseph Fiennes ("Shakespeare in Love," "Elizabeth"), who gives a new twist to his previous romantic roles by entwining love and sensuality with an eerie ruthlessness. The film co-stars Gretchen Mol ("Rounders," "The Cradle Will Rock"), in a glamorous star turn, and Ray Liotta ("Goodfellas," "The Rat Pack"), whose character is both mesmerizingly demonic and half-noble. Executive produced by Julia Palau ("Complicity," "Bruno") and Matthew Payne ("Night Train"), "Forever Mine" is a J&M Entertainment and Moonstar Entertainment production.

On the beaches of Miami in 1974, Alan Riply (Fiennes), while working his way through college as a cabana boy at a resort hotel, catches sight of Ella (Mol), a Venus-like vision, emerging from the sea. With one glance, he knows that his heart, indeed his whole life, is hers. Ella turns out to be the young bride of Mark Brice (Liotta), a power-hungry New York businessman and aspiring politician. Seemingly oblivious to the presence of the volatile Mark, Alan sets out to steal Ella's love. Although she rebuffs him at first, she quickly finds herself swept up by the intensity of his feelings for her. To Alan's dismay, he cannot convince Ella to find the courage to leave Mark and she returns home with him. Alan soon follows her, insisting that nothing is more important than true love. Confused about her feelings, Ella turns to her priest for guidance and is sternly admonished to honor her marital vows and confess her sins to Mark. It is at this point that the fairy tale love to which she had briefly abandoned herself comes to a brutal end. To her horror, she learns that Mark, in vicious retribution, has arranged for Alan to be killed. Unbeknownst to Mark, or his grief stricken wife, the murder plot has gone awry leaving Alan alive but brutally disfigured. He makes his way back to Florida only to reemerge several years later as Manuel Esquema, a sophisticated, ruthless, and powerful businessman - a banker and "fixer" who facilitates agreements between governments, the underworld, and Third World revolutionaries.

Fourteen years pass and Mark is now a corrupt city official, under investigation by the Justice Department. Esquema, with still-powerful feelings for Ella, offers his services to help Mark out of his troubles with the Feds. Under the guise of his work, Esquema infiltrates Mark's life with a rage-fueled ruthlessness, and engages Ella, ever the submissive wife, in an unsettling courtship. She becomes the focal point of these two men, who will stop at nothing to own her heart.

In the midst of a career as a noted film critic in the late sixties and early seventies, Schrader turned to filmmaking. His first success came with the screenplay for "The Yakuza," directed by Sydney Pollack. Martin Scorsese directed his next two screenplays, the landmark 1976 film "Taxi Driver," and the powerful drama "Raging Bull," which brought an Oscar for Best Actor to Robert DeNiro and a nomination to Scorsese for Best Director. Schrader has also collaborated with other distinguished directors, writing such films as Brian De Palma's "Obsession" (1976), Joan Tewkesbury's "Old Boyfriends" (1979), Peter Weir's "The Mosquito Coast" (1986), and Harold Becker's "City Hall" (1996). He made his feature film directorial debut in 1978 with the critically acclaimed drama "Blue Collar." Schrader then helmed "Hardcore" (1979) from his own screenplay. Following that, he wrote and directed "American Gigolo" (1980), "Cat People" (1982) and "Light of Day" (1987). In recent years, Schrader has directed "The Comfort of Strangers" (1990), and wrote and directed the highly praised "Light Sleeper" (1991). In 1997, he directed "Touch" from his own screenplay adaptation of Elmore Leonard's novel, and "Affliction," his multiple award-winning directorial and screenplay effort, that saw Nick Nolte nominated for a Best Actor Academy Award and James Coburn winning the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor.