# "Abused Wife fakes death" movie- name? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 12, 2012, 1:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/abused-wife-fakes-death-movie-name/631234 "2012-08-12T01:09:11Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2012, 1:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/abused-wife-fakes-death-movie-name/631234/1 "2012-08-12T01:09:11Z")
NOT “Sleeping with the Enemy” starring Julia Roberts. It _might_ be the 2005 Lifetime movie “Stranger in my Bed” starring Jamie Luner (not to be confused with the 1987 movie with the same title starring Lindsey Wagner); but I can’t find a detailed enough synopsis online to be sure. In the movie I’m thinking of, she took advantage of an earthquake to become missing presumed dead, and in her new identity married a former Catholic priest. ---
**Author:** ![Drain\_Bead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e47774/32.png) [@Drain\_Bead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drain_Bead)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2012, 1:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/abused-wife-fakes-death-movie-name/631234/2 "2012-08-12T01:26:30Z")
The Thorn Birds? ---
**Author:** ![No\_Me\_Ayudes\_Compadre](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/no_me_ayudes_compadre/32/5224_2.png) [@No\_Me\_Ayudes\_Compadre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/No_Me_Ayudes_Compadre)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2012, 3:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/abused-wife-fakes-death-movie-name/631234/3 "2012-08-12T03:13:18Z")
[Nightmare in the Daylight](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nightmare_in_the_Daylight), with Christopher Reeve and Jaclyn Smith? ---
**Author:** ![magellan01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@magellan01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/magellan01)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2012, 5:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/abused-wife-fakes-death-movie-name/631234/4 "2012-08-12T05:29:28Z")
[Sleeping with the Enemy](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0102945/) fits the bill, depending on how you define “abused”. ---
**Author:** ![Frylock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ce7236/32.png) [@Frylock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frylock)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2012, 6:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/abused-wife-fakes-death-movie-name/631234/5 "2012-08-12T06:28:59Z")
> [@magellan01](#): > > [Sleeping with the Enemy](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0102945/) fits the bill, depending on how you define “abused”. Wow! Read the very first words of the OP! 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Patty\_O\_Furniture](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/96bed5/32.png) [@Patty\_O\_Furniture](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Patty_O_Furniture)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2012, 9:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/abused-wife-fakes-death-movie-name/631234/6 "2012-08-12T09:24:57Z")
There must be some way to respond to threads without opening them. ---
**Author:** ![medstar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f07891/32.png) [@medstar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/medstar)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2012, 12:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/abused-wife-fakes-death-movie-name/631234/7 "2012-08-12T12:11:50Z")
Enough, with Bill Campbell and Jennifer Lopez? ---
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2012, 4:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/abused-wife-fakes-death-movie-name/631234/8 "2012-08-12T16:23:10Z")
> [@No\_Me\_Ayudes\_Compadre](#): > > [Nightmare in the Daylight](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nightmare_in_the_Daylight), with Christopher Reeve and Jaclyn Smith? Winner!! > [@](#): > > Nightmare in the Daylight is a star vehicle for Jaclyn Smith. She portrays a woman with a secret. She has kept the secret from her husband, and a chance encounter with her former husband, who believes her dead in an earthquake, triggers a crisis. Christopher Reeve is the brutal ex-husband, playing against type rather effectively. Tom Mason is the husband, sympathetic and, interestingly, portraying a former priest (as Brian Dennehy did in the Jack Reed series). There is some discussion in the screenplay about priests who leave and get married – and a visit to a priest friend to ask for advice. ---
**Author:** ![Frylock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ce7236/32.png) [@Frylock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frylock)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2012, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/abused-wife-fakes-death-movie-name/631234/9 "2012-08-12T16:40:08Z")
> [@magellan01](#): > > [Sleeping with the Enemy](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0102945/) fits the bill, depending on how you define “abused”. Also, dude, didn’t she have bruises all over her body? How do _you_ define abuse?! ---
**Author:** ![randwill](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/a3d4f5/32.png) [@randwill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/randwill)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2012, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/abused-wife-fakes-death-movie-name/631234/10 "2012-08-12T17:18:51Z")
Isn’t that every movie on the Lifetime channel? ---
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2012, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/abused-wife-fakes-death-movie-name/631234/11 "2012-08-12T20:30:50Z")
> [@randwill](#): > > Isn’t that every movie on the Lifetime channel? You can see why I had so much trouble finding one particular one. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2017, 9:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/abused-wife-fakes-death-movie-name/631234/12 "2017-10-29T21:39:22Z")
Just rewatched this and was struck by how the premise is obsolete. Nowadays Christopher Reeve’s character (a lawyer) could easily have gone to a judge and said “my wife faked her death in order to deprive me of my parental rights; please sign a court order for DNA testing of the child in question”. ---
**Author:** ![RivkahChaya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rivkahchaya/32/8919_2.png) [@RivkahChaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RivkahChaya)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2017, 10:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/abused-wife-fakes-death-movie-name/631234/13 "2017-10-29T22:17:11Z")
> [@Lumpy](#): > > Just rewatched this and was struck by how the premise is obsolete. Nowadays Christopher Reeve’s character (a lawyer) could easily have gone to a judge and said “my wife faked her death in order to deprive me of my parental rights; please sign a court order for DNA testing of the child in question”. Oh, man-- now that you mention that part, I’ve seen that movie! Geez, that was a long time ago. ---
**Author:** ![congodwarf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e36b37/32.png) [@congodwarf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/congodwarf)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2017, 11:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/abused-wife-fakes-death-movie-name/631234/14 "2017-10-29T23:56:48Z")
So, was he nuts or was she really his wife? ---
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2017, 2:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/abused-wife-fakes-death-movie-name/631234/15 "2017-10-30T02:17:08Z")
> [@congodwarf](#): > > So, was he nuts or was she really his wife? If you haven’t already read the spoilers upthread, the full movie is on YouTube. ---
**Author:** ![congodwarf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e36b37/32.png) [@congodwarf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/congodwarf)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2017, 3:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/abused-wife-fakes-death-movie-name/631234/16 "2017-10-30T03:08:21Z")
> [@Lumpy](#): > > If you haven’t already read the spoilers upthread, the full movie is on YouTube. Ya know, I did read that but my brain didn’t make the connection between the comment and my question. ---
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2017, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/abused-wife-fakes-death-movie-name/631234/17 "2017-10-30T20:20:33Z")
> [@Patty\_O\_Furniture](#): > > There must be some way to respond to threads without opening them. I actually spent a few minutes seeing if some joker could do this. Apparently not: the board generates a unique post number for each reply and I don’t think there’s any way to spoof that. ---
**Author:** ![TheBoltEater](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/779978/32.png) [@TheBoltEater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheBoltEater)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2017, 7:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/abused-wife-fakes-death-movie-name/631234/18 "2017-10-31T07:02:38Z")
> [@medstar](#): > > Enough, with Bill Campbell and Jennifer Lopez? This movie has always stuck with me as having the most hilarious… I won’t say plot hole, more like a glaring character flaw. J-Lo is an abused wife. Her friends tell her to get a divorce, but she says she can’t; both cause he’ll get everything, but also because she’s so deeply religious that it’s unthinkable. So she runs away, learns self defense via montage, then sets a trap for him where she can do him in and no court in America would ever convict her. So she’s too Catholic to divorce him… but cold-blooded first degree murder is just fine! ---
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2018, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/abused-wife-fakes-death-movie-name/631234/19 "2018-01-25T19:43:19Z")
> [@TheBoltEater](#): > > This movie has always stuck with me as having the most hilarious… I won’t say plot hole, more like a glaring character flaw. J-Lo is an abused wife. Her friends tell her to get a divorce, but she says she can’t; both cause he’ll get everything, but also because she’s so deeply religious that it’s unthinkable. So she runs away, learns self defense via montage, then sets a trap for him where she can do him in and no court in America would ever convict her. > > So she’s too Catholic to divorce him… but cold-blooded first degree murder is just fine! Well the vows did say “Till death do us part”. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Hilarity\_N.Suze](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hilarity_n.suze/32/6223_2.png) [@Hilarity\_N.Suze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hilarity_N.Suze)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2018, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/abused-wife-fakes-death-movie-name/631234/20 "2018-01-25T20:18:54Z")
> [@TheBoltEater](#): > > This movie has always stuck with me as having the most hilarious… I won’t say plot hole, more like a glaring character flaw. J-Lo is an abused wife. Her friends tell her to get a divorce, but she says she can’t; both cause he’ll get everything, but also because she’s so deeply religious that it’s unthinkable. So she runs away, learns self defense via montage, then sets a trap for him where she can do him in and no court in America would ever convict her. > > So she’s too Catholic to divorce him… but cold-blooded first degree murder is just fine! I once had a discussion with a bunch of mystery authors, male and female, where we all kind of agreed that almost anyone who’s ever been married will sort of understand this mentality of divorce: never; murder: maybe. No doubt why these plots come up year after year. They resonate. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/abused-wife-fakes-death-movie-name/631234.md?page=2)