Disclosure

Plot summary
The movie is a combination mystery and thriller about office politics
and intrigue in the computer industry in the mid 1990s. The main
focus of the story from which the film and book take their titles is
the issue of sexual harassment.
The story begins on a Monday in Seattle with computer company
executive Tom Sanders (Michael Douglas) expecting a promotion.
His morning is plagued with minor mishaps - toothpaste on his
seldom-worn tie, nearly missing his ferry from the island on which
he lives. However when the announcement at work is made, Tom's
day gets much worse - he finds out the position has been given to
Meredith Johnson (Demi Moore), a former flame of his who has been
brought in by company president Bob Garvin (Donald Sutherland).
Later that evening Tom goes to see Meredith in her office to review
some divisional reports. In the course of their meeting, she is quite
flirtatious and suggestive, not to mention openly dismissive of Tom's
wife when shown her picture.
Later, as Tom makes a cell-phone call to a colleague (or so he
believes), Meredith interrupts him, saying, "Let's get down to
business." She begins kissing him, and despite Tom's constant
protestations, she unzips his fly and begins to perform oral sex on
him. After repeatedly asking her to stop, Tom's mood suddenly
changes, and he becomes sexually aggressive with Meredith, much
as he had been in their previous relationship. But before they can
have intercourse, Tom sees himself in a mirror and realizes, "I can't
do this." He backs off of Meredith, who alleges that he can't just
leave. Tom suggests that she take the two champagne bottles in her
office fridge, and "go fuck them". She flies into a rage, shouting
after him as he leaves. Tom returns home confused, scarred by
Meredith's fingernails on his chest, and disgusted by what had
occurred - but he decides not to tell his wife.
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The next day, he discovers that Meredith has filed sexual

harassment charges against him. Philip Blackburn (Dylan Baker), the
company lawyer, who he thought was a friend, then comes to his
office and suggests a job in Austin, Texas. But Tom refuses and soon
finds that colleagues are now also being turned against him. In the
meantime, he receives an email from "A Friend" suggesting he look
at today's newspaper. This is a mysterious helper, who through the
rest of the movie, provides Tom with clues to help him beat the
accusations and save his job.
The paper leads Tom to a publicity-minded attorney, Catherine
Alvarez (Roma Maffia). He decides to counter sue for sexual
harassment because his company is in the process of a merger and
wouldn't want to get embroiled in a long and high-profile court case.
It works, and Garvin accepts arbitration to settle the case quietly.
But that evening his wife discovers what is going on when a coworker attacks Tom for threatening his future with his legal action.
Initially his wife Susan (Caroline Goodall), who is also a lawyer,
doesn't believe him and they have an argument.
However on Wednesday she decides to join her husband at the
arbitration proceedings. Meredith uses this opportunity to ridicule
Tom with graphic testimony on how he sexually harassed her. Tom
soon realizes that he is losing the case. On returning to the office,
he finds that he has been getting e-mails from "A Friend" but he is
too busy to return them. He also has the issue of resolving the
technical problems still blighting the hard drive that his team
developed. By the end of the day on the ferry home he is tired and
disconsolate. It looks like Meredith has won.
When Tom comes into work on what could be the last day of his job,
he finds that another helpful email. This leads him to the friend that
called him yesterday. On the night he met Meredith, he dialled the
wrong number, recording the entire encounter on an answering
machine of a colleague. He retrieves the tape, and is ecstatic at his
luck. With this new evidence, the arbitration judge finds in Tom's
favor. His attorney gets him $100,000 compensation and his old job
back.
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However, his ordeal is not over. Another email from "A Friend"
arrives warning him that he is playing the company's game. Tom
then overhears Meredith and Blackburn planning to get him fired for
incompetency (over failing to get a working hard drive into
production) at Friday's shareholders meeting when the merger is
finally announced.
Tom desperately tries to find the files he needs to save his job but
he has been locked out of the office system. He then heads over to
the hotel where the merger talks have been held and gains access
to the company records through a virtual-reality archive system.
Using the VR headset he begins to find the evidence that shows it
was Johnson who caused the hardware production to fail as she
ordered cost-cutting measures to be implemented at the Malaysian
factory where the drives are made. Yet as Sanders is reading all of
this, Meredith is in her office deleting the files, destroying the
evidence that could save his job. Dejected Tom returns home.
However on taking a call from a colleague in Kuala Lumpur, he
suddenly has an idea.
The movie ends on the Friday at the shareholders' meeting.
Meredith makes a speech before inviting Tom to explain why there
have been so many problems with the drive that he developed.
Almost immediately, she starts to ask him pointed questions about
critical failures in its production but instead of falling on his sword,
Sanders replies confidently that all the problems arose from her
management decisions. He then produces a video news report to
prove allegations using logs from the company archives in Malaysia.
Sanders has successfully thwarted the plan and Meredith loses her
job. A scene from the movie's beginning is then repeated with
Garvin announcing who will now head the division. But this time it is
Stephanie Kaplan (Rosemary Forsyth) the company's Chief Financial
Officer, who is promoted. It then becomes clear that Kaplan was
behind A Friend; the email address of her son's university professor.
We last see Tom in his office getting a colorful e-mail from his family,
telling him that they miss him.
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Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disclosure_(film)#Plot taken on

Aug. 08 2009

Movie Review
BY ROGER EBERT
`Disclosure" contains an inspiring terrific shot of Demi Moore's
cleavage in a Wonderbra, surrounded by 125 minutes of pure
goofiness leading up to, and resulting from, this moment. Advertised
as the first movie about the sexual harassment of men by women in
the workplace, it is an exercise in pure cynicism, with little respect
for its subject - or for its thriller plot, which I defy anyone to explain.

The "theme" is basically a launch pad for sex scenes. And yet the
movie is so sleek, so glossy, so filled with Possessoporn (toys so
expensive they're erotic), that you can enjoy it like a Sharper Image
catalog that walks and talks.
The film takes place inside the Seattle research and development
headquarters of a vast high-tech corporation. The male employees
have not had their consciousness raised. ("I definitely have lift-off,"
one says, after Demi Moore walks by).
Michael Douglas plays Tom Sanders, an executive involved in the
manufacture of "Corridor," a virtual reality database. There are
problems on the assembly line that may jeopardize a merger.
Corridor is some software program, all right. Users stand in the
center of a network of light beams that track their movements. They
wear a headset that creates the illusion that they are wandering the
corridors of a Greco-Roman temple lined with filing systems. They
reach out a hand, and files come into view, which can be searched
and accessed. In other words, for hundreds of thousands of dollars,
busy executives can do the work of file clerks.
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The company is about to be acquired by a larger firm, and the boss

(Donald Sutherland) stands to make $100 million. So he doesn't
want to hear any bad news about Corridor. Meanwhile, Douglas
expects a promotion - and is shocked to learn it will go instead to a
former lover named Meredith Johnson (Demi Moore). The day she
gets the job, she calls him to her office for a 7 p.m. conference,
pours his favorite wine, and segues directly into an attempted rape.
He fights her off (although not without being tempted long enough,
of course, to let the confrontation develop into a satisfactory movie
sex scene). The next day, she accuses him of sexual harassment,
and his life and ca reer seem about to be destroyed.
OK. That part you already know, from the publicity surrounding the
Michael Crichton best-seller that inspired the movie.
And of course there are office hearings and confrontations as the
company tries to get to the bottom of the charges without allowing
a public scandal. Douglas is defended by a bright, high-powered
attorney named Catherine Alvarez (Roma Maffia), who is the subject
of one of the movie's cleverest lines: "She'd change her name to `TV
Listings' to get it in the paper." But things look bad for him until he
starts getting anonymous tips via e-mail, and another level of
conspiracy is revealed.
A lot of that is obligatory material in thrillers about sex and
conspiracy in the corridors of power. What's unusual this time is the
Nancy Drew stuff: Evidence obtained by means so lame and
unlikely, we laugh even while it's happening. What are the odds, for
example, that Michael Douglas could overhear Demi Moore's evil
schemes by eavesdropping outside an exercise room, where Moore
climbs a Stairmaster while helpfully, and loudly, divulging her
secrets to a henchman? And what about the plot's answering
machine gimmick - a textbook deus ex machina? Without these
contrivances, there would be no way for Douglas to defend himself,
or for the plot to advance. The anonymous e-mail messages from "A
Friend" are not very helpful, and (as it turns out) could easily be
tracked.
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Late in the film, some sort of labyrinthine scheme involving the

Sutherland character is hinted at, without ever becoming clear; it's a
distraction, because there are references to things that are not
explained.
"Disclosure" loves its high-tech look. The corporation occupies
offices where every wall is made of glass, and lives are lived in
public. There's a lot of computer stuff in the movie, which makes us
feel clever, unless we know anything about computers, in which
case, it makes the movie feel dumb. (How likely is it, database fans,
that a corporation would trust all of its records to a prototype of new
software?) There's a neat scene where Douglas dons the virtual
reality headpiece and goes hunting through the files, while his
enemies materialize in the cyberspace behind him. Looks great. But
techheads will be rolling in the aisles.
As the movie started, I expected a sexy docudrama about sexual
harassment. What I got was more of a thriller and whodunit, in
which the harassment theme gets misplaced. Too bad, since the
best scenes involve the attorneys for Moore and Douglas, and
especially the scenes where Douglas' attorney sets out in chilling
detail what a lawsuit is likely to do to his life. There's also an
intriguing subplot involving Douglas' relationship with his wife
(Caroline Goodall).
Much could have been made of this material. Much has been made
of it. But not the same much.
Source: http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?
AID=/19941209/REVIEWS/412090301/1023 taken on Aug. 08 2009

Memorable quotes for Disclosure

Meredith Johnson: You stick your dick in my mouth and NOW you get
an attack of morality?
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________________________________________
Catherine Alvarez: [to Tom] Sexual harassment is not about sex. It is
about power. She has it; you don't.
________________________________________
Tom Sanders: You wanna get fucked? Huh? Is that what you want?
________________________________________
[Meridith passionately kisses Tom]
Meredith Johnson: There... Now that wasn't so bad, wasn't it?
________________________________________
Bob Garvin: The Chinese say, "May you live in interesting times."
Well this has been the most interesting merger since my second
marriage.
________________________________________
Tom Sanders: Sexual harrassment is about power. When did I have
the power? When?
________________________________________
Meredith Johnson: Let's get down to business.
________________________________________
Bob Garvin: This is America, goddammit. The legal system is
supposed to protect people like me!
________________________________________
Philip Blackburn: It gets worse. His lawyer is Catherine Alvarez.
Bob Garvin: Oh, great. She'd change her name to "TV Listings" just
to get it in the paper.
________________________________________
Susan Hendler: Oh Tom, you are the one person I know who sucks
up to the people below you.
________________________________________
Susan Hendler: Did you have sex with her?
Tom Sanders: No! No! No!
Susan Hendler: How did her hand get into your pants?
________________________________________
Susan Hendler: An "old girlfriend"... that's about as exclusive as the
White Pages!
________________________________________
Susan Hendler: Of course everyone knows! I'm so old fashioned, I
greet my employees with a handshake!
________________________________________
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Susan Hendler: Ms. Alvarez, forty-eight hours ago my husband's

penis was in another woman's mouth. I don't think there's anything
in the law that can help me with that.
________________________________________
Tom Sanders: Why don't I just admit it? Admit that I'm that evil white
guy everyone is always complaining about? Hey Chau-Minh, come
down here so I can execise my patriarchal urge!
________________________________________
Tom Sanders: I did NOT have sex with her!
Susan Hendler: Oh, then what was it Tom? She was trying to quit
smoking?
________________________________________
Meredith Johnson: Now you got the power. You got something I want.
________________________________________
Meredith Johnson: Put it in.
Tom Sanders: [Looking at a mirror] Oh God, I can't do this.
Meredith Johnson: Come on. I want you inside me.
Tom Sanders: Oh no no no. I can't do this. I'm not gonna do this.
Meredith Johnson: Now, Now!
Tom Sanders: No. No. NO! NO!
Meredith Johnson: You can't stop. You just can't stop!
________________________________________
Meredith Johnson: Remember all the things we did?
Tom Sanders: Yeah, I remember.
Meredith Johnson: Things nobody knows about you and me.
[kisses passionately]
Meredith Johnson: All... our secrets.
________________________________________
Meredith Johnson: [about Susan] I guess it can be a bit inhibitating
Tom Sanders: What's that?
Meredith Johnson: Domesticity
Tom Sanders: Oh, you'd be surprised
Meredith Johnson: Oh, I don't imagine you can jump her from behind
just because all of sudden you get excited just by the way you she
bends over to just to pick up the soap
Meredith Johnson: [looks romantically in his eyes] You remember
that... don't you?
Tom Sanders: Yeah, I remember that
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Meredith Johnson: And you miss it, don't you?

Tom Sanders: I have my compensations
Meredith Johnson: Oh course... that's life. A series of trade-offs.
________________________________________
Meredith Johnson: [turning mad as Tom leaves] Oh, you son-of-abitch. You get back in here and finish what you started. Do you hear
me? Do you hear me?
[Tom ignores her as heads down the stairs]
Meredith Johnson: You get back in here and finish what you started
or you're fuckin' dead. You are FUCKIN' DEAD!
________________________________________
Catherine Alvarez: If you sue, you'll never get another job in the
computer business; if you don't sue they'll bury you in Austin. If you
sue it's news; if you don't it's gossip. If you sue nobody will believe
you; if you don't, your wife won't. They will make your life into a
living hell for the next three years until this case goes to trial. And
for that privilege, it's going to cost you a minimum of a hundred
thousand dollars. Do you not think it's a game Mr. Sanders? It's a
game to them. How do you feel about losing?
Source: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0304415/quotes taken on Aug.
08 2009