Villainess Review: Fran Gibbons (A Dangerous Affair)

Lifetime's theme for the month of August is "Love, Lies, and Deception,", and the batch of films listed under that theme are quite appetizing. The list included this film, A Dangerous Affair (originally titled, Her Obsession), and it centers on Amélie Didot, a Pilates instructor whose encounter with one of her clients, journalist Pierce Dalton, leads to a budding romance. Pierce has gained attention from many women, one of them being another participant, Fran Gibbons, who gushed over Pierce during her conversation with Amélie.

Sure enough, Amélie and Pierce start dating, beginning with appearing at a masquerade party thrown by Pierce's close friend, Barbara Gershwin. The party ends on a dark note, as one of the guests, Brian Fletcher, is found dead, and prior to this, Amélie has an encounter with masked woman who appears to be a tad familiar. The relationship continues to improve, which pleases Pierce, as he had been in a past relationship with a woman who became insanely obsessed with him. Though Pierce didn't say who it was, Barbara did later in the film: the estranged ex was none other than Fran.

Fran appeared to be a bit bothered when Amélie mentioned her and Pierce's budding relationship, and after Barbara reveals Fran's true identity, that's when Fran's gloves come off and she goes into madwoman mode. She continues to appear to Amélie and act friendly, but once Amélie hears someone in her house, her suspicions increase. Pierce does confirm that Fran was the crazy ex, and we see her outside Pierce's home taunting her former flame after hacking to his security system. Later on, Amélie is attacked from behind during a date, and it's at that point that police get involved and they reveal Fran as being behind the attack...as well being Brian's killer, as Amélie remembered a lightning bolt earring on the masked woman who left the scene, the same one Fran had on.

The couple's vacation ended up being hampered by Fran, who appeared to Amélie and made a bit of a veiled threat in regards to Buster (Amélie's dog), which led to Amélie and Pierce returning home and seeing that Buster was unharmed, but Fran had vandalized the house. After Fran's murderous actions went public, the villainess decided to go after Pierce, but not before attacking Amélie's neighbor, Margaret, inside her home. Fran confessed to killing Brian and also blamed Pierce and Amélie for making her angry, and it was followed by Fran wielding a knife at her ex-boyfriend. After tricking a passerby into believing that Pierce was the aggressor, Fran went after Amélie, who she accused of stealing Pierce from her before beating her down and leaving her for dead on the beach. After Pierce arrived, Fran begged him not to save his girlfriend, while referring to herself as the actual victim. Pierce ignored Fran's deranged rants and saved Amélie, and afterwards, Fran ended up arrested, but continued ranting that her actions were done for Pierce.

A Dangerous Affair aired on Lifetime on August 6, 2022, and featured Karlee Eldridge as the film's main villainess, Fran Gibbons. The entire film was amazing, and one of the reasons why I enjoyed it was Eldridge's appearance and performance. Fran Gibbons was quite an unhinged villainess, and I did enjoy that the film didn't waste time revealing that Fran was insane and obsessed, because it allowed Eldridge to go all in and act out Fran's maniacal demeanor. This was a woman who truly felt that Pierce was hers and hers alone, and she was willing to resort to any and all twisted methods to get what she wanted. She was ruthless, sociopathic, and delusional; all dangerous traits in a Lifetime villainess. Overall, this was an amazing first villainous role for Eldridge, and I wouldn't mind seeing her do this villainess thing again.

Karlee Eldridge has done Lifetime films before; she played Bridgette in 2019's Fatal Getaway, and played Binky in 2021's Brutal Bridesmaids. Eldridge also appeared in episodes of The Vampire Diaries, Ballers, and Nashville.

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Check out Fran Gibbons' profile on Villainous Beauties Wiki!