Victim of Love, or Raw Heat as you might know it is a 1991 erotic(ish) thriller film, or maybe a 2003 film? Originally it was made for TV for CBS but apparently it had its sexier scenes expanded in 2003  and released by LionsGate / Artisan as Raw Heat.

Either way, it’s a love triangle kind of film. Tess Parker (JoBeth Williams) is a therapist who meets a new man, Paul Tomlinson (Pierce Brosnan) on a night out. He charms Tess and she has a hard time not thinking about him.

One of Tess’s patients, Carla Simmons (Virginia) comes to a therapy session where she starts telling Tess about a man who used to be in her life, but now isn’t. It doesn’t take long for Tess to realise that Carla is telling her about Paul.
Because, of course.

Carla tells Tess about how she was having an affair with Paul when his wife died. Paul, feeling bad about his wife’s death, didn’t want to continue with Carla and told her he needed some time out. But Carla finds out Paul has moved on with someone else.

Tess confronts Paul about it, he admits to knowing her but denies any romantic involvement. Just as they hug and make up, Carla see’s them and starts to shout at Tess before storming off.
Tess tries to make it up with Carla and goes to her apartment to set things right. When she gets there Carla has up and left but left behind a letter written to her by Paul.

Tess goes to confront Paul, and – Yeah – He denies, she believes, more evidence from Carla who claims that Paul’s wife’s death wasn’t an accident, Paul deflects and so on.

I would say it’s not a complicated film, but it’s not without its twists and turns – The overall premise isn’t hard to grasp though.

I’m going to hold my hands up and say I enjoy this film for what it is. I didn’t actually remember it that well when I sat down with it again. It’s by the numbers plot wise but the story keeps you watching till the end.
Virginia is excellent in this movie, I always think the films from this time give her the most to do, I wouldn’t like to say it was the peak of her career but she was certainly getting cast in a lot of various types of roles and at her best when you think about all the different roles she was pulling off at the time.

As for Raw Heat being an expanded version of Victim of Love, I can find no evidence of that, I have “Victim of Love” and “Raw Heat”, both have the same running time. Victim of Love DVD says that it’s from 1991 and Raw Heat from 2002, that much at least is true.

Availability:
Not hard to find on DVD under both titles.

Gallery:

Trailer: