By the 1990s when an increasing number of women were filling top jobs in the corporate world, a story about a woman sexually harassing a man became a plausible scenario and the topical and controversial nature of the subject resonated strongly enough with the public at that time to make "Disclosure" a great box office success.
Whilst the sexual harassment element of the story was shocking and attention grabbing, it soon became apparent that this was just part of a far larger and more pervasive issue i.e. the abuse of power. In the workplace, where social conventions, various legal constraints and political correctness all come into play, there is still no escape from the kind of management conspiracies, office politics and duplicity which are depicted so effectively in "Disclosure" or the kinds of distrust and paranoia that they can so easily generate.
Tom Sanders (Michael Douglas) heads one of the divisions of a Seattle computer company and is engaged in the development of a product which is vitally important to the success of a planned and very lucrative merger with another company. There are some problems with the product which Tom and his team are currently dealing with and are under considerable pressure to resolve.
As a result of some changes which are taking place within the company, Tom's confident that he'll be promoted but it soon transpires that he's been passed over and the job has been given to one of his ex-girlfriends, Meredith Johnson (Demi Moore). On her first day in the job, Meredith arranges a late meeting with Tom to discuss his division's work but during their meeting she aggressively tries to seduce him and is furious when, after a considerable struggle, she's unsuccessful.
Meredith responds to Tom's rejection by accusing him of sexual harassment and asserting that in the circumstances, there's no way that she'd be able to work with him again. The company want to avoid any publicity that could have an adverse impact on the upcoming merger and so try to get Tom to take a transfer to another job in their Austin branch. He can't countenance this idea because of the negative effect it would have on his career and is in a very tight spot. Help unexpectedly arrives in the form of an anonymous e-mail which recommends that he consult an attorney called Catherine Alvarez (Roma Maffia) who's a specialist in sexual harassment cases.
Tom decides to fight back and files a counter-suit. The process he has to go through to achieve justice is difficult and painful but irrefutable proof of his innocence is produced and the company agrees to retain him and give him a pay rise.
The relief that Tom feels after being cleared of the charges against him is short lived as it quickly becomes apparent that efforts which were originally initiated by Meredith to make him look incompetent have now drawn wider support and he's being set up to be publicly humiliated and undermined at a high profile shareholders' meeting. The way in which Tom copes with this threat then provides the story with its intriguing conclusion.
The events in "Disclosure" all take place within the space of one intense week in which Tom's normally affluent and comfortable lifestyle is disrupted as his disappointment at being passed over for promotion turns into discomfort when he discovers the identity of his new boss and then horror as he's threatened with the loss of his job, his wife, his family and his stock options.
The false accusation made against him, the plots to make him look incompetent and a workplace where no one can be trusted, create a climate of paranoia which is reinforced when some of his previous innocent actions are characterised as something more sinister and the support of his colleagues is systematically eroded by those high up in the company structure.
Michael Douglas gives a good solid performance as the beleaguered Tom and Demi Moore is marvellous as the cold and cruel villain of the piece. Donald Sutherland and Roma Maffia also stand out in their supporting roles.
Whilst the sexual harassment element of the story was shocking and attention grabbing, it soon became apparent that this was just part of a far larger and more pervasive issue i.e. the abuse of power. In the workplace, where social conventions, various legal constraints and political correctness all come into play, there is still no escape from the kind of management conspiracies, office politics and duplicity which are depicted so effectively in "Disclosure" or the kinds of distrust and paranoia that they can so easily generate.
Tom Sanders (Michael Douglas) heads one of the divisions of a Seattle computer company and is engaged in the development of a product which is vitally important to the success of a planned and very lucrative merger with another company. There are some problems with the product which Tom and his team are currently dealing with and are under considerable pressure to resolve.
As a result of some changes which are taking place within the company, Tom's confident that he'll be promoted but it soon transpires that he's been passed over and the job has been given to one of his ex-girlfriends, Meredith Johnson (Demi Moore). On her first day in the job, Meredith arranges a late meeting with Tom to discuss his division's work but during their meeting she aggressively tries to seduce him and is furious when, after a considerable struggle, she's unsuccessful.
Meredith responds to Tom's rejection by accusing him of sexual harassment and asserting that in the circumstances, there's no way that she'd be able to work with him again. The company want to avoid any publicity that could have an adverse impact on the upcoming merger and so try to get Tom to take a transfer to another job in their Austin branch. He can't countenance this idea because of the negative effect it would have on his career and is in a very tight spot. Help unexpectedly arrives in the form of an anonymous e-mail which recommends that he consult an attorney called Catherine Alvarez (Roma Maffia) who's a specialist in sexual harassment cases.
Tom decides to fight back and files a counter-suit. The process he has to go through to achieve justice is difficult and painful but irrefutable proof of his innocence is produced and the company agrees to retain him and give him a pay rise.
The relief that Tom feels after being cleared of the charges against him is short lived as it quickly becomes apparent that efforts which were originally initiated by Meredith to make him look incompetent have now drawn wider support and he's being set up to be publicly humiliated and undermined at a high profile shareholders' meeting. The way in which Tom copes with this threat then provides the story with its intriguing conclusion.
The events in "Disclosure" all take place within the space of one intense week in which Tom's normally affluent and comfortable lifestyle is disrupted as his disappointment at being passed over for promotion turns into discomfort when he discovers the identity of his new boss and then horror as he's threatened with the loss of his job, his wife, his family and his stock options.
The false accusation made against him, the plots to make him look incompetent and a workplace where no one can be trusted, create a climate of paranoia which is reinforced when some of his previous innocent actions are characterised as something more sinister and the support of his colleagues is systematically eroded by those high up in the company structure.
Michael Douglas gives a good solid performance as the beleaguered Tom and Demi Moore is marvellous as the cold and cruel villain of the piece. Donald Sutherland and Roma Maffia also stand out in their supporting roles.