Klute at 50: a thriller less interested in a killer and more in character

Jane Fonda gives a commanding performance in a film that avoids cliche and embraces a more nuanced view of sex work

There's a version of Klute that sounds exactly like one of the generic sexy thrillers that popped up on video in the wake of Basic Instinct in the late 1990s. A high-priced call girl stalked by a killer. A private investigator drawn helplessly into her web. A whodunnit plot that ends with a violent climactic reveal. Shannon Tweed probably starred in that movie, and the unrated" version would have flown off the shelves at suburban video stores.

Related: Jane Fonda: I'm very rarely afraid. Maybe emotional intimacy scares me'