The 1991 psychological thriller Sleeping With The Enemy was memorable for many reasons, two of the biggest being the contrasting homes in which the heroine finds herself.
The film stars Julia Roberts, Patrick Bergin, and Kevin Anderson and is based on Nancy Price’s 1987 novel Sleeping With The Enemy. Roberts plays a woman who fakes her own death to escape from her abusive, controlling husband (and his cold, sterile ocean-side mansion) and moves to Cedar Falls, Iowa to start a new life in a sweet little cottage.
In her new small Iowa town – which in reality was Abbeville, South Carolina – Julia’s character moves into a charming Victorian house on a picturesque tree-lined street.
It is the epitome of safety and serenity.
Of course, it’s not all sunshine and violets when the main character’s sinister ex-husband tracks her down, but no spoilers here! (Other than to say, it all ends well after some high drama).
Located at 404 Magazine Street in Abbeville, you can see how the exterior of this 1905 southern belle caught the eye of the filming location scouts.
But alas, as with many of our favorite movie houses, the interior scenes were shot on a sound stage, and not in this actual house.
When you see the interior photos from the last time it was listed for sale in 2020, you can see why the inside of the actual house was not used in the film.
It’s not terrible, just terribly dated in that drab ‘grandma-still-lives-here’ way.
The real-life house interior does not at all resemble the layout of the interior of the movie house. Most notably absent is the ornate staircase in the front hall. No such staircase is present in the listing photos of the large front foyer, or anywhere in the house for that matter.
All the drapes are drawn in the listing photos… presumably to keep the southern heat out (not the prying eyes of a crazy stalker ex-husband!).
A few things that this house has going for it: high ceilings, original hardwood flooring, crown molding, French doors, and fireplaces with ornate surrounds.
Now if we could just address the the decor and open up those windows!
The dining room is spacious and leads into the kitchen at the back of the house.
If House Crazy Sarah were touring this house, she might pop open a cabinet or two in the kitchen to disorder some cans (if you saw the movie, you’ll know!)
The real-life primary bedroom is a good size but is a bit stuffy and priddish – please open up those drapes!
It’s a far cry from Julia’s pretty pink bedroom on screen.
The home is situated on almost half an acre. The exterior has a deck out back and a garage and outbuildings.
The home is a little worse for wear these days but it would take just a little elbow grease and some design changes to make this southern belle the cozy, glowing home we saw on the big screen.
It would be a fun project for a movie house enthusiast!
Sources:
https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/404-Magazine-St-Abbeville-SC-29620/126861672_zpid/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sleeping_with_the_Enemy
https://www.oldhousedreams.com/2016/09/16/1905-victorian-abbeville-sc-sleeping-with-the-enemy/
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Hi. Thank you for this post. I’m from Serbia, I love this house. I have watched this movie Sleeping With The Enemy many times. I’ve been looking for a long time on the Internet for a traditional old US house that would be to my taste, and it seems to me that it could be this one. I was making a plan for my model for this house and I made many mistakes in the measurements until I finalized it. What I also noticed is that the interior of the house from the movie does not match the interior of the real house. I found on the internet that this house was built in 1905 and has only one floor. I’m sorry that there is no plan or Blueprint on the Internet.