Seduced by Madness: The Diane Borchardt Story

I was a sophomore in the Jefferson High School where this happened and even played on the tennis team for the school with Doug. I was also on the school's swim team with Chuck and had the opportunity to meet his dad many times and swim meets and at a swimming party one weekend. I was also in study hall which Mrs. B was an aide, and I remember she moved Josh to the front row that year to sit right next to her desk. She was always so nice to him. It is very sad to see what happened and everything is pretty much true, just like the user above commented on. I remember sitting in class on lock down when they came in to arrest her.

As Diana Borchardt, a sociopath and schoolteacher who tires of her husband and wants out; this is a very interesting study of what some people are capable of.

Peter Coyote is sympathetic as the victim, Ruben Borchardt; as she calls him "Rube the boob"; she is an emasculating, narcissistic woman, (not schizophrenic as a previous review intimates).

The fact that this was based on a true story makes this all the more relevant, here was a well-liked teacher, popular with the students, capable of unbelievable manipulation, malice and murder.

The murder of Ruben is carried out by several students, who believe Borchardt is being physically abused by her husband (She was not, but concocted this story to acquire life insurance benefits). Tobey McGuire in particular is rather sympathetic as Ruben Borchardt's young son.

Borchardt apparently even visited her in-laws for Easter, knowing that their son was just brutally murdered, to cover up her role in the homicide. The students were pawns, part of her intent to control.

Indeed, no one even benefited from Ruben's death. The house was tied up in debt, and Diana Borchardt never paid the students what she had promised. She thereby perpetuated the psychological theory that there are some sociopaths who subconsciously want to be apprehended for their crimes. 8/10.

I'm not usually one to watch many Lifetime movies. My wife frequents the channel, though and sometimes only through boredom in it's purest form, will I watch a Lifetime movie with her.

But I must say that I thouroughly enjoyed this movie. I'm not the sentimental type by any means, but even I could not hold back tears as Ruben is shot as he's coming up the basement steps, thinking the person coming down is his son (it's actually the killers), saying, "I thought I was gonna have to drag you out of bed at this time of night."

Diane got away with the crime for about six months, then one of the boys cracks and shoots his mouth off to the wrong person, who then out of guilt, feels compelled to go to the cops, who felt that Diane was involved from the get-go.

The funeral scene is the most disturbing scene to sit through. Where Diane put's on a grief show, crying over Ruben's corpse. Then she runs out of the chapel, and into the bathroom wipes the crocodile tears, and puts on lipstick and smiles, What a b!tch!

I remember reading this story in the newspaper back in 1994 when it happened.

I like the picture so much I had to record it.

Ann-Margaret really got a chance to strut her stuff as an actress in this riveting TV movie about a seductive temptress/schoolteacher who convinces three or her students to murder her husband by claiming he was abusive to her when actually she was the abusive one. Ann-Margaret completely loses herself in this complex and unsympathetic character whose true story is the stuff that movies of the week are made of and Ann-Margaret pulls it off beautifully and effortlessly makes Diane the woman you love to hate. Peter Coyote, an actor who has often been overshadowed by the actresses he has worked with, manages to hold his own as Diane's victimized husband, a devoted husband and father who is completely powerless over this madwoman whose universe he is unable to escape from in time. Writer Buck Henry told a similar story in less time and to greater effect in TO DIE FOR, a theatrical film which featured an amazing performance by Nicole Kidman, but Ann-Margret did Emmy worthy work as the twisted and terrible Diane Borchardt.

Ann-Margret deserves an academy award for her performance as a manic step-mother who is concerned only with her own needs and desires. Her mood swings from normalcy to manic anger, her manipulation of her teen-age accomplices, her horrible treatment of her husband, and her favoritism for her own daughter over her two step-children...all very realistic portrayals of a manic woman obsessed with having everything her way. It was hard to watch this movie during the scenes leading up to Ruben Borchardt's murder, but they were enlightening. This movie is a must see for anyone who has known a manic person like Diane Borchardt. The post-murder investigation by the two relentless detectives was heartening, all the way up to the convictions of those involved. The classic scene comes at the end when Diane Borchardt is being processed for prison: her only concern is that her husband had a chance to "repent" before he died.

Kudos to the writers and actors who made this movie so realistic!