A terrifying 80s movie with a paranoid man sequestered in a house

We're not having much luck with my 70s TV movie, so let's jump forward a decade to something I'm sure someone will remember!

I must have seen this on one of those movie channels on cable, Cinemax or something, in the 90s, and it MIGHT be European or Australian?

It was an 80s feature film (shot on film this time!) about a paranoid man in an old house under renovation.

He feels compelled to remain in it, but his estranged wife or girlfriend has had (almost) enough!

The movie is in color, and the half-repaired house the perfect setting to highlight the man's deteriorating psychological condition.

Very slow paced, the man is constantly overhearing his wife or GF, still present in (or frequently visiting) the house, but now avoiding him, as she talks to someone.

He can't make out what she's saying, but he is CERTAIN she means him no good!

Is he crazy? Is she there? Is she talking to a ghost, or a human accomplice?

I'll stop there, as any more info. will be a potential spoiler, but the ending is quite a shocking and tragic twist.

WHO has seen this terrifying tale??

Editing to add that I tried to edit the title to correct the decade, but it won't let me.

Give us the spoiler, or I'll tell you who Luke's father is, who escapes Casablanca with Ilsa, and what Rosebud is.

You're just limiting us in helping you.

I will if I must, but anyone who's seen it will remember the reveal, and I'm afraid someone who hasn't will have it spoiled for them if I share the ending!

This one WILL be solved, spoiler or no spoiler!

I agree that you have to tell us the spoiler. We all know that this place is filled with spoilers. If we were really worried about spoilers we wouldn't participate here. You can premise it by saying "**WARNING**SPOILER**WARNING**"

I'm going to hold off for now, but is there an actual hidey thing that obscures the info. unless clicked on?

The entire movie boils down to the twist, and anyone who's seen it will know it by my description.

Yes. Put the word spoilers in brackets.



I put an example down below, but with spaces between the brackets and the words.

[ SPOILERS ] the ending to your movie [ /SPOILERS]

I don't know the film, but I'll guess the twist. Did he die in the house and she's planning his funeral?

Wow! That's better than the actual thing!

Gave me a chill, or I may need to turn the A/C warmer!

Okay.

I'm adding the spoiler, but it really will ruin the movie for you, so destroy what would be a fun movie to stumble across at 2 in the morning at the risk of your own sorrow.

Might be European or Australian? Do you remember if it was in English and if so, is there uncertainty if it might have been dubbed? I get that it's been probably 30 years, so you might not remember the language at this point.

This sounds like a great movie. Have been searching for it but nothing yet.

It had a very non-US feel, and I see so many things with subtitles now that I can't remember if this had them or not!

Definitely not dubbed, and I THINK in English, or maybe some characters spoke English and some didn't?

Also, it may have been a large older Euro-style apartment being renovated rather than a house.

It doesn't match your timeframe, but the plot points are similar "El habitante incierto" (2004)
(her talking to her unborn fetus)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Un...est_(2004_film)

The first thing I thought of, as well, but I discounted it because of the release year.

I'm 99.999% sure this IS the movie, but I have NO idea how I would have seen it in the 90s!

Twilight Zone stuff!!!!

Editing to add an explanation. (Two mysteries solved.)

This IS the movie.

I knew it as soon as I saw the title.

And I did see it after 2004, obviously.

The reason I thought I had to have seen it in the 90s is that I knew I'd seen it on premium cable (no commercials interrrupting), and I went 20+ years without premium cable, including during the time I actually did see this flick.

So how did I see it on premium cable when I didn't have premium cable?

I had a weird communal antenna at the time I would have seen it which provided about a half dozen very basic cable channels, and occasionally offered a free week of Cinemax and other premium channels to get you to pay for premium service.

I saw it during one of those weeks, and mistakenly assumed I must have seen it years earlier when I had access to multiple premium channels!

Also, I remembered it as an 80s movie because it's totally a DePalma-syle 80s movie, but shot 20 years later, and not in the US, so with a cultural lag.