Disclosure (1994)

Disclosure is a 1994 American erotic thriller film directed by Barry Levinson, starring Michael Douglas and Demi Moore. It is based on Michael Crichton's novel of the same name.^[2] The cast also includes Donald Sutherland, Rosemary Forsyth and Dennis Miller. The film is a combination thriller and slight mystery in an office setting within the computer industry in the mid-1990s. The main focus of the story, from which the film and book take their titles, is the issue of sexual harassment and its power structure. The film received mixed reviews from critics but was a box office success grossing $214 million against its $50 million budget.

Bob Garvin, a technology company founder, plans to retire when his company, Digicom, merges with a larger company. Production line manager Tom Sanders expects to be promoted to run the CD-ROM division. Instead, Meredith Johnson, a former girlfriend of Tom's, is promoted to the post. Meredith calls Tom into her office to discuss some operations, then sexually forces herself onto him. He initially reciprocates, then rebuffs her. Meredith, angry, screams a threat for spurning her.

The next day, Meredith has filed a sexual harassment complaint against Tom with legal counsel Philip Blackburn. To save the merger from a scandal, DigiCom officials demand that Tom accept reassignment to another location. Otherwise, he will lose his stock options in the new company. His career will be ruined, however, as the other location is scheduled for sale after the merger, leaving Tom jobless. Tom receives an anonymous e-mail from "A Friend" that directs him to Seattle attorney Catherine Alvarez, who specializes in sexual harassment cases. Tom decides to sue DigiCom, alleging that it was Meredith who harassed him. The initial mediation goes badly for Tom as a tearful Meredith blames him.

Garvin proposes that if Tom drops the matter, he will not have to transfer, causing Tom to suspect that Meredith's accusations are vulnerable. Tom remembers mis-dialing a number on his cell phone during the encounter with Meredith but not hanging up. This inadvertently left a recording of the incident on a colleague's voicemail. Tom plays the recording at the next meeting and discredits Meredith. DigiCom agrees to a settlement calling for Meredith to quietly be eased out following the merger.

As Tom celebrates his apparent victory, he receives another e-mail from "A Friend" warning that all is not what it seems. Tom overhears Meredith telling Philip that even though the harassment accusation attempt failed, they will make Tom look incompetent at the next morning's merger conference. If the problems with the CD-ROMs are shown as coming from the production line, which is under Tom's responsibility, he can be fired for cause.

Tom attempts to look for clues in the company database, but his access privileges have been revoked. He remembers that the merging company's executives have a virtual reality demonstration machine that has access to company databases. As he gets into DigiCom's files, he sees Meredith is deleting them. Tom receives a call from a Malaysian colleague who is able to fax Tom copies of incriminating memos and videos. They show that Meredith and the head of operations in Malaysia agreed to change the production specifications that Tom had laid down, without his knowledge, to gain favor with the Malaysian government. The production changes had caused the problems afflicting the CD-ROMs that now threatened to destroy Tom's career.

When Tom makes his presentation at the conference, Meredith brings up the production problems, but he is now able to publicly show the evidence exposing her direct involvement in causing defects with the hardware. Meredith's accusation that Tom is mounting a last-ditch effort of revenge on her fails and she is fired by Garvin, who subsequently announces that the merger has been completed and then names Stephanie Kaplan to head up the Seattle operation, a decision that Tom is pleased with, especially when she publicly highlights his contributions and says that she is relying on him to be her right hand man going forward.

Tom subsequently asks Stephanie's son, Spencer, if he knows "A Friend". Spencer says he is the research assistant of Professor Arthur Friend at the University of Washington. Tom realizes that Spencer had access to Friend's office computer, enabling Stephanie (via her son) to have previously warned him as "A Friend" when he was in trouble. A gratified Tom is happy to resume his position as the Head of Manufacturing.