Sleeping with the Enemy

Sleeping with the Enemy is a 1991 psychological thriller film directed by Joseph Ruben and starring Julia Roberts and Patrick Bergin. The film is based on Nancy Prices 1987 novel of the same name. The novel Sleeping with the Enemy published in 1987 had the same story line as that of 1980 Malayalam movie Manjil Virinja Pookkal. Roberts plays a woman who escapes from her abusive husband who is obsessed with organizing his cupboards and hand towels, from Cape Cod to Cedar Falls, Iowa, where she captures the attention of a kindly college drama teacher.

Laura moves to Cedar Falls, Iowa. In preparation, she has told Martin that her mother, Chloe Williams Elizabeth Lawrence, died, and pretended to attend the funeral, but secretly she had moved her to a nursing home in Iowa. She rents a modest house and adopts the name Sara Waters. In Cedar Falls, she meets Ben Woodward Kevin Anderson, who teaches drama at University of Northern Iowa. A relationship develops, but suffers a setback when Ben discovers that her real name is not Sara. After a date, Laura is unable to be physically intimate with Ben, and the next day, she confesses that she is on the run from an abusive husband.Meanwhile, Martin receives a chance phone call from a friend of Lauras from the YWCA and learns of Lauras swimming lessons. His suspicions aroused, Martin heads home and finds Lauras wedding ring in the toilet bowl where it failed to flush. From the Cape Cod nursing home, he learns that Lauras mother is alive, and has her traced to the nursing home in Iowa. He visits Lauras mother and tells her he is a police officer needing information about Laura. He learns from her that Laura is seeing a college drama teacher in Cedar Falls. ........

Source: Wikipedia