A Kiss Before Dying is a 1991 American romantic thriller film directed by James Dearden, and based on Ira Levin's 1953 novel of the same name, which won the 1954 Edgar Award for Best First Novel. The drama features Matt Dillon, Sean Young, Max von Sydow, and Diane Ladd. The story had been previously adapted under the same name in 1956. Plot A copper refinery owned by Thor Carlsson ships metal on Carlsson Copper trains, watched by a young boy from his home beside the tracks. Decades later in 1987, during a class at the University of Pennsylvania, Dorothy Carlsson absent-mindedly doodles her wedding. Later, changing into a formal outfit, she runs into her friend Patricia Farren, but denies she is meeting her "mystery man". Dorothy meets Jonathan Corliss at City Hall. Finding the marriage license bureau closed for lunch, they discuss how Dorothy's father would disown her if he knew what she was doing. Convincing Dorothy to wait on the building's roof, they are seated together on the parapet. At first, Dorothy is hesitant, but Jonathan insists they sit there. Saying "I'm sorry, Dorothy. You have only yourself to blame," Jonathan suddenly pushes her over the edge, taking the expensive cigarette lighter that she had left behind. Her body crashes through the glass skylight, and falls to the marble floor below. Returning downstairs, and after mailing a letter in the lobby, he calmly walks past Dorothy's shattered body as a crowd gathers. Thor and his daughter Ellen, Dorothy's twin, are shocked to learn Dorothy was pregnant and read what appears to be her suicide note, mailed the day she died. Ellen cannot believe her sister would kill herself. Jonathan returns to his working-class home in Pittsburgh with clippings about the Carlsson family, particularly the suicides of Thor's wife and son. Promising his mother to make something of his life, Jonathan hitchhikes to New York, accepting a ride from Jay Faraday, a bohemian drifter whose parents died on Korean Air Lines Flight 007. Four months later, Ellen is working at Castle House, a shelter and outreach program. Investigating Dorothy's death, Ellen meets Detective Dan Corelli in Philadelphia. Showing him the drawing Dorothy made of her wedding, dated the day of her death, and noting she died outside the marriage license bureau, Ellen suggests Dorothy was lured with the promise of marriage and killed by a boyfriend, but Corelli dismisses her