Lena Mathers Reardon (Dream Lover)

Lena Mathers Reardon aka Thelma Sneeder (Mädchen Amick) was the villainess of the 1993 film Dream Lover.

Introduction[]

Lena was introduced encountering architect Ray Reardon (the film's main protagonist) at an art gallery opening, with Ray accidentally bumping into Lena and causing her to spill wine on her dress. Lena responded by viciously lambasting Ray before storming out, but a week later, Ray encountered Lena for a second time at a grocery store. Upon recognizing Ray, Lena expressed embarrassment regarding her outburst and apologized.

After making introductions, Ray followed Lena to the checkout line and asked her out on a date, with the pair deciding to go to a sushi restaurant together. Over dinner, Lena revealed she used to work at a company in New York as VP of sales, only to end up fired and blackballed after she resisted her boss's sexual advances. Ray and Lena's relationship hit a snag after Ray saw Lena kiss another man goodbye outside her apartment, with Ray mentioning this to Lena after going up to her apartment. In response, Lena reveals that the man was just a friend and was actually gay, while also confessing that she had developed strong romantic feelings for Ray.

Ray reciprocated Lena's affections and the two engaged in a passionate tryst, with Lena later opening up to Ray about her parents, stating that her mother was physically abusive and that her father often watched as her mother beat her. Ray and Lena's whirlwind relationship eventually led to them getting married, with Lena later giving birth to a daughter they named Tina.

Events[]

Two years later, however, Ray found himself plagued with suspicions regarding Lena, witnessing her being mistaken for a woman named Missy from Piru, Texas while they were out dining (with Lena stating that it was the second occasion of that happening) and learning from work colleague Celine Rogers that she didn't remember Lena attending college at Swarthmore, despite Lena saying she was there the same year Celine was. In response to Ray bringing it up to her, Lena claimed she didn't remember Celine during college, but struck more suspicion in Ray when she identified Sam Shaw as a classmate; in actuality, he was the dean of Swarthmore who died of a heart attack while speaking to his students.

With his suspicions raised, Ray went to Piru to see if anyone recognized Lena, with a man named Buddy revealing that Lena's real name was Thelma Sneeder and that she had a habit for seducing wealthy men, as well as that she'd previously seduced him and did things to him that he couldn't repeat. After meeting the Sneeders, Ray brought the couple back to his and Lena's home, with Lena happily greeting her parents and revealing to Ray later that she had told them Ray worked with the CIA to keep them from visiting.

While Lena also claimed her parents were abusive in their own right, she would later confess after her parents' visit (which had Ray see the Sneeders were loving parents to Lena) that she cut them out of her life and changed her name to Lena Mathers to avoid living in poverty and marrying Buddy. When Ray confronted Lena for lying to him and stated that her secrets made him change how he saw her, Lena countered the claim by arguing the revelation was making Ray question his own identity. That night, however, Lena apologized to Ray for lying to him and revealed she wanted to begin sending her parents money on a monthly basis to help them out. As a result, Ray and Lena reconciled and later gave birth to an unnamed son.

Reveal[]

Some time later, however, Ray's suspicions about Lena were reignited, with his accusations being met with scornful denial from Lena. Ray later met a temp worker at his office who he recognized from his wedding, only for this to lead to a revelation: Lena had hired the woman to pose as her friend for the wedding, with Ray meeting Lena in the park to confront her on her deception. At that, Lena confessed that her meeting Ray was not coincidental: she had met him five years prior at a party in New York, becoming interested in him and deciding to pursue him romantically after learning of his divorce from his wife Martha, using Ray's friends to learn how to best attract him.

While Ray was initially convinced by both Lena and Norman to forgive Lena, his suspicions appeared realized when he received a bill that showed Lena had been frequently using her Visa card at a hotel. After returning home and sending their children off with their housekeeper, Ray confronted Lena about his suspicions about her infidelity, which were increased after he found her diaphragm missing as well as her Visa bill. Cornered, Lena unabashedly confessing to cheating on Ray throughout their entire marriage, bragging that her lover was someone he knew well and was much better at him in bed and callously insinuating their children weren't biologically his. Ray angrily punched Lena before storming out, coming to believe later that Norman was his wife's illicit lover.

While Ray was gone, however, Lena ransacked their home and bruised her own face before calling her psychiatrist and the police, framing Ray as a domestic abuser and resulting in him being temporarily placed in a mental hospital. During a hearing to determine Ray's mental status, the evil Lena manipulates the judge into believing Ray to be a delusional and abusive husband, having a woman named Debby Tribbium lie for her on the stand, while also claiming the hotel charges in her name were caused by someone stealing her Visa card after she lost it.

Death[]

After coming to believe that his friend Larry was Lena's true lover and that the pair were scheming to steal his money, Ray began to avoid taking his drugs and enlisted Larry's wife Elaine and fellow hospital patient Billy in a plot to stop his villainous wife. After having Elaine call Lena and claim he said she'd made a mistake, Lena came to visit Ray, during which time Billy distracted Oscar (the guard keeping watch on Ray and Lena). After congratulating Lena on her successful plan and revealing he was lucid, Lena went on to reveal the full extent of her plan, confessing she intended to pull her mind games with Larry and that she would either take the children to New Zealand with her or leave them behind.

Ray went on to "thank" Lena (much to her perplexion) for her scheme making him alive for the first time and promised to tell her the flaw in her plan in exchange for a kiss. After forcefully kissing Lena, Ray proclaimed that the flaw was that he couldn't be considered responsible for his actions due to being deemed insane, responding to Lena's boast that he didn't have the guts to kill her by strangling his evil wife to death, proclaiming as he did that he would be released from the hospital once he was declared sane.