Others have already made all the comments I would like to make. I don't know much about psychology and psychiatry, but Ryan's character didn't strike me as psychopathic or completely beyond control - just very sad. He may get angry with Helen, and she's obviously very frightened by him, but he never threatens her with violence.
The ending was a bit of an anticlimax, and I remain just a little uncertain whether Howard had killed the woman in the opening sequence. A lesser film might have had the cops bursting into the house and saving Helen at the last moment, and then telling her that "we've been looking for this guy about a murder over in wherever".
I could sympathise with Helen for her ordeal, but it was Howard that I felt sorry for, which is a tribute to Ryan's acting against type.
The ending was a bit of an anticlimax, and I remain just a little uncertain whether Howard had killed the woman in the opening sequence. A lesser film might have had the cops bursting into the house and saving Helen at the last moment, and then telling her that "we've been looking for this guy about a murder over in wherever".
I could sympathise with Helen for her ordeal, but it was Howard that I felt sorry for, which is a tribute to Ryan's acting against type.