Ever thought about having an affair? Thought that it might add a little extra excitement to your life? That if you were really, really careful no one would ever find out or get hurt? You have? Well, if Adrian Lyne's latest exploration of infidelity and betrayal is anything to go by, you'd be well advised to think again.
As with his earlier film Fatal Attraction (1987), Lyne once again explores the very concept of fidelity and perhaps even goes so far as to suggest that in the post-Clinton times even good people choose to betray their loved ones. And, as if to press the point, this time Lyne makes sure that it is not a disaffected, devious, under appreciated husband who does the cheating, but a kind, loving and respected wife and mother.
Taking the same basic premise as a run of the mill romance novel, Lyne's highly eroticised thriller follows the trials and tribulations of beautiful housewife Connie Sumner (Diane Lane) as she embarks on a torrid affair with Paul (Oliver Martinez), a handsome young book dealer. At first all goes well for the aging adulteress, and her mundane life of charity auctions, keeping house and school plays is made somewhat more colourful by illicit shenanigans in taboo locations such as cinemas, apartment hallways and restaurant toilets. Soon, however, reality begins to rear its ugly head and slowly Connie's new world begins to crumble around her as she struggles to conceal her affair from her family and friends.
Unsurprisingly, her devoted husband Edward (Richard Gere) starts to pick up on Connie's much changed behaviour and, deciding to hire a private detective, soon uncovers the truth. Meanwhile, as Connie's wrongdoing begins to eat away at her conscience she decides to put an end to the affair herself. But as Lyne was all to happy to demonstrate in Fatal Attraction, affairs such as these rarely end amicably, and with Edward on to the affair and Connie unsure of how to end her relationship with Paul, life for all three is just beginning to get disastrously complicated and for one of them death may be the only way out.
The film gets off to a fine start and initially seems extremely well paced, successfully allowing the audience to share in Connie and Edwards' rhythmic day-to-day existence and family dynamic before carefully tearing it apart. However, as Fatal Attraction illustrated, Lyne does enjoy focusing on the darker consequences of infidelity and in doing so he has a tendency to push his films to the very edges of believability. And although there is no Glen Close-esque psychopath as such, there are a number of aspects to the narrative that do ask the audience to suspend their disbelief just a reel or two too far, subsequently destroying the very realism Lyne seems so eager to replicate.
Unfaithful is relatively well shot, scored and lit and the acting is of a standard you would expect from such a strong cast. Both the ever-dependable Gere and newcomer Martinez do well with what they are given and work especially well together in a scene in which the betrayed husband confronts the guilty lover, but it is rising star Lane who steals the show. No only does she ooze sex appeal, but her uncanny ability to simultaneously project excitement, guilt and self-disgust is worthy of much praise and probably a minor award or two.
Despite the fact that Unfaithful is overly contrived at times, with a plot as thin as any airport paperback, it is a reasonably well put together movie with a healthy enough mix of sex, drama and thriller to satisfy the less demanding of cinema goer.
Reviewed by Simon Jones
Reader comments about Unfaithful
ANNETTE RUPERTO (t_rupert@msn.com) writes:
I thought it was very well done, the acting, each character, very sexy but sad at the same time...
my husband and I enjoyed the movie very much and the scenes and music....
And about the lover, that actor Olivier Martinez is simply sublime and beautiful
everyone looked fantastic!!
Well done!!
Anita (Email address withheld) writes:
If I ever get to meet Oliver Martinez.... maircee'. The movie was great. How envious I was of Diane Lane. Everyone looked and acted their part wonderfully. You felt as though you could relate to each of them. I especially thought Oliver Martinez was wonderful. I go on the internet and find out we have the same birthday, he and I. Good movie.
melinda (Email address withheld) writes:
Did anyone else find this film deeply disturbing? It took me almost a week to get over the impact of this film. I carried around a feeling of guilt because I readily excepted Connie's behaviour, I understood it! I hate knowing that I would act the same in those circumstances but atleast I know now that if I did I could never live with the guilt as it upset me so much even feeling it from a film. It just goes to show how brilliant Diane Lane's acting is in this film. She was so convincing that I felt her characters fear, guilt and powerlessness to desire intensly. She truely deserves the Oscar for this role.
Nadine (Email address withheld) writes:
I absolutely find myself coming back to the film for glimses into a very real and natural look at the lives of the Sumners. I think Gere is brilliant in this role (another of which he hasn't received respect for) but Lane is brilliant and I think she was robbed of a well deserved Oscar.
Babs (Email address withheld) writes:
Was I and everyone else in the cinema I was in watching a different film?
THIS WAS TERRIBLE!!
The worst film I've ever seen and I can honestly say that the appalling acting and horribly contrived storyline which just got worse throughout - got the whole cinema groaning out loud and then we all just ended up laughing at it. I've never seen so many people walk out of a movie. Awful. Simply awful.
Jay Aay (Naughtylicious3@aol.com) writes:
WEll, this movie left me breathless. It was incredible how Oliver Martinez had so much power over Diane. I believe I'll feel the same if it was me. Come on a guy like Oliver Martinez with the greates passion, Sex. And the thing is, that things like this do happen in the real world. It is also incredible how they can take a real life situation, make it in to a movie and make it so breath taking. Unfaithful is so unforgettable that it is left in my memory, forever.
pamela (goodangelmrt@hotmail.com) writes:
that's a film.i really enjoy it and after i even buy the dvd and i still watch it.
sincerely i dream to live at least once what dianne lane has known with that young and sexy man.wow......
thanks lyne
leighanne (lleea7@aol.com) writes:
I loved this movie.I thought the acting was truly magnificant.It's one of the best movies i've seen in a long time.It's one of those movies where you leave thinking about it the next day.
emma (Email address withheld) writes:
Way over-rated.First off Olivier though he has a rough edge is hardly an idealisitc 20 sometihng eyar old He is almost 40 and it shows.he is also so tiny (short) he looked ridiculous next to gere.The movie was just too unbeleivable..redeemed only by the excellence of Diannne Lane but so far in his venture into American movie land Olivier seems to have killed his art in the name of the dollar..maybe his affection for the brain dead Kylie is responsible after all how could he go from Binoche IQ to a pop chipmunk.I hope thye offer him better roles as he has a darkness that could be profound But tihs and now SWAT is bad news. But big bucks no doubt.His French movies are so good..why oh why do they get lured by Hollywood an crap parts..yah yeah money aside...
Carmen (Email address withheld) writes:
Well I am glad that I've not lost the plot, I have done nothing but think of Oliver Martinez and wishing I was the leading lady. I have been married for 15 years and never thought of anyone like this. Fantastic film and the acting is incredible.
Wendy (Email address withheld) writes:
Brilliant film one to watch over and over and over again. I cant beleive what an impact Olivier Martinez has made on me, I watched it for Richard Gere but cant stop thinking of Olivier, well we can all dream...
kate (katie_sturmey2@yahoo.com) writes:
well i thought this film was great, Diane was wonderful, Richard proved to yet depict another role and Oliver Martinez, wow what can i say i loved his character what i would, and indeed anyone else wouldn't do to play connie............. absolutely great unforgettable film
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