Unfaithful | | Cast : | Diane Lane, Richard Gere, Olivier Martinez | | Director : | Adrian Lyne | | Studio : | Fox Home Entertainme | | Format : | Color, Closed-captioned, Widescreen, Dolby | | Released Date : | May 10, 2002 | | DVD Released Date : | September 07, 2004 | | Language : | English (Dubbed), French (Dubbed), English (Subtitled), Spanish (Subtitled), Spanish (Dubbed), English (Original Language), French (Original Language), Spanish (Original Language) | | Audience Rating : | R (Restricted) | | | BUY THIS DVD FROM AMAZON |
Customer Reviews
| Rating |  | | Date | May 30, 2005 | | Summary | clues in small places... | Content
 | This film is not a perfect film but it has moments.
A seemingly happy marriage for over 10 years, a couple can communicate without words, such as in Connie and Edward's case. Why she had an affair was not explained in the film but it was probably because of the usual: bored with suburban soccer mom life, bored having sex with the same guy, bored with routine daily life. Sure she's pretty and "has everything", but she may still feel uninspired, rightly so or not.
When one spouse is having an affair, domestic life WILL BE different. Edward and the son both noticed small things that were jarring here and there until Edward couldn't ignore the bothering feeling any longer.
In the mean time, viewers see Connie went from soccer mom get-up to increasingly sexy and feminine "tryst" outfits to finally, after she decided to end the affair, back to soccer mom sweather and jeans...
This film can also serve as a cautionary tale: never to boast that an affair will never happen in your marriage, to you, or to your spouse. It never happens because the temptation hasn't been strong enough.
Although most affairs may not end so tragically like in the film but the damage to a marriage (or the trust between the spouses) is almost always permanant.
Hopefully those who've seen the film will think long and hard before "letting that cab go"..... |
| Rating | | | Date | May 27, 2005 | | Summary | Insightful philosophy in the most unlikely of places. | Content
| Well executed, beautifully shot and acted. The plot is pretty standard fare. Bored housewife goes astray with swaggering young French stud, husband gets suspicious, drama ensues. Nothing special, until....
The climax. The husband (Richard Gere) follows Frenchie home and confronts him. "How dare you"/"How could you"/"Why"/etc. Then we get this exchange:
"I guess she got bored with the suburbs."
"She wanted us to move there....She didn't want to raise our son in the city."
"Really? She said it was your idea."
"You...you TALK ABOUT ME?!"
That got my attention! So many movies portray the jealous/betrayed spouse, without bothering to explore the source of those feelings; or else they chalk it up to some simple, easy, animalistic "if I can't have her" sort of nonsense.
Gere's character is upset that his wife strayed. He wants to know how and why it happened. He wants to know what he was doing wrong. The situation upsets him, but does not devastate him. Finding out that they TALK about him is what ultimately delivers the fatal blow (hint!).
Is one's lover a mere possession, or a signpost advertising one's self-image to the world? Or something else? Interesting philosophy in the strangest of places! Where would the movie take this?!
Unfortunately, the writers dropped the ball. They either didn't realize what they had, or it was an accident, or they didn't know what to do with it. For about ten minutes this movie was really, really interesting; then it fizzled out into your standard, boring, cliched hide-the-body-lie-to-the-cops garbage. Oh well.
It gets points for raising an intriguing question. It gets points for style and execution. It loses points for the cop-out. |
| Rating | | | Date | April 26, 2005 | | Summary | Fast Lane on a familiar route | Content
| Diane Lane looks gorgeous and acts brilliantly in this entirely predictable and formulaic remake of Chabrol's "La Femme Infidele", predictable that is, even if you do not know the original. An unfaithful wife, so guess what the husband is like...correct, that's just what he's like. Guess what sort of lover she goes with...yes, that's him to a T. And so on, except for the very end, which will keep you guessing, even after you have seen it. But never mind, it also kept the producers guessing, because they came up with two endings, both of which can be seen on the DVD.
Although the events of the story are no surprise, the way in which they happen is totally implausible. I cannot give details, because spoilers are against my religion. I will just recommend that you have your incredulity fast asleep and safely tucked up in bed before you watch this movie.
And why would you watch it? Diane Lane, that's why. She was deservedly Oscar-nominated for this performance and if there had been a category for best legs in a leading role she would have won it. Watch out for the scene in the subway, where she recalls her first illicit liaison. A great performance, and with a sharper and more imaginative script, this could have been a great movie.
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| Rating | | | Date | March 26, 2005 | | Summary | Living with the guilt is a hard lesson of being unfaithful.. | Content
| Simply put this movie was great! No I don't mean that being unfaithful is what one should go out and pursue. I'm saying as a whole this movie is well acted, and brilliantly directed with all the pieces fitting together even up to the ending scene (in front of the police station, with a red light). So the million dollar question is... Do they turn themselves in or do they go on pretending that they can just forget everything that has happened by quote... "Moving to Mexico and fishing all day". HMMM...now that's the question now isn't it? So the truth of the matter is...Commiting the crime and living with it are two different things completely...and that to me is what is truly... UNFAITFUL! |
| Rating | | | Date | February 15, 2005 | | Summary | Tale of Infidelity Succeeds Through Restraint | Content
| Adrian Lyne's "Unfaithful" is, in many respects, a spin through familiar waters for the director -- the crushing impact of infidelity on a marriage. After all, this is the man who directed two other notorious films on the subject -- "Fatal Attraction" and "Indecent Proposal." While there are similarities between all three films, "Unfaithful" is the strongest of the three because it is the most intelligent.
In an Oscar-nominated performance, Diane Lane plays Constance Sumner, beloved-and-somewhat-bored wife and mother. That her husband is Edward, played by Richard Gere (very sexy as always, but in a mainstream way), seems to be small consolation to her as she rattles around her waterfront Westchester County neo-mansion and cares for her lovely-yet-slightly-troubled son, Charlie (Erik Per Sullivan, unfortunately denied any of the zaniness he exhibits as the youngest son on TV's "Malcom in the Middle"). Constance is one of those "housewives" who has a maid to keep the house in order, freeing her up to take trips into Manhattan to organize charity events.
Lyne subtly creates a sense of tension from the very first scenes in the Sumner household. This is one heck of a beautiful house on a beautiful lake filled with beautiful people, but the colors have been leeched out of everything. From the wondrous foliage to the handsome clothes, everything is a muted shade of brown or gray . . . even the reds and blues. This is not the bright, joyous household it should be. A gift of a strikingly blue sweater introduces a jarring note into this marriage.
Thus we are not surprised when, on a trip into SoHo on perhaps the windiest day of the year, Constance bumps into Paul Martel (Olivier Martinez), a Frenchman who looks like a cover model but is in fact a Bohemian book dealer living in one of those wonderful industrio-residential New York flats. Constance tries vainly to hail a cab, but is unsuccessful and is "forced" to go up to Paul's apartment . . . although it appears that she kinda-sorta lets one last cab go by unhailed before heading upstairs.
Paul, convinced of his Gallic charm and good looks, instantly sets out seducing Constance, but in a restrained way. He offers her a book from his mammoth collection, tells her exactly which book to pick up, which page to turn to, and which passage to read -- lines which are classic "carpe diem" sentiments for those about to cast aside virtue. As Paul says later, in an exercise of Euro-trash philosophy, "There are no mistakes. Only things you do and things you do not do."
While Constance initially refuses his advances, it is no spoiler that in a movie titled "Unfaithful" that she ultimately succumbs and engages in a tumultuous affair. (This, by the way, is an affair that allows Lyne to cover the near-pornographic ground he failed to cover in his earlier film, "9 1/2 Weeks," as Constance and Paul have encounters in theaters, bathrooms, hallways, and even occasionally the bed.)
Lane, who almost always plays a likeable character, plays a real rhymes-with-witch in "Unfaithful." Why? Because she is not driven into this affair -- she chooses to engage in it. Why? Because Paul excites her, and Edward doesn't. Sure, Edward is a bit of a workaholic, and their marriage (11 years in) is in a bit of a rut. But just like you screamed at Michael Douglas for cheating on Anne Archer in "Fatal Attraction" (as in, "What the hell are you thinking, you schmuck?"), you want to scream at Constance for dismissing her marriage so casually.
Sure, Constance is conflicted. She even introduces herself to Paul as "Constance," as if the implication of morality ("Constance" = "constancy") will help her fend of this Lothario. In a delightful, subtle jab at her, Edward keeps referring to her as "Connie," with its implications of immorality ("Connie" = "con" = "con-job"). But even when she tries to break it off "before anyone gets hurt," she relents when Paul says, "I'd get hurt." Well, too darn bad, bub, we want to say, but Constance wouldn't hear us, anyway.
Ultimately, Edward discovers the affair, and he tracks down Paul. This is where the movie comes to life -- Edward, Constance, and even Paul each attempt to resolve this unresolvable situation as best they can -- we thankfully do not undergo a reprise of Glenn Close's meltdown in "Fatal Attraction."
Solid performances by Gere and Martinez anchor the film, while Lane reaches new heights as she runs the gamut of boredom to anticipation to regret to delight to anguish. This is a film to be discussed, where the characters are human, and can occasionally be moved to inhuman heights and depths. Check it out.
The DVD has the standard extras, including deleted scenes and an alternate ending. The director's commentary is helpful, except for his dissertation on why he likes to live in Provence, France, while reading and writing screenplays -- it added nothing to my understanding of the film, and made me insanely jealous. Other than that, a good DVD for a very good film. |
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