UNFAITHFUL (***)
Winds are brewing, and Connie Sumner will get caught up in them. But not only are these gale winds, but winds of uncertainty, of passion, and of fate. She bruises herself badly as she tries to hail a cab, and is practically blown right onto a young man. He invites him to his apartment to have herself patched up, and on her way out, she is asked to take a book home as a souvenir. He tells her to take a specific book, out of a specific shelf, look at a specific page, and read a specific line. A line that reads, "Be happy for this moment, for this moment is your life."
At this point I'm going, "Yeah right." What a slickster. Any guy knows that he planted that book for a suave move like that. But Connie isn't a guy. She's a wife of more than 10 years, and a mother of an 11-year old son. She leaves the man's apartment, but she isn't necessarily offended. In fact, she's obviously flattered by the attention. Now we must be thinking, she's unhappily married. Her husband must be difficult or bad in bed. And her kid must be a nag.
Then we find out that they are, for all intents and purposes, an ideal family. They have a wonderful home that looks like it came straight out of Architectural Digest. Her son is goofy, but is nowhere next to being a bad kid. And her husband is thoughtful, loving, unabashedly handsome, and an attentive parent. He's a boss, and she's a housewife with activities in the city. So what's the problem? The answer seems to be... nothing. These things sometimes just happen.
It is from here that UNFAITHFUL draws us in. It plunges into these human affairs, weaving through the lives of seemingly ordinary people, tied together by a simple decision to do something out of the ordinary. We follow the lives of Connie (Diane Lane of INDIAN SUMMER) and Edward Sumner (Richard Gere of AN OFFICER AND A GENTLEMAN) as they try to deal with the events that unfold from this decision, and more importantly, we understand what they're going through.
I have listened to a lot of inquiries about the film from my co-workers. Asking: "What happened?" "Did anyone die?" "Did she kill him?" "Did he kill her?". My mother watched the film with her friends, and all they could talk about was how the ending was too open-ended (more on this later). What amazes me is how most people focus on plot when some movies are not about plot at all. As my mom correctly pointed out, as the movie goes along, it becomes a tad predictable. But the movie is not a mystery, nor is it a thriller. Its focus is not to keep one guessing on what will happen next. What it does try to do is to make us empathize with the experiences and dilemmas each character is facing. It shares a slight similarity to IN THE BEDROOM. Its doesn't turn on plot points, but on emotional pivots.
Consider Connie who does not have any reason to cheat on her husband. The movie doesn't make him a uncaring workaholic hubby. At one point, he stops work so that he can fit on a sweater she has bought for him (and proudly displays it). They playfight in bed, and both take turns in taking their son Charlie (Erik Per Sullivan) to school. But the movie provides buried hints that routine has set into their daily lives. Love has not left their relationship, but a bit of excitement has. It doesn't hurt Connie that the man who she starts affair with, Paul Martel (Oliver Martinez) looks like the perfect package. He has the face of a Latin lover, a French tongue (no pun intended), and a Brad Pitt body. He's a rare book collector, and at the age of 28, seems to have read enough books to fill the Library of Congress (his apartment looks like it too). He even turns her on by making her read in Braille.
Then there is the matter of Edward's discovery. Nobody tells him. He doesn't find physical clues, but like anyone who has known the one they love, they just know. He even screams, "I knew it the moment it started." How the movie unfolds Connie's growing coldness towards Edward and her exhilarating addiction towards Paul is a display of how human relationships can just be intriguing (if not more so) as a psychological thriller. We know what will be the consequences of her actions, and can't help but see what pain will be brought about. It's like seeing a slow-mo of an accident.
Lesser movies would turn this story into a run-of-the-mill thriller, where someone cheats on somebody else, which would result in the cheatee killing the cheater, or the co-cheater killing the cheater because the latter once to end the affair. But what makes UNFAITHFUL refreshing is that it doesn't sink to the depths of mediocrity. It simply tries to show its characters dealing with the situation. It is true that the movie has a single violent act, but it doesn't turn it into a story of escape. Near the end, there's hardly an attempt to even try and do so. The aftermath of this brutal incident is treated with melancholy rather than with suspense.
The performances of the two leads are very well-done. The role of a cheated husband is a new one for Richard Gere, since he is probably the most handsome of movie stars (It's hard to believe that anyone would cheat on him). He is quite effective in portraying a husband who cannot come to grips with his wife's infidelity. His character's devotion and principle are given life admirably. But the movie really belongs to Diane Lane. This is her film. Like Halle Berry in MONSTER'S BALL, she gives the performance of a lifetime. The conflict and pain she endures is manifested quite sharply. The emotions she conveys are much more powerful than her erotic encounters. One scene that stands out is the first sexual contact she shares with Martel. Her simultaneous evocation of excitement and fright is extraordinary. It should also be said that both leads give a marvelous feel of delicate affluence as a upper middle class suburban couple.
The movie has some exaggerations, such as Connie sexual romps with Paul. In one interview, Diane Lane said that her sexual scenes with Oliver Martinez where so physically strenuous, that she nearly threw out her back in one shoot. Her encounters here are highly erotic, making us understand more why she has difficulty ending the affair. But as the movie goes along, it becomes more mature. Never more so than at the end, which I will not reveal. A lot of people will wonder what will happen. If you're wondering what I thought about it, remember this. She cries, they stop in front of a building where they're not supposed to be, and they don't leave even after a stoplight has signaled them to go several times. You should know what will happen next.
Posted by FLIPCRITIC at August 17, 2002 12:00 AM