From the tag-line, I expected this movie to be about a secret, lusty affair and a jealous, raging husband who takes things too far. The secret, lusty affair part is right, but, it wasn't exactly what I was expecting in terms of storyline. Which isn't' to say the story itself is bad, it's not, but the execution of it was hard to take seriously at times.
First off, usually with these adultery movies, we at least understand why the adulterer wants to cheat. I found that the exposition into Connie's life was not adequate enough for me to feel sorry for, or at the least understand her. She lives in a quiet suburb, she has been "happily" married for 11 years, she has an 8 year old son, who is cute, but somewhat annoying, as boys that age can be, her house is in a state of disarray because of this, and she seems to spend her days... doing... not much.
She goes into town one day (wearing heels and a tight fitting dress... to shop for "auction items?") and randomly falls into a *gasp* sexy French man. She scrapes her knee in the tumble and the sexy French man invites her in to clean up. Cue sexual tension.
Turns out, the French man makes his living as a bookseller and offers to give her a book of poetry about getting "drunk off Life", and inside the book he has snuck his phone # in it, for her to discover while she opens the book one day at home. Of course, being the foolish woman she is, she decides to call him, and things escalate from there...
Now I won't reveal any more details, but at times it is just hard to take Diane Lane's character seriously. I won't disagree that her acting is amazing, but just the way the character is written and her actions is just extremely frustrating. At times, she is a guilty housewife, a lustful adulterer, and a terrible liar. The only character who I truly feel for and believe is fully developed and genuine is the husband, who displays an honest and believable reaction to finding out about the affair (let's face it, obviously he will find out, who are we kidding)...
But, honestly, this movie had the potential for a higher rating from me... it just needed better execution overall.
First off, usually with these adultery movies, we at least understand why the adulterer wants to cheat. I found that the exposition into Connie's life was not adequate enough for me to feel sorry for, or at the least understand her. She lives in a quiet suburb, she has been "happily" married for 11 years, she has an 8 year old son, who is cute, but somewhat annoying, as boys that age can be, her house is in a state of disarray because of this, and she seems to spend her days... doing... not much.
She goes into town one day (wearing heels and a tight fitting dress... to shop for "auction items?") and randomly falls into a *gasp* sexy French man. She scrapes her knee in the tumble and the sexy French man invites her in to clean up. Cue sexual tension.
Turns out, the French man makes his living as a bookseller and offers to give her a book of poetry about getting "drunk off Life", and inside the book he has snuck his phone # in it, for her to discover while she opens the book one day at home. Of course, being the foolish woman she is, she decides to call him, and things escalate from there...
Now I won't reveal any more details, but at times it is just hard to take Diane Lane's character seriously. I won't disagree that her acting is amazing, but just the way the character is written and her actions is just extremely frustrating. At times, she is a guilty housewife, a lustful adulterer, and a terrible liar. The only character who I truly feel for and believe is fully developed and genuine is the husband, who displays an honest and believable reaction to finding out about the affair (let's face it, obviously he will find out, who are we kidding)...
But, honestly, this movie had the potential for a higher rating from me... it just needed better execution overall.