Review: Unfaithful (2002)

People in the Movie:  Diane Lane, Richard Gere, Oliver Martinez

Director:  Adrian Lyne

Pigeonhole:  Drama

The Basics: Connie Sumner (Lane) appears to have a good life; a seemingly loving husband Ed (Gere), a house in the New York suburbs, a comfortable lifestyle, the “American Dream”, as it were.   This must not be enough, however, because one afternoon in New York City, she has a chance encounter with Paul Martel (Martinez).  He is young, sexy, and French.  They quickly fall into an erotically charged, passionate affair which has undesirable consequences for all.

Recommendation:  I recommend seeing for Diane Lane’s performance.  The other characters are good, but she drives the movie.  This is an adult drama that deals with the fallout of an extramarital affair, so the subject matter should drive the maturity of the potential audience.  ‘R’ rating is for sexual situations, language, and brief violence.

My Take:  This is a very good film in the sense that it is believable enough to make yourself question, “What would I do given a similar set of circumstances?”  I believe Lane’s on screen actions and expressed feelings throughout the movie seem genuine, which makes the story unfold in a very convincing manner, and make Connie seem like a person we can relate to, or even “know”, rather than disliking her.  Paul is portrayed exactly as the guy that husbands fear their wives will cheat on them with.  He is intelligent, dark, mysterious, and he has an accent.  Paul, we later learn also is married, too, and having relations with other women in addition to Connie.  Gere’s character Ed comes off well; he is a family man, clearly loves his wife, and takes care of his family, as well as running a business.  His is also not naïve when his wife’s behaviors and actions don’t add up.  So when Ed hires a private detective to check up on Connie’s activities in the city, we are not surprised.

**spoiler alert** Adrian Lyne puts the audience on a compelling roller coaster of adultery and the aftermath, for a seemingly nice suburban couple.  Connie meets Paul by accident during a small wind storm in downtown New York, and he quickly begins his flirtations.  Connie is verbally reluctant to engage him, yet, returns after their initial meeting to begin the affair.  The first sexual encounter is shown masterfully as Connie riding home on a train recollecting the spectrum of feelings during: guilt, shyness, enjoyment and passion.  She becomes so invested in the relationship that when she later catches Paul with another woman, she explodes on him in anger, only to have him state “she is not special to me”, and turns it around into another passionate sexual moment with Connie.

The audience really sympathizes with Ed’s plight.  His early concern about Connie’s behaviors quickly crescendos to anger and embarrassment when the private investigator he hired produces a series of pictures showing Connie and Paul together.  Ed confronts Paul at his apartment about the affair, which Paul seems to brush off in the sense that Paul feels Ed’s anger should be with Connie, not with him.  Ed spots a snow globe in the apartment that he recognizes as a gift from him to Connie, and now fully enraged, grabs it, hits Paul and kills him.  Ed cleans up the evidence, wraps Paul’s body in a rug and disposes of it at a dump.

The body is later discovered and Connie is questioned by the police as her phone number was found at Paul’s apartment, although there is no other evidence of the affair.  Connie then finds the pictures from the private eye, and she sees the snow globe, so she knows it is Ed that killed Paul because of her betrayal.  They confront each other about what has happened, at which point Ed offers to turn himself in.  Connie refuses and says they will get through it.

The movie ends ambiguously with them sitting in their car at an intersection in front of a police station.

I think Lyne gives us a great slice of the human condition regarding marital fidelity and beyond.  How would each of us react when confronted with the evidence our significant other was cheating?  How would each of us react when confronted with the evidence that our significant other may have killed another person in a moment of passion, because of our actions?  What consequences are we prepared to face?   

Final Thought/Extras/For Fun:  Diane Lane was nominated for 10 Best Actress awards for this film, and won 3… Check out IMDb for all the actors who either read for, or were considered for all the different roles…