Rating of
3/4
A powerful lead performance by Diane Lane!
MovieAddict - wrote on 02/08/12
UNFAITHFUL is a dark and sexy drama about a suburban housewife Connie (Diane Lane) who despite a perfect life with a devoted husband Edward (Richard Gere) and loving son Charlie finds herself drifting into a passionate extramarital affair with a sexy young book dealer Paul (Olivier Martinez) who she meets accidentally in the city one day.
Olivier Martines is perfect as the handsome, romantic, somewhat bohemian type, with whom an upper-class, suburban housewife like Connie would become enthralled. She finds herself inexplicably to him and becomes completely consumed with thoughts of this man that drive her to, among other things, public masturbation and sex in the hallway of his apartment. There is one scene where Connie is riding the train home after her first liaison with Paul that reveals every single emotion she is feeling: exhilaration, despair, ecstasy, guilt, misery, desire, unrest all cleverly contained with a short time sequence. If there is ever a scene that perfectly captures the emotional upheaval of a married woman who has just succumbed to her passions, this would be it. This is a very moving movie about what an affair can do to a family. The ending is particularly good in that it leaves it to the audience to imagine the characters’ ultimate fate.
