UNFAITHFUL

Starring: Richard Gere, Diane Lane, Erik Per Sullivan and Olivier Martinez
Director: Adrian Lyne
Running Time: 124 mins
Certificate: 15

Connie Sumner (Lane) has a loving husband, Edward (Gere) and an eight year-old son, Charlie (Sullivan) but something is missing from her life. This all changes one windy New York day when she is blown into a young French book buyer called Paul Martel (Martinez). The two strike up a friendship that escalates into an affair. Driven by the new excitement in her life, Connie starts to see more and more of Paul but as a consequence has to start telling lies to cover her misdeeds and Edward starts to get suspicious.

Coming from director Adrian Lyne who also bought us Fatal Attraction, this is a slow moving drama that wins plus points for its believability. There are no grandiose deceptions or cover-ups, the story just revolves around a normal affair that goes disastrously wrong.

The performances of the three protagonists are very good. Richard Gere plays the understated Edward very well and makes the character very unsure of the stability of his marriage as he falls from confident businessman to a shadow of his former self after discovering his wife's betrayal. Diane Lane is also good as Connie, who's sexual reawakening and lust for Paul is the backbone of the film. If she were not believable in her role the movie would have just been another run-of-the-mill adultery drama. Olivier Martinez as the object of Connie's lust plays the young French lover with relish and the scenes with Diane Lane and him are very passionate, especially for a 15 certificate.

Director Adrian Lyne sacrifices pace for character and plot development, which is abit of a hindrance to the overall flow of the film. He spends a lot of time building up the relation between Connie and Paul, which really slows the pace of the film down to walking speed, even though he sows the seeds of doubt in Connie's husband, Edward's mind very early on in the picture.

What this movie does have going for it is it's believability. This is a normal family were a bored housewife succumbs to temptation with disastrous results. While the slow moving story may not be to everyone's tastes, there is more here to connect with than in the usual Hollywood take on adultery.

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