A must-see movie (From Western Telegraph)

A must-see movie

Unfaithful

Directed by Adrian Lyne Starring Richard Gere, Diane Lane, Olivier Martinez, Erik Per Sullivan. Cert. 15tbc, Dur. 123 mins

Richard was once battling it out with Arnie to be my least favoured movie star. But he has forced back the tide of my disapproval and though I dont think hes made any amazing films, I do find myself enjoying his performances more and more. Im sure all this is a great relief to Mr Gere.

Hes been the silver-haired lothario for some years now. Since An Officer And A Gentleman, Pretty Woman, Gere has been synonymous with sexiness. If he is to have another crack at the super-heartthrob stage, before he has to hobble to the bedroom on a Zimmer frame, this weeks top release Unfaithful has a good chance of being it.

Unfaithful is directed by Adrian Lyne, whose previous efforts include Fatal Attraction and Indecent Proposal. You should have a clue then, as if the title wasnt enough of a hint, that Unfaithful is a very sexy film, but its not nearly as steamy in its overriding atmosphere as the aforementioned exhibits from Lyne. In a strange way this is not a film about sex, its really about guilt. In fact Lyne describes it as an erotic thriller about the body language of guilt.

Unfaithful stars Gere as Edward Sumner. He lives with his beautiful wife Connie, played by Diane Lane, and their nine-year-old son, in a wealthy New York suburb. All seems peachy for this little family, so when, one very windy day, Connie blows into New York and literally straight into a dashing young model-like book dealer, named Paul Martel (played by Olivier Martinez) one imagines that shell have the good sense, moral backbone, or just too much to lose, to embrace his romantic advances. She does. It is with some trepidation that she commits adultery the first time but her qualms seem pretty weak as she embarks on a torrid affair.

The first point of interest is that we arent shown why she does this. Or rather we are not shown any reason other than lust that leads her into the affair.

Theres no excuse for her threatening her very successful and loving marriage. I like that we just watch the effects of a womans weakness, or her human ability to want to have that affair, while she is still the loving wife and mother she always was.

Back to the plot, and Gere is starting to suspect. There are clues, but the film plays more subtly on the fact that he knows her better than anyone and he can just tell she is guilty.

He hires a detective, which results in Gere turning up at his wifes lovers apartment. He rings the door bell and... More I will not say, but the last half of the movie is exciting and clever without plunging headlong into all the usual places in the usual way.

Unfaithful is a great night at the cinema with great performances form Gere and Lane. It doesnt quite become as clever and deep as it would like, I felt, but its still an unusually sophisticated attempt at this story which is actually based on a French film La Femme Infidele (1969) by Claude Chabrol, which itself is an update of Madame Bovary. Unfaithful is a must see. VAUGHAN SIVELL