Catherine and David, she a doctor, he a professor, are at first glance the perfect couple. Happily married with a talented teenage son, they appear to have an idyllic life. But when David misses a flight and his surprise birthday party, Catherine's long simmering suspicions rise to the surface. Suspecting infidelity, she decides to hire an escort to seduce her husband and test his loyalty. Catherine finds herself 'directing' Chloe's encounters with David, and Chloe's end of the bargain is to report back, the descriptions becoming increasingly graphic as the meetings multiply.
Genre(s): Drama, Thriller
Rating: 7.2/10 (774 votes)
Country: USA, Canada, France
Languages: English
Company: Studio Canal
Director(s): Atom Egoyan
Producer(s):
Ali Bell – associate producer
Jeffrey Clifford – producer
Daniel Dubiecki – executive producer
Ron Halpern – executive producer
Joe Medjuck – producer
Tom Pollock – executive producer
Ivan Reitman – producer
Jason Reitman – executive producer
Stephen Traynor – line producer
Simone Urdl – producer
Jennifer Weiss – producer
Erin Cressida Wilson – associate producer
Writer(s):
Erin Cressida Wilson – (screenplay)
Anne Fontaine – (motion picture "Nathalie")
Cast:
Julianne Moore – Catherine Stewart
Liam Neeson – David Stewart
Amanda Seyfried – Chloe
Max Thieriot – Michael Stewart
R.H. Thomson – Frank
Nina Dobrev – Anna
Mishu Vellani – Receptionist
Julie Khaner – Bimsy
Laura DeCarteret – Alicia
Natalie Lisinska – Eliza
Music: Mychael Danna
Tagline: If the one you love was lying to you, how far would you go to find out the truth?
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This remake of a French film (Nathalie) has a starry cast (Liam Neesonand Julianne Moore being two great actors) as well as a twisty plot,probably taking inspiration from Hitchcock, but it's not that enjoyableto watch on the whole and probably goes beyond an acceptable level ofcredibility in its final part. The barely original idea of the story isthat nobody may keep passions under control and emotions in check butthe thing lacks likeliness at all in the end. When moving towards theclimax the story tries unsuccessfully to be involving and attractive,the 6 rate the flick deserves is due only to the presence of the twolead actors.
I was very intrigued by that film, being a long time admirer of AtomEgoyan, so was surprised to see what he could do with a moretraditional story and bigger cast.
How wrong could I be! To my horror, this turned out to be one of thoseterrible glossy psycho sexual thrillers like Fatal attraction which Ithought die a well deserved death in the early 90's. And Atom Egoyanbrought absolutely nothing to it, bar from a couple of scenes that bearhis trademark.
While Julianne Moore does what she can with a rather unsympatheticcharacter, Amanda Seyfried is the saving grace of this film, managingto add some depth a nuances to a not particularly well writtencharacter (I actually ended up rooting for her which am sure was notthe intention of the director!) And Toronto looks great in the winter(and nice to see Toronto as Toronto for once, instead of passing it foranother American city!) but that's the only good things I can say aboutthis, avoid!