(Rated R, 124 mins.)
Based on the 1969 film “La Femme Infidel”, Adrian Lyne’s scorching new drama is another of his studies of adultery and betrayal (remember “Fatal Attraction” and “9 ½ Weeks”?). But this time, there’s a refreshing twist: it’s the woman who has the affair. Bored with everyday, car-pool suburbia, Connie Sumner (Diane Lane) runs into a French book dealer, Paul Martel (Olivier Martinez), the kind of guy every oven-cleaning housewife fantasizes over. An affair sparks and escalates along with husband Edward Sumner’s (Richard Gere’s) suspicions. Lyne knows how to do love triangles, steamy sex and tension, yet although this comes off as a lightweight “Fatal Attraction” it still works and here’s why: We never learn what was Connie’s life before. We never know what brought her to this stray status. But we do know everyday life. We know the risk of ‘can I?’ or ‘can’t I?’ get away with it. The screenplay is full of slow, sexy dialog and Lyne uses a dimly lit palette that avoids glamorizing either Connie’s mundane life or her very typical affair. Gere, whom we’re used to seeing as the stud who gets the woman, is instead the attentive husband, believable, soft, gentle and likable. Lane, who carries the movie’s weight on her bare shoulders (and butt), is sexy and pretty to look at with the right dose of high-wire nervousness. She’s you and me. She’s any wife or mother. (And, she’s now going to be a huge star!) As for Martinez, well, need we worry about this half Tom Cruise/half Antonio Banderas boy-toy? Somehow I don’t think so. When he’s on screen with or without Lane, he’s pure, hot magic.
