Chloe
Julianne Moore and Liam Neeson in Chloe
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By Darren Estwick. |  |
Monday, 01, Mar 2010 10:51
Directed by Atom Egoyan, out March 5th in cinemas, starring Julianne Moore, Liam Neeson, Amanda Seyfried running time 96 mins.
What's it all about?
Suspicious of her husband's (Neeson) rapport with the fairer sex, Catherine (Moore) hires a beautiful young escort (Seyfried) to lay a honey trap.
What the others say
"Once - and if - you accept that this is a B-movie plot, it is possible to find a level of enjoyment from its undeniably A-movie trappings." - Amber Wilkinson, Eye for Film
"All three central performances are among what is right with Chloe. It is just too bad they are not supported by a better script." - Pam Grady, Boxoffice magazine
So is it any good?
Though its frequent nudity and unashamedly erotic tone might garner Chloe some headlines, cast and crew would be well advised to hope its horribly formulaic third act is less publicised.
Where the Truth Lies director Atom Egoyan and his regular cinematographer Paul Sarossy create an icy, voyeuristic feel to the film's wintry Toronto setting, while Julianne Moore and Amanda Seyfried excel as the suspicious wife and tempting ingénue tasked with seducing Moore's husband Liam Neeson. Yet a largely frank and sensual drama loses credibility with an unfortunate foray into psycho thriller territory.
Based on Anne Fontaine's Nathalie, the overriding disappointment of Chloe comes in its climax, when Secretary screenwriter Erin Cressida Wilson abandons a tense tale of bourgeois angst for an unfulfilling denouement concerned with dangerous obsession.
Beforehand, it's an impressive, engrossing examination of marital mistrust and unspoken sexual longing. While Moore provides the complex and compassionate turn we've come to expect, Mamma Mia!'s Seyfried is superb, all nipped-waist and bee-stung pouts as a winsome yet vulnerable temptress. There's a potent whiff of lust in the air whenever the lead actresses share the screen and scenes in which Seyfried relates her seduction of Neeson to Moore are some of the sexiest of the year. We're also intrigued by the masochistic undertones of Moore's desire to reveal her husband's supposed straying and Egoyan creates a tantalising air of menace beneath the flow of upper middle class frustration.
Why, then, Egoyan and Wilson chose to stagger into melodrama is a mystery. As violins slash in the background and Seyfried's beguiling grin turns deranged, you're left bemoaning the weary culmination to the compelling sexual drama that promised so much.
5/10
Lewis Bazley