Taglines: If you had the opportunity, would you?
Edward and Connie Sumner, who live in a commuter suburb of New York City with their adolescent son Charlie, have a relatively happy eleven year marriage, although they both lead hectic day-to-day upper middle class lives away from each other that take away from their ability to spend time together. They decided to move from the city following Charlie’s arrival into their lives.
One day in the city, Connie meets younger Frenchman Paul Martel, a used book seller, by literally running into him. Although not looking for anything outside of her marriage, Connie finds that she can’t stop thinking about Paul, and despite she looking for and receiving validation of the strength of her marriage to and from Edward, she and Paul embark on a passionate affair punctuated with light S&M, the affair about which she feels both constant excitement and guilt.
Over time, Edward begins to find clues both that all is not all right in their marriage and that Connie’s stories about her day-to-day goings-on do not add up to the truth. If Edward does find out about Connie’s affair, Paul who Connie had previously mentioned to him as the white knight who helped her during a crisis, the questions become what Edward will do, both about Paul and about his marriage to Connie, he who has implied through previous action with someone much less important in his life that loyalty is paramount to him, and what the consequences of any of his actions will be.
Unfaithful is a 2002 American erotic thriller drama film directed by Adrian Lyne and starring Richard Gere, Diane Lane, Chad Lowe, Dominic Chianese, and Olivier Martinez. It was adapted by Alvin Sargent and William Broyles Jr. from the 1969 French film The Unfaithful Wife (La Femme infidèle) by the noted director Claude Chabrol. It tells about a couple living in suburban New York City whose marriage goes dangerously awry when the wife indulges in an adulterous affair with a stranger she encounters by chance.
Unfaithful grossed $52 million in North America and a total of $119 million worldwide. Despite mixed reviews overall, Lane received much praise for her performance. She won awards for best actress from the National Society of Film Critics and New York Film Critics, and was nominated for a Golden Globe and an Academy Award for Best Actress.
Unfaithful (2002)
Directed by: Adrian Lyne
Starring: Richard Gere, Diane Lane, Olivier Martinez, Chad Lowe, Kate Burton, Margaret Colin, Marc Forget, Dominic Chianese, George F. Miller, Liza Colón-Zayas
Screenplay by: Claude Chabrol, Alvin Sargent, William Broyles
Production Design by: Brian Morris
Cinematography by: Peter Biziou
Film Editing by: Anne V. Coates
Costume Design by: Ellen Mirojnick
Set Decoration by: Susan Bode
Art Direction by: John Kasarda
Makeup Department Joseph A. Campayno, LuAnn Claps Lyndell Quiyou
Music by: Jan A. P. Kaczmarek
MPAA Rating: R for sexuality, language and a scene of violence.
Distributed by: 20th Century Fox
Release Date: May 10, 2002
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