Chloe

So I saw this movie as a late night Redbox rental decision and after relentless trailers on a lot of the recent DVD releases I decided to break down and finally rent it. Julianne Moore is one of my favorite actresses and after her recent performances in The Kids are All Right and A Single Man, I wanted to see her in this movie. This movie actually already made profit from international pre-sales even before it debuted at the 2009 Toronto Film Festival and to date it’s earned almost $10 million in box office totals with a total budget of $15 million. It was marketed as an erotic thriller and I was fully expecting another Fatal Attraction but still the impressive cast piqued my interest. The movie ended up having a vastly different tone than what I was expecting.

 

The plot is about a wife, Julianne Moore, who suspects her long-time husband, Liam Neeson, of cheating on her. She then hires Chloe, Amanda Seyfried to seduce her husband to see what he will do. The relationships created from these circumstances prove to be more complex and dangerous than Moore bargained for.

 

The plot was different than the age-old cliché’d lover turn crazy story but still fell somewhere along the same lines. This story was more character focused and the central theme was about the tangled web of relationships and also the components of trust. The characters were written well and believable with Moore ’s character being the most complex. The mysterious Chloe is just that; mysterious. We don’t delve into her motives and background but instead must interpret on our own. Her character is written well although may be a little static in nature. There is a dynamic between each character and they are followed throughout the film, which I enjoy instead of dealing only with the main climactic relationships. While other ‘thrillers’ focus on the action and suspense, this seemed to be a backdrop and natural progression of the character’s involvement rather than the main story at hand. I enjoyed this approach to the film and found it unique and fresh.

 

There were some great camera angles in this movie and there was a constant focus on mirrors in the shots, which is a personal favorite of mine. The editing gave the movie a slower subdued pace than one would expect out of a ‘thriller’. The sound editing and score kept the movie very subdued although it did feel very cinematic as opposed to the handheld natural feel. This felt like a movie however more of a drama than a thriller. Also the costumes and set design was quite beautiful and classy.

 

Julianne Moore and Amanda Seyfried were at the top of their games for this movie. Moore gives a great and complex performance with this character and comes off as very believable. Seyfried seemed to play this difficult role with ease. It was nice seeing her in a different role than the happy-go-lucky roles of her past. Liam Neeson did a decent job which actually should be considered an outstanding performance given the fact that he was in the middle of filming this movie when his wife passed away and he voluntarily returned to finish this film. The fact that he was able to pull that off without any flaws in his performance shows his strength as an actor right there.

 

Overall, this movie turned out to be different than what I was expecting. It had a nice story and some really admirable performances, but again it was subdued and did feel movie-like. I enjoyed the film for the hour or so I watched it and there were some really nice elements within it, however it wasn’t anything exceptional nor is it a must-see film. I would recommend this to anyone who enjoys darker moody dramas about problematic relationships. “I try to find something to love in everybody. Even if it’s a small thing. There’s always something, there has to be” – Chloe.