Rating: 
Summary: Shocked so many people liked this film!
Review: Could a film drip with MORE cliches and stereotypes? ("Let's see....I know! Make the lover French! With dark features! Mysterious! Exotic! Make the husband a nitwit! Yeah, that's the ticket!")I've seen it all before and done much better than this. When I saw it in the movie theater with a few friends, a majority of the audience actually started LAUGHING OUT LOUD at the sex scenes between Diane Lane and her lover, ESPECIALLY the scene where they are standing up in the stairwell. It was absolutely ridiculous. I have honestly never seen an audience laugh at a scene that clearly was not meant to be humorous. Don't get me wrong--the first twenty minutes had me mesmerized. But it went quickly downhill with every preposterous, cliched turn. If you do waste your time on this film, pay special attention to the sex in the stairwell scene and see if you find it funny, too. If you don't waste your time watching it, congratulations. Wish I could say the same.
Rating:
Summary: 3 things I learned from this movie
Review: I learned three things from watching this movie: It's alright to force women to have sex and "no" really does mean "yes"; If someone sleeps with your wife, it's appropriate to brain them with a snowglobe; and there is no marital problem that cannot be solved by murdering someone. I got this movie because Diane Lane was nominated for an Oscar for it. But I did not see anything she did which any porn actress cannot do (fake exstacy during love-making). I thought Richard Gere was good, but this plot is completely idiotic. First, it gives potential rapists more reason to think it's a good idea to force yourself on a woman. Then it ends with the theory that infidelity and murder just make your relationship stronger. The idea that any relationship could survive what occurs in this film is completely implausable. Maybe Adrian Lynne has never witnessed any relationships outside of porn.
Rating: 
Summary: Diane Lane rocks in this stunning adultery drama
Review: There can be few actresses as good as Diane Lane. I thought she was great in 'A Walk On The Moon', 'The Perfect Storm' and many of her others, but in 'Unfaithful'!!?? Well... she completely rocks. She is so sexy, yet at the same time she is so sympathetic and vulnerable. This is a stellar performance that should put her high on the Hollywood A-List. The film is built entirely around Lane's character and I was pleased about that as her character is the focus of the film. A very well made and involving adultery drama with Lane in stunning form.
Rating: 
Summary: Expected so much more
Review: This is not a bad movie but it is by no means living up to the acclaim that I heard it receive. Diane Lane was ok. Oscar nomination worthy? I don't think so. The beginning of the film is her having sex for no reason other than to have sex. They hardly bonded in front of our eyes. There was a magnetic attraction, but we didn't see it. This film could have substituted some of the sex, especially the hallway scene (what were they thinking?) for some more plot and story line progression. The film didn't seem to take any shape until Richard Gere killed what's his name. Might I add, he was quite ugly, irritatiing to listen to and just too audacious a character. All in all, it's not bad, but it could certainly have been better. If ever there was a film that had too much sex in it, this is it. It's just unnecessary. There was so much room for plot progression that the movie is so full of holes. The ending was ridiculous and seemed too much the kind of "let's give the audience what they want" ending that just seemed to say "ok, let's stop it here, it's gone on long enough." Entertaing? Mildly. Quality? Very sub-par.
Rating: 
Summary: Diane Lane is superb
Review: These last few nights I've been watching the DVD of 'Unfaithful' (directed by Adrian Lyne, a British Francophile who lives in Provence, and this is a remake of a classic 60s Chabrol film 'La Femme Infidele' which I'd now like to see. I think Lyne likes women a lot, too, just like the French do.) It is very interesting, for its theme (infidelity in a happy marriage), story structure (the first half is the wife's story, and the second half the husband's--and this shift doesn't work for me), as a movie (crisp photography and editing, though I think the second half is flatter, maybe because Lyne isn't as interested in that part of the story, or maybe because for me the crystalline focus of the first half is dissipated), and most of all for a luminous performance by Diane Lane that must be seen--she IS what makes the first part of the film work as a story. (Oh, and there's also a gorgeous young French guy.) The director's commentary is engaging, and helped me appreciate the film more deeply. Now I want to write to Lyne and tell him how he should have handled the second half of his film. I'll just say here that I preferred the alternative ending on the DVD.
Rating:
Summary: Diane Lane at her best
Review: I, absolutely had no idea that Diane Lane from The perfect storm could possibly be so sexy and so unfaithful, while on the other side of the coin - Richard Gere to be so loyal to his movie wives. This movie is more than envious sex scenes that appear in it. It's morale story is : what are the odds against an unfaithful wife who has the most perfect marriage. So before you fall for a new fresh love - remember Connie and Murphy's LAW that if something can wrong it will.
Rating:
Summary: ...Unfaithful....La Femme Infidele......
Review: This thriller has that sense of events leading to an inevitable climax and ending because every aspect of this thriller is part of a formula we are all familiar with. And yet every aspect is also slightly better than your everyday thriller too. Diane Lane(Constance) especially although the famous scene on the train which is so talked about was not the scene I would isolate as proof of Diane Lanes talent and appeal as a first-rate actress. The train scene is noted for the array of emotions displayed by Constance(who is anything but constant)after she has had her first taste of unfaithfulness but the scene feels like several different emotional moments cut up and edited so that you get the impression that all these emotions are just flowing one after the other from the actress. I think one constant take would have been the more powerful way to convey this emotionally charged yet ambivalent and conflicted moment in her life. The scene fells like it could be taken out of any of Adrian Lynes films (9 1/2 weeks for instance). Not to say the movie isn't satisfying because it is but the other thing that feels like cheating is that Frenchman. He seems like a cut-out from a romance novel. It turns out he's not as perfect as Constance thought but the film loses what could possibly be another interesting dimension to the story by simply filling that role with a sex object--if he was more a real person and less a fantasy object Constance's emotions would also be more complex. As it is her emotions just alternate between two poles: sexual elation and marital guilt. In other words the film is great as Hollywood thrillers go but if you are an adventurous filmgoer who really has no patience for cliches I would recommend going back to the original French film by Claude Chabrol, La Femme Infidele. That film is a more interesting tale of bourgoisie ennui and a much more complex piece of filmmaking. Plus the original has one of the best endings I've ever seen, not the same ending as Unfaithful. Unfaithful gets five stars on the Hollywood thriller chart, but La Femme Infidele gets five stars on the much more discerning foreign film chart.
Rating:
Summary: An excellent performance by Diane Lane...
Review: This big-budget Hollywood thriller explores a woman who has an extra-marital affair and the subsequent damage that it causes when her husband learns of her transgressions. Diane Lane is fantastic and gorgeous as the cheating spouse, clearly proving that she is worthy to be considered among the finest female actors of the day. Richard Gere plays a meek, quiet, somewhat shy husband in a role that is completely out of character from his usual work. Simply, this film works. All elements come together and I enjoyed the film with the possible exception of the ending. It seemed like too many loose ends were left unmentioned. Regardless, the film is enjoyable and the DVD is very well crafted. The audio and video quality are superb, and the special features on the disc add some layer of depth to the film. Recommended!
Rating:
Summary: Richard Gere and Diane Lane work togther again!
Review: Richard Gere and Diane Lane work together again eighteen years after THE COTTON CLUB (1984). What a great vehicle for both of them to star in. The title of this film "UNFAITHFUL" says it all. I will not reveal the story here because very few good movies are made these days. This one is a doozy. I had just finished watching AN OFFICIER AND A GENTLEMAN (1982) and decided to rent this dramatic film. Olivier Martinez (They say, the actor who has it in his contract he will not do a full nude scene) is interesting as the other man. Diane Lane received her first nomination for Best Actress for an Academy Award for her dramatic role in this film. Richard Gere proves again how professional and good he is as an actor. This DVD version contains two alternate endings and deleted scenes. (Which ending would you choose?) Also in the Special Feature section are several commentaries. One by Director, Adrian Lyne. The other by Diane Lane and Olivier Martinez. There is a 15-minute featurette "An Affair To Remember: On The Set Of Unfaithful". Annie Coates on editing. She will try to explain the editing of the film and why that particular ending was chosen and not one of the others filmed. A Charlie Rose interview, originally shown on the PBS Network is 18 minutes with Director Adrian Lyne, Richard Gere and Diane Lane. There is also other interviews included, "A Conversation With..." Richard Gere, Diane Lane and Olivier Martinez, individually. For students of film, you might find the Director's Script Notes interesting.
Rating:
Summary: A glossy soap-opera with excellent performances
Review: Adrian Lyne, who brought us FATAL ATTRACTION, is at it again. In this "morality" tale, Diane Lane plays a suburban mother / housewife / charity volunteer who has a hot affair with a french-accented book dealer. When her husband, Richard Gere, becomes suspicious and later has his suspicions confirmed, a bad situation can only go to worse. The movie is a soap-opera. It's fun, no question, but it clearly aspires to make some sort of grand statement...what, exactly, I don't know. Perhaps that a guilty secret can be forgiven if you have an even bigger, more horrendous secret yourself? I don't know. My biggest problem with the movie was Diane Lane's character. She's terrific in the movie, and everyone always talked about the scene where she's riding the train home from her first tryst with her SoHo lover. Her face goes from shame to lust to grief to excitement, all in the space of moments. She does this well, and that's the main reason she got her Oscar nomination. But we have NO idea why her character strays. She has a gorgeous house, a kid she loves, a powerful husband who adores her and actually does things like come home in the evenings, help with dishes, ask about her day, etc. She's not a neglected housewife. I guess she must feel "empty" in some way...but taking up a dangerous affair with a seedy bookdealer who gives her a book of poetry by way of seduction is such a big leap for her character that I needed more. Her sex scenes are typical Lyne...lots of slapping and biting and toilet-stall love making. Daring for the actors...icky to look at. The movie does finally get truly fascinating when the secret gets out. What will Richard Gere do? His confrontation scene with the lover is memorable and fascinating in a sick-to-your-stomach-imagining-this-is-happening-to-you kind of way. I won't tell you anymore about what happens next because that could spoil the movie. Olivier Martinez plays the lover. He's a cypher of a character and not at all sympathetic. The women in the movie all think he's gorgeous, but my wife (and I) thought he was slimy. To each his own. Richard Gere, whose characters are usually pompous and full of themselves, has a new kind of vulnerability in the movie and emerges as its most sympathetic character. I'm not a huge fan of his, but he was good in this...I can't deny it. I imagine this movie would entertain and fascinate any adults who are in a marriage (good or bad) or long-term relationship. I can't imagine a teenager enjoying anything except the couple of semi-graphic scenes. For mature audiences only.
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