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Unfaithful
20th Century Fox Film Corporation


6.5

based on 34 reviews
Read critic reviews
How did we calculate this?

based on 38 votes
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FILM:

MPAA RATING: R for sexuality, language and a scene of violence

Starring Diane Lane, Erik Per Sullivan, Richard Gere, Olivier Martinez, Myra Lucretia Taylor, Michelle Monaghan, Chad Lowe, and Joseph Badalucco Jr.

An erotic thriller about the body language of guilt, centering on a couple living in the New York City suburbs whose marriage goes dangerously awry when the wife indulges in an adulterous fling. (20th Century Fox)

GENRE(S):	Suspense/Thriller
WRITTEN BY:	Alvin Sargent William Broyles Jr. Claude Chabrol (film La Femme Infidele)
DIRECTED BY:	Adrian Lyne
RELEASE DATE:	DVD: December 17, 2002 Video: December 17, 2002 Theatrical: May 10, 2002
RUNNING TIME:	124 minutes, Color
ORIGIN:	USA

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

100

San Francisco Chronicle Mick LaSalle

It's that rare kind of movie that comes along only a handful of times each year -- gut-level entertainment that's oddly profound.

Entertainment Weekly Owen Gleiberman

Sensational sex-and-its-consequences melodrama.

Rolling Stone Peter Travers

Lane is a force of nature. Her slow-burning, fiercely erotic performance charges the movie.

Wall Street Journal Joe Morgenstern

Meticulously crafted and beautifully performed.

USA Today Mike Clark

Unfaithful doesn't push the melodrama the way "Attraction" did, but it lingers in the mind as much.

Chicago Tribune Michael Wilmington

All the accolades Lyne got for "Fatal Attraction" -- and didn't really merit -- he deserves here.

New York Daily News Jami Bernard

The movie doesn't stoop to cheap psychoanalysis and must be commended for a bravely ambiguous ending. But most of the credit goes to Lane, who is simply extraordinary as a woman whose body is at war with her conscience.

Seattle Post-Intelligencer William Arnold

Like Lyne's other heavy-breathers, this one has glossy production values, a relentlessly somber mood and its share of sexual gymnastics. But it's atypical and unique in the way it builds a volcano waiting to erupt with nail-biting anticipation and sympathy for all three characters.

Variety Todd McCarthy

This refitting of Claude Chabrol's 1968 classic "La Femme Infidele" is less concerned with suspense and dramatic fireworks than is the usual American "erotic thriller," and much more devoted to nuances and the minutiae of how men and women behave, pretend and lie in duplicitous situations.

Salon.com Charles Taylor

It's one of the fullest portrayals of sexual desire and pleasure and fear I've ever seen in a movie.

Newsweek David Ansen

Unfaithful shows what a powerful, sexy, smart filmmaker Lyne can be. It’s a shame he substitutes the mechanics of suspense for the real suspense of what goes on between a man and a woman, a husband and a wife.

Austin Chronicle Marjorie Baumgarten

Lyne's excesses are usually the kind of thing I love to hate, but Unfaithful found me pretty much following along in step with his rhythms and dramatic choices.

Baltimore Sun Michael Sragow

American movies are generally so skittish about sexuality that Adrian Lyne's appetite --and aptitude -- for exploring it in Unfaithful is a relief.

Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert

That's what's intriguing about the film: Instead of pumping up the plot with recycled manufactured thrills, it's content to contemplate two reasonably sane adults who get themselves into an almost insoluble dilemma.

Portland Oregonian Kim Morgan

Has its cheesy moments but it's bolstered by interesting performances and a final scene not typical of a mainstream movie. Though no "Fatal Attraction," Unfaithful nevertheless is an interesting and worthy film.

The Onion (A.V. Club) Keith Phipps

Trashy enough to envelop its sex scenes in aerobicized glamour (a Lyne trademark), so the fact that it takes itself so seriously almost counts as a daring move.

LA Weekly Manohla Dargis

The irony is, it's his vulgarity, this mixture of the gaudy and the glossy, that distinguishes Lyne, that makes his work identifiable and, when the story's right, such a guilty pleasure.

The New York Times Stephen Holden

Ms. Lane has the role of her career in Connie, and her indelible (and ultimately sympathetic) performance is both archetypal and minutely detailed.

Film Threat Rick Kisonak

Not bad for a mainstream suspensefest. Gere's good, Lane, as I said, is amazing in places and Lyne does some of his most assured work in years.

Los Angeles Times Kenneth Turan

Though it is difficult to take Unfaithful as seriously as it takes itself, on its own terms it's quite well done.

ReelViews James Berardinelli

The good points about Unfaithful can't overcome the movie's eventual downward spiral.

Philadelphia Inquirer Steven Rea

Despite some fine, nuanced acting (it's Lane's movie, to be sure), Unfaithful doesn't get much deeper than a romance novel.

The Globe and Mail (Toronto) Rick Groen

Since life's infidelities have a way of ending on a messy note, it becomes art's responsibility to impose order upon the mess, to give it an aesthetically convincing shape. And that's exactly where Lyne falls short.

Miami Herald Connie Ogle

Comes off curiously flat.

Boston Globe Wesley Morris

Despite the Gallic source material, what we truly have in Unfaithful is a tasteful, adult-contemporary ''Fatal Attraction'' redux, right down to the mister's Soho address and the happy family tucked away in the New York hinterlands.

Chicago Reader Jonathan Rosenbaum

Doesn't reflect anyone's love or hatred for anything, just a lot of anxiety about test marketing, which means it takes a nosedive when it goes shopping for an ending.

TV Guide Maitland McDonagh

If ever a movie cried out to be French, it's this one, and not just because it's a remake of Claude Chabrol's notoriously icy La Femme Infidele (1968).

New York Post Lou Lumenick

Though it comes from a director whose résumé includes "Flashdance" and "9 ½ weeks," these smoke-filled interludes are less erotic than today's average car commercial.

Village Voice Jessica Winter

Casual familiarity with Lyne's oeuvre is all you need to predict the major plot contortion.

Washington Post Desson Thomson

At what point in the movie is it too late to ask for your money back?

New York Magazine Peter Rainer

A glossy, depthless melodrama.

Charlotte Observer Lawrence Toppman

Heavy-handed symbolism permeates the picture, down to the leading lady's name.

Washington Post Stephen Hunter

In the end, Unfaithful leaves you dispirited and grumpy: All that money spent, all that talent wasted, all that time gone forever, and for what? It's an ill movie that bloweth no man to good.

New Times (L.A.) Luke Y. Thompson

Even those looking to catch a few Diane Lane tit shots will be so exhausted by the endless nothingness between each one that it won't be worth it.

The average user rating for this movie is 6.5 (out of 10) based on 38 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Ashley B. gave it a 0:
Immoral, Pure filth, these are the types of movies that make society even more negative, leaves you spiritualess, and gives a very uneasy feeling about life today. Avoid watching this smut should put this crap back with adult videos only for its lack morals. I pity those that actually do live this kind of life with their spouse and I feel deep sorrow for any spouse that has to live through a unfaithful partner.

Tyler A. gave it a 0:
Horrible, movies like this just protray and encourage more cheating and unloyalness towards two people who are married. Dont people see this enough in real life to just emphasize lust more in real life(A note to all stay faithful to the one you chose, because your not just holding your heart but theirs as well.) Poor movie need to find something more positive to be making movies about, not sex lust, unfaithfulness, and many other things that just encourage what already hurts many every day in real life. God Bless all.

JCE gave it a 5:
[***SPOILERS***] Diane looks good for an old lady...two problems...the ending was unnecessary...most husbands would go to counselling...some would leave....and none would turn to murder...and I kept expecting Malcolm in the Middle to show up... Bottom Line: Lane can act, Gere can't, the French are cool and the case of Malcolm should stay there (not that he was bad...it's just a jerk to the mind to see him).

Chris W. gave it an 8:
Diane Lane conveys superbly the inner conflict and anguish between passion and fidelity. Richard Gere the pain of an unfaithful partner. The murder and ending were not necessary, though understandable for the box office. Tragedy lies in the brokenness of Gere, which he conveys reasonably well. Mopre satisfying by a long way than 'Fatal Attraction'

Pat C. gave it a 7:
Diane Lane can act. Richard Gere can't, not really. But he wasn't mis-cast. No wonder her marriage bored her. Consequences of adultery without the melodrama, but in the end resorts to the body bag to tie up loose ends. Still, Lane should have got the Oscar. Spectacular. Loved her performance, hated the rest of the movie.

Yoon C. gave it a 6:
Tiltillating largely because of Diane Lane's nervous, repressed sexuality shed like a snake's skin in an erotically charged scene, it soon degenerates into Adrine's Lyne's typical empty sexercise. The french lover is simply le hunk as well as le intellectual(as all French are, I guess) and Gere again plays an amiable character, which he seems to alternate with cynical hipsterish roles.

Farmer Ted gave it a 10:
I tell you, I tell you boy that lady sure was purdy. I liked all the action. Made me feel like a boy of only 5. Boy I don't need Viagra anymore... I love this movie I went and took me grandson and his wife to go see it. I sure did not see them very much. they were both gone to the bathroom so much. and when they came back they were wearing each other's clothing. Oh those silly kids.

Unfaithful 20th Century Fox Film Corporation

Unfaithful
20th Century Fox Film Corporation