X
- 2009
- R
- Image Entertainment
- 1 h 28 m
- 2009
- R
- Image Entertainment
- 1 h 28 m
Summary A taut thriller, The Other Man is an intimate tale of a man who discovers his wife's infidelity and sets out to track down his rival. Driven to pursue the mystery surrounding his wife’s adultery, he embarks on a global pursuit with a haunted passion that begins to probe the nature not simply of jealousy, but of loss and forgiveness. (Ima...
Directed By: Richard Eyre
Written By: Charles Wood, Bernhard Schlink, Richard Eyre
- 2009
- R
- Image Entertainment
- 1 h 28 m
- 2009
- R
- Image Entertainment
- 1 h 28 m
The Other Man
34
4.9
Where to Watch
Summary A taut thriller, The Other Man is an intimate tale of a man who discovers his wife's infidelity and sets out to track down his rival. Driven to pursue the mystery surrounding his wife’s adultery, he embarks on a global pursuit with a haunted passion that begins to probe the nature not simply of jealousy, but of loss and forgiveness. (Ima...
Directed By: Richard Eyre
Written By: Charles Wood, Bernhard Schlink, Richard Eyre
Where to Watch
Top Cast
Metascore
Generally Unfavorable
Based on 8 Critic Reviews
34
0% Positive
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
75% Mixed
6 Reviews
6 Reviews
25% Negative
2 Reviews
2 Reviews
Metascore
Generally Unfavorable
Based on 8 Critic Reviews
34
0% Positive
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
75% Mixed
6 Reviews
6 Reviews
25% Negative
2 Reviews
2 Reviews
Approaching the film with, let's say, lowered expectations may go a long way toward appreciating what it attempts, as well as what it achieves.
The biggest mystery in this wannabe thriller is why such topnotch actors would sign on for such a dreary movie that amounts to a mediocre soap opera.
User Score
Mixed or Average
Based on 15 User Ratings
4.9
40% Positive
6 Ratings
6 Ratings
27% Mixed
4 Ratings
4 Ratings
33% Negative
5 Ratings
5 Ratings
User Score
Mixed or Average
Based on 15 User Ratings
4.9
40% Positive
6 Ratings
6 Ratings
27% Mixed
4 Ratings
4 Ratings
33% Negative
5 Ratings
5 Ratings
[SPOILER ALERT: This review contains spoilers.]
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Tiens, encore une histoire d'un mari cocu (légitimement) très énervé qui se met en devoir de retrouver le gougnafier indélicat, briseur de ménage... En vérité, le film est bien plus original que cela et peut compter sur l'opposition de style et de tempérament d'un Banderas et d'un Neeson, très à l'aise dans leurs personnages respectifs.
De cette originalité découle sans doute une guimauve un brin appuyée et une révélation qui **** à être révélée, nous laissant dans une expectative inattendue, car le film abuse des retours en arrière ; de même, des facilités au niveau du scénario sont éminemment discutables à dire vrai...
Cependant, le film tient encore debout entre nostalgie, regrets et rancoeur, jalousie et chagrin... une foultitude de sentiments que nos deux acteurs parviennent à rendre avec force et finesse à la fois. Il s'agit finalement davantage d'un mélo que d'autre chose mais globalement suffisamment bien fait pour qu'on y croit, via une mise en scène posée et bien fichue. Original donc et intéressant malgré ses quelques maladresses.
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The Other Man is self-conscious, overproduced, overacted Euro-marital hoo-ha.
It hurts to see a terrific cast (including the lovely and intelligent young Irish actress Romola Garai as the couple's quietly seething daughter) squandered on such dreary filmmaking.
Everything from the script to the film’s score seems stock, and echoes of past victories--Eyre’s dissection of infidelity in "Notes on a Scandal," Neeson and Linney’s chemistry in "Kinsey"--only remind you of what these talents are capable of when the stars actually align.
Muddled little dud of a melodrama.
Seldom has such great star power been marshaled in the service of a sillier movie than The Other Man.
I almost didn't view this film after reading the negative reviews. But because Eyre's last two are among my favorites, I decided to watch a few minutes, and am glad I did, though "The Other Man" did not measure up to "Stage Beauty" or "Notes on a Scandal." Like those films, it is interested in social constraints and the people who violate them. Here, the constraint is marital fidelity, which Peter (Neeson) never questions, even as his wife Lisa (Linney) cavorts with Ralph (Banderas). Almost as soon as the film opens, Lisa is gone, though she remains a central presence, recollected by the men who loved her. Hearing a passionate voicemail message from Ralph on her phone, Peter becomes obsessed, first with discovering the identity of Lisa's lover and later with discrediting him. Yes, Peter's obsession and his frequent rages seem disproportionate to his injury, but, rather than flaws in the writing, these are clues that we have not yet seen the complete picture. As indeed we have not--at least until late in the film, when a missing puzzle piece appears, poses for a moment as a trick, then begins retroactively explicating what we have seen. This strategy works only because the film is extremely vague about time and causality. We see Lisa walk out the door with an overnight bag at night; then we see Peter angrily discarding her clothes in daylight, and we assume, based on cinematic convention, that (1) she has left him, and (2) little time has passed. Neither is a safe assumption in "The Other Man," and whether you enjoy the film rests largely upon whether you believe Eyre is cheating or skillfully playing with the assumptions we bring to the medium. I am more inclined toward the latter view, though I do find the "play" a bit clumsy. At 87 minutes, this film is too short for its material, the gaps that allow its sleight-of-hand larger than they should be. Great performances, though, and some interesting ideas, especially about beauty.
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The Other man some reasonable enough performances from its cast, competent, if uninspired direction from Richard Eyre and a pretty decent finale. Where the film falls short is in the unimaginative, and often lazy script, the lacklustre way the story is told, and in some complete missteps in tone. You're never on the side of vengeful husband Peter (Liam Neeson) - he just comes across as completely irrational and emotionally unstable, whereas you can completely understand why Lisa (Laura Linney) might have run off with the shady, but charming and romantic Ralph (Antonio Banderas). The majority of the film (excepting the unexpectedly entertaining chess matches between Neeson and Banderas, which really amount to an extended debate about who's bigger in the trouser department) moves along sluggishly, and offers little to keep you engaged in the story until the end. The final twenty minutes or so do approach something in the same ball-park as genuine drama, but by then it's too late to save the film, or even to redeem the morally bereft actions of Neeson's character. With a stronger script, a more original and entertaining story and more energetic direction, The Other Man might have been a diamond in the rough of slow-burning romantic dramas. As it is, the film is more akin to the rock that annoyingly conceals a precious gem.
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