Le piège d'une liaison

Brief marital infidelity comes back to haunt loving wife Grace Needham (portrayed by the always sexy Nastassja Kinski).

She had left town, and her depressing husband, to embark on a trip to sunny Miami, where she was pursued and ultimately seduced by Julian Grant, a handsomely evil and manipulative business executive, who is portrayed very well by William Baldwin (why do all of the Baldwin brothers play evil people so damn well?)

The seducing of Grace took place as the two drank champagne on a deserted beach they reached privately by sailboat. Grace admitted she drank too much for her own good and revealed the many problems in her marriage. Julian gained her confidence by claiming he would never allow those types of problems to occur, if he had a relationship with Grace. Julian's manipulation continued as he described a "lost at sea" fantasy involving the now uninhibited Grace, who sat near, listening to his every word and becoming more and more engaged with his romantic dream.

His manipulation paid off as a few subtle nudges led to Grace's soft kisses, paused momentarily by her pulling back as if suddenly thinking to herself `What am I doing? I'm a wife. I'm a mother. I have a real life. Real responsibilities. Sure, the two of us have talked about being together, lost at sea, but that is just a fantasy. Look at what we're doing here. The consequences are real. We're really alone on a secluded beach. Am I going to let this fantasy really happen?'

She succumbs to the dream, as her kisses became more passionate. The once guarded Grace, who used to respond to men's propositions by saying "I'm married" enjoyed watching as Julian unbuttoned her shirt, leading to more kisses, body caresses and her climbing onto Julian's lap! She smiles, kisses, moans, laughs and frequently looks up at the sun throughout what unfortunately was a brief love-making scene in which everybody seemed to have most of their clothes on.

While I thoroughly enjoyed the look of illicit passion on Grace's face as the once devoted wife was being thoroughly satisfied by having sex with a man that clearly enjoys manipulating others, I will say that on the whole, the scene was undeserving of the movie's "R" rating.

Julian returned home to find her husband rejuvenated from his securing of a high paying job, and she is excited about being able to return to a normal life where she can once again be a loving wife and caring mother.

But the evil Julian Grant reenters the picture and is not willing to give up so easily on Grace. Grace has a plan to rid her life of Julian, but will it work?

Obviously, I don't want to ruin the remaining story line for you. However, I will say that I always enjoy movies involving sexual pretense by a wife (especially when she exhibits uninhibited attraction and behavior that is normally reserved for her husband) but in actuality, is seeking revenge against the antagonist. This movie would have been much, much better if the movie had included more of that in the story line. My feelings are if the movie brings it up, then the movie should finish it. And this movie definitely brought it up. Unfortunately, certain constraints in the story line prevented this from being significantly pursued. There are many other movies available that succeed with that very point, and I'll include their titles in the "recommendations" portion of this section. I'm also open to receiving emailed suggestions of other movies that contain a good story line involving sexual pretense on the part of a seemingly devoted wife.

Overall, Nastassja Kinski and William Baldwin are both very good. The movie is not.

We've seen a story like this before: a wife in marital troubles (played by Nastassja Kinski) engages in sex with a stranger (William Baldwin) and then wants to go back to her life with husband and girl. When she returns home she finds out that her husband has finally found a job. Everything seems bright. However, Kinski finds out that her husband's new boss is actually the stranger who still shows interest over her and seems to do anything to get what he wants. What to do? Say nothing?

I didn't really like the movie. While it wasn't just bad, it clearly lacked "that something". Maybe it should've focused more on what's going inside Kinski's head. Nothing to say about the actors themselves (I guess Baldwin was a good choice for the role of the obsessed boss) but the characters seemed somewhat stereotypical, acting the way you would see characters acting in your everyday TV films. Finally, the ending totally ruined what could have been an interesting plot.

In my opinion the movie tried to look cool, it had a bit of shaky camerawork here and there, some stills, fast cuts and glamour, but in the end I think it fits Spelling productions much better. Same goes for the music. Otherwise it didn't look that bad.

Some might like this but it definitely wasn't my cup of tea. To be fair, I don't usually watch much this type of thrillers. This one felt too long even if it was just an hour and a half long, I think it could've worked better as an hour long episode in some TV series. There was absolutely no need for some of the scenes, especially the shower scene.

My advice: Try before you buy!

"Say Nothing" tells of a wealthy character disorder (Baldwin) who stalks a woman from the inside attempting to systematically dismantle her life after having a brief affair with her. An okay shoot with decent acting, "Say Nothing" runs lukewarm as its implausible psychodrama unfolds and then turns cold for a thrown together and anticlimactic ending. Kinski's performance is solid, Baldwin is always good as an evil doer, but Bochner seems out of place as a good guy. The films shows us nothing new and is marginal fodder for couch potatoes at best.

Sexual harassment takes an interesting turn here. Have an affair with a girl and then hire her husband as a top executive and keep the action going. This is exactly what we see in this film here.

Billy Baldwin, as the sinister Julian,has what it takes to provide an excellent performance. Ms. Kinski is also quite effective as the woman taken in by this charade.

What Baldwin does to keep he plot going is mind boggling. Trying to kill Kinski's young child while keeping her husband so busy in the business becomes somewhat unreal.

The end fizzles out because you want Baldwin to get what is coming to him and that does not occur. Even crippled, Baldwin can still plan a new offensive especially with all the money that he has. Did his former wife kill herself or did Baldwin commit that act as well? This is not explained.

I definitely got my moneys worth on this flick. Not to say it was great, but it was alot better than i thought, that's for sure.

It is pretty much Fatal Attraction in reverse as someone else was saying. The dialogue was interesting sometimes, but nothing spectacular. I think they could of used a couple of rewrites.

Nastasja Kinski does a very good job. The last time i've seen her was in One Night Stand (i think). She looks as seductive as ever. Are her looks ever going to fade? Bochner does a satisfying job as the husband, you can't expect too much more from him. Then there's Billy Baldwin. I just think he stinks as an actor. The only thing he was ever good in was Backdraft. I don't even know if he was really that good, because he has such a great supporting cast. He just doesn't do a good job. For one he's nothing to be afraid of. Two he just wasn't believable. I think you needed someone more intimidating for the part.

The special effects in the movie were outstanding. Just the right amount. Whoever did the job, did a fantastic one. Especially the car going off the cliff. Well done. Couldin't have asked for anything more.

This film is definitely worth renting, especially if you don't expect much going in.