Five Moments of Infidelity

I had the good fortune to see "Five Moments of Infidelity" at The Rome International Film Festival earlier this year. I found it to be thought provoking and thoroughly entertaining. A marvelous cast and superb direction makes this believable and true-to-life story of human indiscretions a film not to miss.

As the film unfolded, I was struck by the realization that "Five Moments" is filled with characters whom everyone can relate to in a very personal way. The people and stories involved in the five vignettes are archetypal in nature: representing people in situations that we are all familiar with at some deep level of understanding, whether in a conscious way or not.

In the story, five seemingly unrelated subplots are gradually revealed to be intimately related and intertwined. A journey of interpersonal twists and turns, the film is, at times, quirky and funny, at others, poignant and sad. Considering the highly charged emotional content of the subject matter, how could a realistic depiction of infidelity be any other way? If you are a fan of great film, don't miss this one. It may just turn out to be the best film you've seen in a long, long time!

I saw this at the Aussie film festival in London. There's something I love about this film festival as it gives you the chance to catch new film makers and the raw energy and talent that seems to spring up from the Australian film industry. This film was one of the highlights of the festival in that respect. Intimately shot, it had the effect of genuinely immersing you in the character vignettes. As each storyline developed, it gripped more due to the heightened sense of reality the film displays. Some of the style is almost reminiscent of theatre such is the immediacy of our exposure to the characters. This required strong performances, with so full a spotlight on the unfolding relationships, and there were touching performances on show here. As the story lines began to tangle around each other, the attention to the characterisations paid off, leading the film towards a poignant ending.

This was film-making as a labour of love. Intimate and unflinching in its exploration of love, infidelity and the destructive power that lies within relationships.

This has to be one of the worst films I've had the misfortune to see in quite some time. Five so called 'common, every day' scenarios attempting to create characters and situations to 'draw-in' the viewer and identify with either one of the characters or at least the situation.

Problem being that the characters were, generally, unsympathetic, badly formed, two dimensional and, on the whole, incredibly badly acted. In parts, the film was totally risible at the very time it was attempting to be serious. The only scenario that was anywhere near convincing was the situation with the alcoholic mother/reticent daughter. As for the rest - I wasn't interested enough in their characters to care what happened. And as for the American girlfriend. Someone put a plug in it, please!

I completely agree with Keith - this is the most appalling film I've seen in a long time. The acting is dreadful, characters wooden and one - dimensional and verging on the ridiculous. In fact, some of the scenes were so badly acted and over-exaggerated that it seemed like a spoof, in particular those centered on the gay couple and on the ludicrous Billy. Many scenes were unintentionally hilarious - the cinema audience were laughing out loud at scenes which were not actually supposed to be funny - the rooftop scene involving Billy springs to mind. In addition the cinematography and lighting is dreadful - reminiscent of early eighties Home and Away or Neighbours. And as for the soundtrack - wouldn't have been out of place in a soft-porn film. This is a film which should NEVER have been made. Still, for sheer unintentional comedic value i'd recommend it. I had a pain in my side from laughing at the ridiculousness of it all!!!! See it your peril......