Adore

I almost didn't watch this film due to its average rating and some of the reviews here. I suspect the negative reviews have more to do with people rigid world views and moral inclinations than actual capacity to distinguish any kind of subtlety in the way the story unfolds.

Interestingly it doesn't actually unfold as one would expect and as some commentators have claimed.

Naomi Watts acting is excellent and the emotions she conveys make the story believable.

As for the 2 young surfer dudes, one of them actually looks a bit like Julian Wilson (Top pro surfer) which should be a pleasant surprise for the ladies out there.

The location, beach houses, cinematography are beautiful and makes you want to move to Australia. Just for that the movie is worth watching.

This looked like an interesting story with a good cast and it didn't let me down.

Naomi Watts and Robin Wright are not your average mid 40's moms, both being stunning looking with great figures. It's not surprising that guys of any age would be interested in them. Maybe the film would have been slightly more challenging if the moms in question were less blessed in the looks department. Whilst both Watts and Wright are excellent, the two young male leads are pretty wooden.

Filmed over the period of a few years it charts how the relationships fare. There are plenty of uncomfortable moments but these are handled well. The film does drag a little in the middle and it almost seems to be petering out but thankfully a few unexpected twists help maintain interest towards a satisfying conclusion.

This is a very good and engrossing drama and is well worth watching.

Let me start with saying that when the movie was finished and the lights were on again, I did not want it to end. I wanted to see what would happen even afterwards, I wanted it to continue. I was stunned to my seat with lot of thoughts and emotions.

Plot: Two lifelong friends and mothers - Lil, who is a widower and Roz, who is married - whose bonds go back to their childhood, adore each other and their sons. Their sons are also best friends and during one summer evening after wine and fun Roz and Ian (Lil's son) are getting attracted to each other. Passion takes them into unknown and questionable territory - they have sex. Tom (Roz's son) sees his mother leaving Ian's room and Tom takes the news to Lil. It doesn't take long for Lil and Tom to fall into the same pattern.

There are hesitations, but these do not last long and the secret relationships continue until the plot takes you to 2 years later when Tom goes to Sydney. His visit to Sydney changes everything for four of them - the nasty truth has its way to come out and alter everybody's happy lives.

I loved the story. It was dramatic, heartbreaking, beautiful and sad. I loved the relationships and how these were handled in the movie. It's a story where you have high doubts about happy endings. But the plot and the director kept surprising you and it asked a lot of important questions. What kind of love is acceptable? Does age matter? Can people handle the consequences of their own actions and do these make them happy? Is it allowed to fall passionately in love when you are middle-aged? Why are people willing to give up on love even though they do not want to do that, but know it's the only reasonable thing to do? Is it love when you do what you think is best and hurt the one you love with that? All these and many other questions were raised and it is up to the viewer to decide and find the answers to them. What I loved about Adore was exactly, that the answers were not given to you, it woke a lot of thoughts.

Adore was filled with interesting relationships. My favorite was the relationship between Roz and Ian and it broke my heart to see what people do to the ones they love. Roz wanted to give Ian free because of her loyalty to Lil and because she wanted that Ian could enjoy his young life. The sad thing was, that Ian did not want that freedom, he ached for Roz for years, he loved her. Roz did what she felt was right and suffered because of that.

When you look at the relationship between Lil and Tom, it was simpler, but not easier for that matter. There were more secrets and these secrets hurt the not only themselves, but also Ian and Roz.

Adore is a movie about love and betrayal and relationships.

Directing, sets: I have seen few other movies directed by Anne Fontaine and Adore proved once again, than she is one of the best female contemporary directors. I personally think she did an excellent work with the movie.

The settings in the New South Wales in Australia were beautiful. There were lot of scenes on and nearby the sea and beach. It was absolutely breathtaking! Casting and the ensemble: Both Naomi Watts and Robin Wright belong to my long-time favorites and the delivered exactly and more what I expected from them. Bigger surprises were the young men playing Ian and Tom - Xavier Samuel and James Frecheville. I truly liked how they played their characters, they had quite a big tasks with these roles and they were believable and natural as Ian and Tom. Very suitable cast in my opinion.

Generally: Adore is a controversial movie. I think there are people who would love the imbroglio of relationships and friendships and then there are the ones who would judge them. I belong to the first group. I really enjoyed the drama!

Well done. Well acted. But it is all events without exploration of those events. There is not enough dialog to explore how characters are reacting to their situation. At one point the boys fight, one trying to drown the other. The cause of the fight is never explained or explored. People get hurt. Relationships are damaged. But the film doesn't explore how the main four characters feel about the damage they've caused. The male actors seem to cast for their bodies not their acting abilities. Ultimately disappointed with characters that are depicted as apathetic, remorseless and selfish.

It is novelistic, and by that i don't mean it is dreadfully slow. The movie is quiet yes, but, it is also sufficiently visual to free up the tensions that characters face.

If you thought it was going to be erotic then you won't like it. It is much like eva green's 'womb' insofar that the movie is keen in keeping the audience attention within the spectrum of possibilities that are available to the characters.

so if you were to exclaim - oh, come on, this kinda thing never happens. well, you may have a point but that doesn't undermine the quality of the movie