Adore

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!

{8.5 stars}

ADORE could have turned out really cheesy, but the very real characters, along with a nice blend of funny and sad moods, fitting soundtrack, and pretty Australian beach scenery keep it from becoming so. Fine performances by all the major players. Though more character and conflict development may seem needed at first, we get to know everyone and everything gradually, and the fact that they are all just fairly "normal" (whatever that is) people is pivotal. Not the greatest script, but it's nothing if not realistic.

Regarding the plot: The way the improbable quadrangle develops is pretty convincing. Even if what's happening in the premise is nothing illegal, it's obviously weird if not downright perverse. Yet, I was surprised to find myself rooting for both couples as ADORE proceeded, wanting them all to be happy together. The way the two women bear a superficial resemblance to each other, causing us to occasionally forget who's whose mum and who's whose lover, is another interesting effect. Finally, the isolated cove with its stationary sun-raft is an apropos symbol.

Though it's obviously not a "family film" or one for younger children, there is no gore, serious nudity (just a couple of brief booty-shots of Robin Wright and Xavier Samuel), or other flinchable elements (unless you count the multiple unexplicit sex scenes).

ADORE is one of the strongest, most satisfying films to come out in recent years, and I enjoyed it immensely.

This lovely movie was based on Doris Lessing's short story "The Grandmothers". I just saw the premiere at Sundance and absolutely loved it. Supposedly inspired by a true story, it's about two mothers who really like their son's best friend (their best friend's son) And that tag line is what you'll hear all about. Oh, the horror. I imagine middle age male reviewers will not particularly like this movie, though gay men will most likely love it. But it's a film about women--their friendships, husbands, relationships, sons and lovers. It's directed by Anne Fontaine, a French woman (which explains the exorbitant number of scenes with smoking cigarettes, and an insanely un-American story concept that young men might be attracted to older women.)

It's beautifully crafted (gorgeous cinematography) and has intelligent editing (watch for the skillful matched cuts that "age" the characters). The performances are all around great. Robin Wright is amazing--it's an Oscar caliber performance, however, the film probably won't get a large enough release to be on the radar for awards (sort of like poor John Hawkes not getting nominated for "The Sessions", what was the Academy thinking?) Of course, setting the movie in Australia means the other main character is the location. Tanned surfing teenage boys with model-beautiful mothers in bikinis, cowabunga mate (and significantly less handsome husbands and admirers, thankfully not shown in Speedos.)

There was laughter in the screening in places unexpected by the director, but this was probably just anxious laughter by viewers unaccustomed to thinking about middle aged women having sexual and emotional interest in younger men. Actually, I felt the laughter lightened up the viewing experience, and made the characters more human (okay, so I laughed and cried in this movie, but I never laughed at it.) At almost every story point where an expected turn would happen (if following Hollywood development script notes) the writer took what I call the "elegant decision" and pleasantly surprised me.

This is all around superb filmic story telling. Brilliant performances, intelligent and gentle direction, spectacular scenery, highly professional technical craftsmanship, and (for most of us, I expect) new emotional territory. It's a great film. I truly hope you get to see it.

In rural New South Wales, childhood friends and now mothers Roz (Robin Wright) and Lil (Naomi Watts) live a secluded existence. Their life seems idyllic: Roz runs an art-gallery, while Lil apparently does not work but manages quite well to pursue a good life as a widow. As the film develops, however, so both women fall for the other woman's sons: Roz falls in love with Lil's son Tom (James Frechville), and Lil falls in love with Roz's son Ian (Xavier Samuel). Both women try to end their respective affairs - in the belief that they are somehow wrong - but find themselves incapable of doing so, leading to heartache and loss. There are several reasons for watching TWO MOTHERS: the first being the stunning photography of a rural seaside landscape (by Christophe Beaucarne), full of sandy beaches and azure-blue seas. It's hardly surprising that none of the four protagonists really want to leave the place, even though Tom moves briefly to urban Sydney to pursue a career as a theater director. TWO MOTHERS also boasts four excellent performances: Watts and Wright are quite outstanding as the two mothers, their faces beginning to show the signs of middle age, yet retaining much of their youthful vigor. Director Anne Fontaine's camera scrutinizes their features as they ponder the morality of what they are doing, and desperately decide what to do for the best, while remaining true to their instincts. At the end of the film, when they consider what they have done, they do not say much, but the sequence comes across as incredibly poignant: Wright in the foreground, and Watts in the background trying to explain why she did what she did. The third main reason for watching the film is the sparse script - by Fontaine and Christopher Hampton after a work by Doris Lessing. The film makes no judgment on the characters' behavior'; rather it encourages us to reflect on how human emotions work, often in defiance of moral concerns. Perhaps the film is a touch too long - the ending tends to drag a little - but the final image of the four protagonists sitting sunbathing on a wooden raft, the camera placed directly above them, is a memorable one.

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.