Adore
3/4
Starring: Naomi Watts, Robin Wright, Xavier Samuel, James Frecheville
Rated R for Sexual Content and Language
"Adore" is either a romance or a tragedy, depending on your point of view. Maybe it's a bit of both. I'm having trouble myself figuring out how I feel about it, or for that matter, how I'm supposed to feel about it.
Lil (Watts) and Roz (Wright) have been best friends all their lives. Even as adults, they live next door to each other. Lil's husband died when her son Ian was very young, and it didn't take long for them to pass on their friendship to their children. Now teenagers, Ian (Samuel) and Tom (Frecheville), are turning into handsome, virile young men ("They're like gods," Lil says as she and Roz watch them shower after a day of surfing). And as is par for the course, the boys hormones have started to rage. Ian's attention has turned to Roz, and in a moment of temptation, she opens herself up to him. But when Tom finds out what happens, he figures that this can go both ways. Soon each mother has fallen for the other's son.
This is a twisted premise that is likely to turn off a lot of people. And while it doesn't follow to the same conclusion as one might think (or hope), it at least has the honesty to follow through with its conviction. Director Anne Fontaine, in her English language debut, doesn't exploit the situation. She allows her characters to constantly take a look at themselves and try to find a way out of the situation. Lil and Roz know what they are doing is wrong, but they can't resist the boys they have fallen in love with.
The performances help the film a lot. In fact, the film would not survive without them. Naomi Watts, never one to back away from risky or controversial films, is excellent as Lil. Of the two women, she's the one with the weaker conviction. Robin Wright, an underrated actress, is even better. Roz is more mature, but she understands Lil through and through, and is willing to forgive because she is in the same boat.
The two boys, Xavier Samuel and James Frencheville, are also outstanding (not to mention incredibly attractive...that's not just me talking since it's crucial for the film to work). Samuel came to the role almost directly after playing Riley Samuels in "Twilight: Eclipse." Fortunately, he has more talent than most of the people in that stupid franchise. Ditto for James Frecheville, whose turn in the overrated "Animal Kingdom" was just a taste of his talent. Both try to move out from the nest (Tom more so), but the ties that bind are very strong.
It is not uncommon for a young man (or woman) to develop a crush on an adult. Take a look at the teen magazines as an example. They're filled with pictures of older celebrities. Or on the reverse side, the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit issue. Of course they know that there's no chance that they'd meet their fantasies in the flesh, but that's okay since it's just a fantasy. But things change when fantasy becomes reality, especially when the adult doesn't act in a way that they should.
While I am reasonably sure that Fontaine wanted us to think of this movie as a romance (that is if the last shot was of what I thought it was, and it probably is, since it's the only logical thing that it could be), I'm glad that she told it in such a way that I was able to interpret it in my own way.
Oh, and the cinematography by Christophe Beaucarne is amazing. It's enough to watch the movie just to see the images that he creates.
Starring: Naomi Watts, Robin Wright, Xavier Samuel, James Frecheville
Rated R for Sexual Content and Language
"Adore" is either a romance or a tragedy, depending on your point of view. Maybe it's a bit of both. I'm having trouble myself figuring out how I feel about it, or for that matter, how I'm supposed to feel about it.
Lil (Watts) and Roz (Wright) have been best friends all their lives. Even as adults, they live next door to each other. Lil's husband died when her son Ian was very young, and it didn't take long for them to pass on their friendship to their children. Now teenagers, Ian (Samuel) and Tom (Frecheville), are turning into handsome, virile young men ("They're like gods," Lil says as she and Roz watch them shower after a day of surfing). And as is par for the course, the boys hormones have started to rage. Ian's attention has turned to Roz, and in a moment of temptation, she opens herself up to him. But when Tom finds out what happens, he figures that this can go both ways. Soon each mother has fallen for the other's son.
This is a twisted premise that is likely to turn off a lot of people. And while it doesn't follow to the same conclusion as one might think (or hope), it at least has the honesty to follow through with its conviction. Director Anne Fontaine, in her English language debut, doesn't exploit the situation. She allows her characters to constantly take a look at themselves and try to find a way out of the situation. Lil and Roz know what they are doing is wrong, but they can't resist the boys they have fallen in love with.
The performances help the film a lot. In fact, the film would not survive without them. Naomi Watts, never one to back away from risky or controversial films, is excellent as Lil. Of the two women, she's the one with the weaker conviction. Robin Wright, an underrated actress, is even better. Roz is more mature, but she understands Lil through and through, and is willing to forgive because she is in the same boat.
The two boys, Xavier Samuel and James Frencheville, are also outstanding (not to mention incredibly attractive...that's not just me talking since it's crucial for the film to work). Samuel came to the role almost directly after playing Riley Samuels in "Twilight: Eclipse." Fortunately, he has more talent than most of the people in that stupid franchise. Ditto for James Frecheville, whose turn in the overrated "Animal Kingdom" was just a taste of his talent. Both try to move out from the nest (Tom more so), but the ties that bind are very strong.
It is not uncommon for a young man (or woman) to develop a crush on an adult. Take a look at the teen magazines as an example. They're filled with pictures of older celebrities. Or on the reverse side, the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit issue. Of course they know that there's no chance that they'd meet their fantasies in the flesh, but that's okay since it's just a fantasy. But things change when fantasy becomes reality, especially when the adult doesn't act in a way that they should.
While I am reasonably sure that Fontaine wanted us to think of this movie as a romance (that is if the last shot was of what I thought it was, and it probably is, since it's the only logical thing that it could be), I'm glad that she told it in such a way that I was able to interpret it in my own way.
Oh, and the cinematography by Christophe Beaucarne is amazing. It's enough to watch the movie just to see the images that he creates.
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