Five Obscure Adultery Films ~ Anthony Balducci's Journal

Sunday, December 10, 2023

Five Obscure Adultery Films

Today, I want to make note of five lesser adultery films. These films make no bold or interesting statement on adultery. I can have no reason to recommend that you to seek out the films. Each one of these works is obscure and they are obscure for a reason. That may not be entirely fair. Some people may be entertained by Curtis Hanson's 1980s thriller The Bedroom Window, which stars adultery film grand dame Isabelle Huppert.

Enough said. Here are the films.

The Last Letter from Your Lover (2021)

A wealthy socialite, Jennifer Stirling (Shailene Woodley), is dissatisfied in her marriage to an aloof industrialist, Laurence (Joe Alwyn). She abandons her husband and young daughter to run off with a lover, Anthony O'Hare (Callum Turner).

But, on her way to meet Anthony at a train station, she is injured in a car crash. She awakens in a hospital with partial amnesia. She remembers most everything about her life except for Anthony. Meanwhile, Anthony assumes that Jennifer rejected him and sadly leaves on the train without her. This is similar to a scene in Back Street (1932).

As she struggles to regain her lost memories, Jennifer comes across letters that Anthony sent to her. Jennifer’s husband, Laurence, is in possession of a final letter that Anthony sent to their home. He has withheld the letter to prevent his wife from remembering the affair. But now Jennifer confronts Laurence about the letters she has found. Laurence claims that Anthony was in the crash with Jennifer and was pronounced dead at the scene.

Four years later, Jennifer sees Anthony on the street and gradually remembers him. She is furious that Laurence lied to her about his death.

Laurence bears more than a slight resemblance to Anna Karenina's husband, Alexei.

Jennifer plans again to run off with Anthony despite her husband’s threats, but she learns that Anthony has already left his hotel and she has no was to locate him. She visits a newspaper office where Anthony once worked, but his boss explains to her that Anthony left the country and he doesn't know where he is. She gives the editor the bundle of Anthony's letters and asks him to return them to Anthony if he hears from him again. Twenty-five years pass. A journalist, Ellie Haworth (Felicity Jones), finds Anthony's letters to Jennifer and sets out to reunite the long-lost lovers.

The Last Letter from Your Lover is unique in the appalling heights that it reaches to romanticize Jennifer and Anthony's affair. Of course, it cannot do this without thoroughly denigrating Jennifer and Laurence's marriage. Meanwhile, Jennifer is portrayed as a tragic heroine. She is courageous and noble in the face of adversity. The film lacks the nuance and balance to suggest that, maybe, Jennifer has made a few bad decisions and is not an innocent victim in this mess. She says at one point that she feels guilty about betraying her husband, but she never acts guilty and prefers to angrily blame her husband for her bad behavior.

Woodley's strength in her best performances has been her naturalness and accessibility. This can be seen in The Descendants (2011), The Spectacular Now (2013) and The Fault in Our Stars (2014). But, as Jennifer, the actress is mostly stilted and oblique.

The amnesia element has turned up in many adultery films. The Last Letter from Your Lover reminds me the most of Singapore (1947).

Let’s Try Again (1934)

Dr. Jack Overton (Clive Brook) is unmoved when he learns that a young man has been making amorous advances on his wife, Alice (Diana Wynyard). He realizes that the affection he and wife once had for each other is lost and they would do better to divorce. But, during the divorce proceedings, the couple finds that they do still love each other. The film is dull, silly, and slow-moving. Audiences rejected the film at the time of its release. PUNQ of Letterboxd gave the film one and a half stars. He wrote, "Dull married couple trying to save their dull marriage. . . and the way this is handled, not even the viewer want their marriage to be saved. . . You just find their little problems immature for such old folks." Other reviewers on the site dismissed the film as "meaningless" and "stodgy."

Friends and Lovers (1931)

Victor Sangrito (Erich von Stroheim) has his wife Alva (Lili Damita) lure military officers into affairs so that he can blackmail them. The couple's latest victims include two friends, Captain Geoff Roberts (Adolphe Menjou) and Lieutenant Ned Nichols (Laurence Olivier).

The film, as is demonstrated by this scene, is an overwrought melodramas.

The Bedroom Window (1987)

Terry Lambert (Steve Guttenberg) is having an affair with the boss’ wife, Sylvia Wentworth (Isabelle Huppert). Sylvia witnesses a woman being assaulted while looking out of Terry's apartment window. She refuses to talk to the police as she doesn't want her husband to learn that she spent the evening with Terry. But, when the woman assaulted turns up murdered, Terry is determined to track down the killer and turn him over to the police.

Jerichow (2008)

Ali Özkan (Hilmi Sözer), a Turkish businessman, loses his driver's licence after being arrested for drunk driving. He hires Thomas (Benno Fürmann), a glum war veteran, to be his chauffeur. An irresistible sexual attraction develops between Thomas and Ali's wife, Laura (Nina Hoss). The affair starts in an absurdly abrupt manner.

Ali is devastated when he learns about the affair. He gets into his truck and drives it over a cliff. The film ends with Thomas and Laura staring in shock at the enflamed wreckage of the truck. The film has been compared with The Postman Rings Twice.