Adore, 2013.
Directed by Anne Fontaine.
Starring Naomi Watts, Robin Wright, Xavier Samuel, James Frecheville, Ben Mendelsohn and Sophie Lowe.
SYNOPSIS:
A pair of childhood friends grow up living next door to each other and develop a bond strengthened by love and loss. As their children age, they both find themselves attracted to their ‘son-in-laws’ and eventually give in to their desires.
You’d be right in thinking that this isn’t your ordinary run of the mill romantic drama. In fact it couldn’t be anything more different to the average fare in this genre.
Lil and Roz are best friends and have been for many a year. They spend their days swimming, drinking and relaxing by the beach. Even when they get married and have children, they still retain the very closest of bonds and continue to live next door to each other. It’s only when their sons start getting into the late teens do things begin to change somewhat. Despite Roz being married, she’s drawn to Lil’s boy Ian the same as Lil is with Roz’s son Tom.
After a couple of drunken nights, all four do the unexpected and from there we watch as their relationships are tested and see what the future holds in store for them all.
I have to be honest, when I read the synopsis for this film, I couldn’t help but shudder as all I could imagine was an overly emotional bore of a picture. Oddly enough, I couldn’t have been more wrong – and this is actually the biggest problem with Adore.
This film, despite a story potentially full of drama, is as unemotional and cold as any romantic drama I’ve ever seen. All of the characters go about their actions with very little thought as to the morals of their actions and don’t stop to think about any of the consequences. To me and you, what the characters are doing seems almost unfathomable and you can’t help but feel a little uncomfortable as parts of the story play out.
For instance, the fact that each of the boys are sleeping with the other’s mother doesn’t even seem to invoke the slightest bit of reaction from either, something that is completely removed from reality.
The Oedipal nature of the story aside, the script really doesn’t do this film any favours either. Lines that are almost laughable are uttered with alarming regularity and you end up not caring about a single thing that’s going on on-screen.
Furthermore, despite the talents of Robin Wright and Naomi Watts being on show, this film is acted out with very little feeling or emotion and at times feels like everyone just doesn’t care about putting in a performance.
In spite of its many faults, the film does at least look amazing. Everything is bathed in warm golden sunshine which does at least help you to imagine this hedonistic paradise. One or two shots in particular make Australia seem like a very inviting place indeed.
Overall though, some decent camera work can’t save this film from being incredibly poor. A complete lack of feeling, some shonky dialogue and the general incestuous nature of this picture make it incredibly uncomfortable to watch and in my opinion is one that you should try and avoid.
Flickering Myth Rating – Film: ★ ★ / Movie: ★
Ozzy Armstrong is a Stargate and Rocky superfan. Follow him on Twitter.
Originally published October 9, 2013. Updated April 11, 2018.
