The Indecent Woman

Another movie that attempts to blame adultery on anything other than people who are shallow, narcissistic and generally of less than admirable character. Hard to watch when one is intimately familiar with the real deal.

Nothing new here.

A (seemingly) happily-married woman has an affair. What was meant to be a brief fling turns into something quite addictive, kinky...and dangerous...

The movie doesn't cover any new ground. The setup, meeting, affair and consequences are all straight out of the infidelity-drama handbook. There is a brief moment toward the end where it appears that the plot may develop into something more sinister and intriguing but that idea fizzles out pretty quickly.

Ultimately the movie goes nowhere.

Performances are okay though.

"De onfatsoenlijke vrouw" is an early nineties Dutch movie with a title that translates to "The Indecent Woman".

The movie is about a middle-aged violinist who has an affair.

The lead is surprisingly homely. She's passably attractive, I guess, but this is surely no Cinemax or "Red Shoe Diary" wannabe. The guy she has an affair with isn't all that much to look at either. If they went for acting chops over looks, or realism over fantasy, I guess you have to credit them for that. But surely there are hotter Dutch actresses who can also act?

For once, the husband in this story isn't neglectful. He's even better looking than the guy she cheats on him with. Her problem is that he is too "reassuring". "I don't want to be reassured", she says. "I want to be afraid."

Um, right. Said no one ever?

For some one so keen on excitement, her affair doesn't seem to provide that much - certainly none for us, the viewers. It gets pretty tedious.

The lead's infidelities make her lose control and she slaps her daughter. Not a whole lot else happens before or after that, other than a few sex scenes, but the act of child abuse happens over an hour into the movie. This is one of those godawful movies that only has plot enough for half an hour, but which goes for an hour and a half. There's something really unpleasant about watching nothing on screen. People doing things, or saying things, none of it amounting to anything, making you feel anything, or making you think anything. It becomes an exercise in nothingness.

_The Indecent Woman_ draws out several themes, among them the tension between the desire to loosen restraints and the fear of losing control. Emilia, the central character, muses at one point that "fantasies are so contradictory", which captures the mood of the film perfectly. The potential for an individual to lose him or herself in desire is a key issue as the story unwinds.

There are several much more explicit scenes, but keep an eye out for the "shadow foreplay" sequence, which is perhaps the most tense and erotic sequence in the film. Later, the shadows resurface, this time as a threat, mirroring the progressive change in the relationship between Emilia and Leon.

In Amsterdam, the violinist Emilia (José Way) is married with Charles (Coen van Vrijberghe de Coningh) and they have a little daughter, Anna (Lydia van Nergena). Emilia is trying to sell the house that belonged to her deceased mother. One day, she is alone in the house changing clothes and out of the blue the client Leon (Huub Stapel) comes into the room using the key provided by the real estate agent. Leon starts a seducing game with Emilia and they have a kinky love affair, affecting her relationship with Charles and Anna.

"De onfatsoenlijke vrouw", a.k.a. "The Indecent Woman", is an erotic romance with a simple story of infidelity. The film works very well, keeping an erotic atmosphere and sexual tension, mainly because of the sexy unknown actress with the exotic name José Way. She has beautiful body and face and her performance gives credibility to her character Emilia. Unfortunately there is no information about this actress in Internet. My vote is six.

Title (Brazil): "Mulher Indecente" ("Indecent Woman")