The Affair

Besides the Hollywood star-power I found this very grown up story great to watch and amazingly true to a society that needs to accept the power of passion and love. A commitment to finding an inner truth in a women of the present day! Kelsey Oldershaw convinces and finds great company with Andy McKenzie and Horatio LeDon. The look of this movie is so perfect and the mood is so unpretentious as I did not see it in a long time since the best relationship dramas from France at their peak in the early 70- s. The whole environment is so very true to the contemporary situation in a troubled or maybe every relationship as questions and situations of truth and motivation come to a surface and find adults often unprepared. A very beautiful film that does still leave a lot of room to enjoy and listen and reflect into personal experiences.

The film is a fresh breeze of 70th-style realism in our screen. The magnificence of the film is that it's deeply philosophical without being snobbish. In a few words the film shows how craziness of modern-day life destroys families without putting blame on either gender, but instead emphasizes on the affect of the society on relationships probably best described in the monologue of the "Frenchy". But the film perfectly avoids the diseases of many philosophical films: it does not fall into a "statement" movie shoving the ideas down your throat nor does it "artistically" over-complicates them. What makes it great that the film walks the fine line never falling into either of these categories. It's perfectly dynamic, watchable and enjoyable without compromising integrity. Did we become too dumbed down by media and rotten with all the aliens, vampires and violence garbage that we cannot watch a "normal" story anymore? I have no other explanation how this terrific film that received 4 golden awards went unnoticed by public and is even out if print now. Some user comments here confirm my point. What probably does not add to its popularity is that the film is rather gloomy and does not have a happy ending, it's simply truthful. On top of great plot and directing the film has an outstanding cast which is also probably out of the favor of the media. I have no other explanation why I never heard of these terrific actors. First and foremost is of course Kelsey Oldershaw who seemed to have no limits. She can show such a variety of emotions just by the expression on her face - it's amazing. Another great actor is Andy Mackenzie who has a wide palette of his own. My overall score: perfect 10.

I could stomach this one. Unrealaitc characters. People just simply don't behave this way or say these things. Really just awful. Actors have no charisma or connection. The writing didn't help them at all however. Anyone who posted a positive review of this film was either involved in it or paid to, because this was just difficult to slog through. The female lead is unlikable fro.the start. Tou never feel any compassion or understanding towards her behavior. Her husband was so unrealistic. No man would act that way in the situations he found himself in, unless he was a complete simp, which I don't think his character was meant to demonstrate. Viggo qqs like a cartoon character. The whole plot was a mess and made no sense. Honestly, I like bad movies. I seek them out on purpose because I try to find something g redeeming or fun. This catastrophe had none of the above.

I was fortunate enough to catch a screening of this film, which I heard had just garnered several top awards at the Worldfest in Houston. I was particularly anxious to see the movie after learning it was helmed by Carl Colpaert, a talented producer/director originally from Belgium who has had the unique "Midas Touch" of discovering unknown talent and giving them their first big break. In fact, Kevin Spacey, Salma Hayek, Vincent D'Onofrio, and Renee Zellweger are just some of the "unknowns" who got their start in Colpaert's films and went on to stellar careers. THE AFFAIR is a very well-crafted dramatic love story, reminiscent of the simpler love story films of the 60s and 70s. Parts of the film which take place on the road reminded me of Stanley Donen's classic 1967 film TWO FOR THE ROAD, with Audrey Hepburn and Albert Finney. The beautiful Kelsey Oldershaw plays Jean, a young woman who constantly seeks an ever-elusive fulfillment in her life, largely due to a traumatic childhood experience. She is married to Paul, played by the talented Horatio Ledon, who is overbearing, authoritative, and seeks to control every facet of Jean's life. Jean finds a breath of fresh air in a hot affair with Viggo, played by Andy Mackenzie, a product of Topanga's Bohemian set who is the exact opposite of Paul. Viggo is like a wild stallion, untamed, unfettered, and eager to fill the gaping void in Jean's life. The film offers a quite surprising, non-traditional view of how Paul and Jean deal with this, for lack of a better term, bizarre love triangle. The film was shot beautifully on HD, with a classy fade-to-black cut after each sequence, to give one the sense of watching individual vignettes, Chekovian "slices of life," strung together in a linear yet loose and free fashion. With their excellent performances, Oldershaw, Ledon, and Mackenzie definitely have a great shot at joining the pantheon of Hollywood stars that Colpaert has had the knack of discovering in the past.

No pun intended - it is quite tough to be in love with someone who does not seem to be so sure about their own feelings. Or who just wants to be free - in more than one sense. The main character (female) is gorgeous, so you can understand why her boyfriend (at least he thinks he is and wants to be) fights for her - tries to be a good boy - well as much as possible without losing too much of his own dignity.

There is a word for what she does to him - begins slowly but then without a shame more than flirting with other men. You may feel that he should not allow this to happen ... but maybe he is a glutton for punishment ... also we are all different ... the (s)low budget movie has not much to tell, but if you can dig the drama that evolves ... and the almost philosophical questions that do occur ... well you may have something on your hands here ... just don't try to tie it down ... no pun intended.