Chloe

Summary from Amazon.com:
In the erotic thriller Chloe, Dr. Catherine Stewart (Julianne Moore, A Single Man) suspects that her husband David (Liam Neeson, Taken) is cheating on her. So she hires an escort named Chloe (Amanda Seyfried, Mamma Mia!) to offer herself to him, to see how he responds — but Catherine has a surprising response to what unfolds, and Chloe becomes drawn deeply into the doctor’s life.

I am not into Fatal Attraction themes but something about Chloe made me wait for it to arrive on the big screen. According to my colleague, film maker Elvert Dela Cruz Bañares, Chloe is Atom Egoyan’s weakest. That may be true, but it still is rather powerful.

Many overly logical people forget that Egoyan is a very visual director and will therefore make use of highly dramatic imagery in lieu of obvious (or literal) dialogues. So if you’re one of those who complain about the actors’ long stares, this film is not for you. Go and watch a slapstick comedy or something.

Chloe shows off Egoyan’s and his actors’ ability to employ subtlety: through various mood contrasts in lighting, sounds and transitions while the actors convey emotions through their eyes. I must say, I have never realized how expressive Julianne Moore’s and Amanda Seyfried’s eyes are until I saw this. And I’ve never seen Amanda Seyfried look so exquisite, she was smoldering.

Ok, now for my actual complaints. This is the first time I’m going to suggest that you watch something this beautiful on DVD. The Philippines’ MTRCB completely butchered this work of art. Censorship in this country sucks eggs. They just cut everything they deem objectionable even though it is extremely relevant. Come on, MTRCB! You did not rate this PG, so you don’t need to treat us adults as if we were kids who cannot stomach love scenes.  While this is the law — and we cannot do anything about drafted legalities (no matter how ignorant its proponents are) — can they at least assign artists to do the editing? Egoyan makes use of melodramatic transitions so any abrupt deletions here become  horribly blatant. Artists, at least, would be able to make the deletions seem natural.

2 Comments

  1. *MrsMartinez*

    August 10, 2010 at 3:48 am

    I like this movie. My DH downloaded so we were able to watch it even before it was shown hehe Amanda is a very good actress!
    xoxo
    MrsM

  2. skysenshi

    August 10, 2010 at 7:34 am

    Agree! It was hard to imagine her doing psycho-drama after seeing her in Mama Mia but she pulled this off! 😀

    Buti na lang you didn't see it sa theater. Sobrang sinira ng MTRCB.

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