Product Details

• Actors: Richard Gere, Diane Lane, Olivier Martinez, Erik Per Sullivan, Myra Lucretia Taylor
• Directors: Adrian Lyne
• Writers: Alvin Sargent, Claude Chabrol, William Broyles Jr.
• Producers: Adrian Lyne, Arnon Milchan, Bruce Devan, G. Mac Brown
• Format: Anamorphic, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, DVD, Widescreen, NTSC
• Language: French (Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround), English (Dolby Digital 5.1), Spanish (Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround)
• Subtitles: English, Spanish
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Rating: R (Restricted)
• Studio: 20th Century Fox
• DVD Release Date: December 17, 2002
• Run Time: 124 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars See all reviews (293 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B00006RCNY
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #7,295 in Movies & TV (See Bestsellers in Movies & TV)

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  #32 in	Movies & TV > Drama > Love & Romance > Marriage
  #34 in	Movies & TV > Drama > By Genre > Mystery & Thriller

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com
If you ever need dramatic proof that adultery is inevitably destructive, look no further than Adrian Lyne's Unfaithful. Drawing inspiration from Claude Chabrol's 1969 film La Femme Infidèle, the director of Fatal Attraction is mining similar territory here, but this grownup thriller is more intimate than Lyne's dead-bunny potboiler, probing more deeply into the rush of conflicting emotions provoked by infidelity. In what many critics praised as the role of her career, Diane Lane plays the instigator of emotional turmoil, a seemingly happy housewife and fundraiser who cheats on her devoted husband (Richard Gere, in a welcomed change of pace) when she casually encounters a seductive Frenchman (cliché alert!) played by Olivier Martinez. Allowing his actors to speak volumes without words, Lyne emphasizes silent tension over explicit thrills, creating a sexually charged thriller that remains riveting even as it turns partially predictable. "Someone always gets hurt," says one character in a pivotal scene, and Unfaithful fulfills that prophesy in a timeless tale of passion. --Jeff Shannon

Product Description
From the director of Fatal Attraction comes "a steamy thriller" (People Magazine) about physical passion so intense, it consumes everything - and everyone - in its path. Edward and Connie Summer (Richard Gere, Diane Lane) have the perfect life: a happy marriage, an eight year old son, and a beautiful house in the suburbs. But when Connie's chance encounter with a handsome stranger (Olivier Martinez) erupts into a full-blown affair, desire becomes obsession, and the true price of betrayal takes a shattering toll. Pulsing with heart-pounding suspense and erotic thrills, Unfaithful is "sexy", stylish and seductive!" (Wireless Magazine)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

62 of 67 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Diane Lane gives a remarkable performance, November 16, 2003

By	Kona (Emerald City) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)

This sensual and somber drama about infidelity stars Diane Lane and Richard Gere as a married couple headed for tragedy. Connie (Lane) and Edward (Gere) are successful suburbanites with a seemingly happy marriage, until Connie meets an attractive younger man and begins an affair. Edward wonders what's going on, hires a private detective, and gets the answer he suspected all along.

Lane is memorable as the guilt-ridden wife who is obsessed with her lover. She is lovely, mature, and honest in her portrayal and deserved her nomination for Best Actress. Gere is almost a supporting actor here, but he is wonderful playing an average guy. Olivier Martinez plays Lane's paramour. His character was fairly one-dimensional and could have been developed further, but he was very good in the role.

The first time I saw the movie, I thought it was relatively dull because of its relentlessly low-key presentation and leisurely pace. On the second viewing, however, I found it a real winner. There are long periods without dialogue, where the camera focuses on facial nuances. The silence gives one a chance to appreciate the fine acting. The photography is excellent, from wide shots of dirty urban streets to warm glimpses of home. The musical score was lovely, lilting and romantic. "Unfaithful" is erotic and tender, with some surprises and an excellent ending.

25 of 27 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Not Just About Sex..., July 21, 2002

By	"eepiwee" (Mukilteo, WA United States) - See all my reviews

There is a certain beauty contained within this film that makes it beyond a film about infidelity and its consequences. Diane Lane didn't get my attention until the recent "The Glass House." As a new fan, I had to see 'Unfaithful'...her performance is nothing short of remarkable.
The story revolves around a 'happily married', middle-aged couple living in the suburbs of NY with one small son. Their life is the picture of the 'American dream', until one day, Mrs. Sumner (Diane Lane) goes into the city on business and cosmically collides with the much younger Paul Martel (Martinez). When he invites her in to clean up her skinned knee a most deadly affair begins.
What makes this movie different from all the other films with themes such as betrayal, etc, is that we see the struggle and transformation Diane's character makes. Several times we see Diane reflect on her various 'visits' to Martinez and all at once her face displays pleasure, pain, and paranoia. She brings likability to a character we should hate. Richard Gere is one of my favorite actors and I deeply respect him for taking a 'backseat' role in this film. His character torments himself wondering why his wife would possibly want to cheat on him, as he thought he was providing a perfect life.
Added suspense and thrills come about when Gere starts to suspect and eventually finds out about the affair. We then see the direct effect affairs have on families. The murder mystery was thrown in more for entertainment value but the true artistic aspect remains in the adultress' mind.
We've seen affairs start from heartbreak, drunkeness, seduction...any reason other than this film's...boredom. From boredom and seduction we get obsession, we see Diane become addicted to her breakaway from daily life. For those of you who love Richard Gere as much as I do, you really have to bite your lip watching him getting cheated on! However, there is great remorse as Connie (Diane) really does love her husband, but someone dies before the affair is ended. This movie truly remains with its viewers. I recommend picking up the haunting tracks 'Moby - Rushing' and 'E.S. Posthumus - Nara' to reexperience the emotions captured through watching 'Unfathful.' This is a definete must see!

23 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Drop your sno-globe and come out with your hands up!, January 4, 2003

By	Joseph Haschka (Glendale, CA USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)

This review is from: Unfaithful (Full Screen Edition) (DVD)

UNFAITHFUL is a film that might perhaps tap into a viewer's double standard regarding extramarital sex.

Connie Sumner (Diane Lane) and her husband Edward (Richard Gere) seem to have all the ingredients for a perfect marriage after eleven years of togetherness. They live in a perfect house in an affluent New York City suburb and have a child, a well behaved son, enrolled in the perfect school. Edward is financially successful as the head of his own business, and is apparently an excellent provider. Connie doesn't have to work, but spends her time soliciting for charities. They have bountiful food on the table and drive upscale, late model cars. All are physically healthy. The household is free of disruptive emotional extremes.

Some would kill for much less.

One day in the Big Apple, a violent windstorm literally blows Connie into the arms of a used-book merchant, Paul Martel (Olivier Martinez), staggering down the street with a burden of tomes. Both fall to the pavement, Connie scraping her knee. Paul is young and handsome. Paul invites Connie up to his apartment for tea and band aids. Such is Connie's starvation for seduction and passionate intimacy that she's soon visiting the city on a regular basis for a discrete affair carried on not always so discretely. Edward becomes suspicious after odd answers to the usual end-of-the-day query, "What did you do today, honey?" Edward eventually hires a gumshoe to follow her.

I first saw Diane Lane in the TV miniseries LONESOME DOVE and thought "What a sweetheart!" In UNFAITHFUL, it's "What a Babe!" - but, hey, let's not allow that to color my opinion of her performance here. Lane is superb as a subliminally bored woman feeling the conflicting emotions - giddiness, guilt, exuberance, mortification - of an illicit affair, a turmoil wonderfully illustrated as we watch her face and body language as she comes home on the commuter rail after her first intimate encounter. Lane, not Gere, is the star of this film, though the latter is perfectly adequate as the man who slowly realizes he's being cuckolded. My minor disenchantment with the movie is an ending too open-ended for my taste, especially as it occurs in front of the local police station.

Though the viewer must certainly think that Connie is making a Big Mistake for the long term, I had sympathy for her short term actions. I'm left wondering if this is a gender-based opinion. Would I have felt different if the roles of Ed and Connie had been reversed, and the former had been doing the cheating? I suspect so. And would a female viewer have a harsher opinion of Connie's choices?

I liked UNFAITHFUL for the questions it raises. I think it much better than the response it received while in theater release. Oh, and I never realized sno globes were built so sturdily. Mine with the cute, little bunnies in the forest shattered early on.