Adore (2013)

Directed by: Anne Fontaine
Country: Australia / France

Movie Review: Based on a novel by Doris Lessing entitled “The Grandmothers”, “Adore” was turned into a cheesy exercise by Anne Fontaine (“Coco Before Channel”, “The Girl From Monaco”). Lil (Naomi Watts) and Roz (Robin Wright) are childhood best friends and neighbors in a secluded, small coastal town of Australia. While Lil is a recent widow, Roz is married with Harold, who feels excluded and is about to move to Sidney where he has a better job opportunity. These women’s lives will be shaken when both of them start an affair with each other’s son. The plot lives from the successive changes in these complex relationships, with all the morality concerns associated, and by confronting two different generations that have distinct perceptions of the reality. All quite messy and melodramatic, “Adore” presents so many twists along the way that, at certain point, I felt disconnected from what was happening. Any possible interest that the story might have roused, vanished all of a sudden, diluted in the layers of multiple complexities that arise when the two boys decide to marry with younger women, turning Lil and Roz into despaired grandmothers hungry for love. The lousy climax reserved for the end, was presented in a sequence of ridicule scenes that reminded a cheap soap opera rather than a real drama. Ladies’ performances eventually became the valuable aspect of this film.