The Other Man (2008)

Boring

Too much about the plot just didn't add up, the writing was bad, some of the scenes were cringey and awkward,

One of the film's great tricks is that, for a time, you think it will go down a rabbit hole of unrealistic glorification.

The movie really just wants to entertain people.

I often wonder what of film makers' true goals of a project. Michael Bay bangs out blockbusters that don't put him on the cocktail party 'A list' but rather residence in the best neighborhoods. Then there are films which are produced for the elite; the anti Hollywood crowd and to be shown to film students. 'The American' with George Clooney, comes to mind, which in a sparsely populated theater I saw people walk out. Sometimes these films 'fail' because they are cheered by too large a crowd of critics, opening the gates for a mass audience...and all that 'riff raff.' Subtlety is great, it is refreshing to see some of this style from 70's films make a comeback. Would 'Taxi Driver' be as welcomed by today's generation of movie goers ? But, if 'The Other Man' was hoping or trying for such a benchmark, it failed miserably.Yet, if it was honest art, to tell a story a little differently, 'A' for effort. 'The Other Man' stars the 'A-List' talent, and the right kind, lower profile stars one doesn't read about everyday. Liam Neeson (Peter) and Laura Linney (Lisa) are a couple living in Britain. He, working for a software company, she shoe designer. Lisa dies and soon after, Peter discovers an affair she had, and sets out to 'find him.' To round out this little trio, Antonio Banderas (Ralph) is the lover. That's all you need to follow along, but Lisa's death is far more intuitive than clear. I wasn't sure until somewhere near the middle, that she was actually dead, not just 'unavailable.' Once this is made absolutely clear, flashbacks to her illness are paraded by, to fill in the back story. Linney's part is small, but enough moments are shown to see what she CAN do, in case you weren't sure, and for her to show clips when a guest on TV shows. The film essentially orbits around Peter and Ralph.The writing is weak, carefully sidestepping cliché (although Banderas does ramble on like the 'Latin Lover') although not offering anything extra in return. Subtly is great, but some punch is called for to round it out. We saw Neeson in 'Schindler's List,' but his Oskar character was complicated and paradoxical. The script for 'List' was given punch by Aaron Sorkin, whose more recent works include 'Moneyball' and 'Charlie Wilson's War.' As we saw, sometimes words are not needed, just the right looks and 'moments' will carry the day. But, other times, words ARE needed and punchy dialogue appreciated. Additionally, some opportunities were missed, such as Ralph's strange amazement with turtles, demonstrating his character had more potential than as a 'European lover,' mono dimension.I gave the picture five stars because it's not an awful film, it's just so poor from what it COULD have been. My appetite's now been sweetened to explore again, 'Unfaithful.' Not universally praised, but hardly upstaged by this updated version of the genre.

In this movie the main thing that you can understand from the start of the movie is the loneliness which dominates. As we can also observe in this movie that Liam Neeson who plays the cheated husband, he plays really great and we see that his playing is different from other times. So as Antonio Banderas does who is the lover of his wife (Laura Linney)."The Other Man" is not some special movie that you will watch and you will be speechless or something like that, but it's a movie that show us the loneliness that feels a person and the pain of this loss. It also show us the difference of behavior between the people and how people manage such a difficult issue.

The plot twist is a cinematic device which we normally associate with the thriller genre. You all know the sort of thing I'm thinking of- a villain believed to be dead is suddenly revealed to be alive and the hero in mortal peril from him, or the hero's best friend/girlfriend/boss turns out to have betrayed him and to be in league with the villains. "The Other Man", however, is film that makes use of a similar twist ending, even though it belongs to a very different genre, being a psychological melodrama rather than a thriller. As the film opens we are introduced to Peter and Lisa, a seemingly happily married middle-aged couple with an adult daughter, Abigail. They live in a large house in the Cambridgeshire countryside and both have professional careers, she as a shoe designer, he in the computer industry. As the story moves on, however, Peter begins to suspect that his wife may have taken a lover. (She by this time appears to have disappeared from the action). Documents and photographs found on Lisa's computer suggest that Peter's suspicions are justified and that Lisa's lover is a man named Ralph living in Milan, where Lisa frequently travelled on business. Desperate to find out more about his wife's lover, he manages to track Ralph down in Milan and meets him in a café without revealing his true identity. The two men play chess together and talk; in the course of their conversation Ralph begins to speak about his relationship with Lisa, unaware that he is talking to Lisa's husband. Ralph begins to see Peter as a friend, but Peter is obsessed with vengeance against the man who has cuckolded him. And then comes the twist. (I won't say what it is). The film was directed by Sir Richard Eyre, perhaps best known in British as a theatrical director, but it does not have the stagey, claustrophobic feel of certain films made by directors whose primary work has been in the theatre. It is, however, worth mentioning that Sir Richard also worked on the BBC series "Play for Today" in the seventies and eighties, as "The Other Man" has something of the intimate feel of a television play- in fact it often seems closer to that genre than it does to the cinematic feature which it ostensibly is. That remark is not intended as a putdown. The television play was a fine dramatic and literary genre in its own right, and it was a sad day for British drama when in 1985 the BBC scrapped "Play for Today", and reduced the role of one-off plays in its output, in order to concentrate more on soap operas and serials. (Channel 4 did to some extent try to cover the gap in the one-off market with its "Film on 4" series, but there is a difference between a television play and a made-for-television film)Advocating the return of "Play for Today", or something like it, to British television screens, the commentator and newspaper columnist Jan Moir wrote "A good piece of drama looks at the human condition, and tells us something we should know about ourselves," and this I think is what "The Other Man" does. It is not really the greatest film of its three major stars, Liam Neeson, Laura Linney and Antonio Banderas, all of whim have given better performances than they do here, especially Neeson ("Schindler's List", "Nell", "K-19 The Widowmaker").and Linney ("The Truman Show", "The House of Mirth"), and the twist ending can seem like a bit of a gimmick. Yet I think that it works as a psychological drama, one that explores some of the darker areas of the human psyche such as jealousy and the desire for revenge, but one which ends on a note of hope and reconciliation. The dark nature of the emotions involved is emphasised by Eyre's restricted palette, dominated by browns and greys, giving the film a sombre, autumnal feel. It is in some ways a very modern film, with that quintessentially modern invention, the computer, central to the plot, but it is also one that explores the timeless aspects of human nature. A play for today. 6/10

This isn't a simple film. It's a film that plays with time to tell a story encompassing love, jealousy, anger, loss and pain. It covers the gamut of emotions one feels when betrayed and follows the path a man goes down as he discovers his wife has had another love.I loved Liam Neeson's descent into jealous rage and the discoveries he made about himself, his family and his relationship as he discovers secrets from his wife's past. A moody film, perfectly adapted to its subject matter, you feel drawn into Neeson's character's despair.It's not the best film I've seen recently but it's one I'm glad I saw and would heartily recommend it to others who are willing to think a film through its details. The acting's good and both Liam Neeson and Laura Linney carry the plot well. Antonio Banderas plays a less rounded role, but still does so enjoyably.Definitely a film worth watching.