The Affair (2004)

User Rating:

4.5/10   

Director:

Carl Colpaert

Writers:

Carl Colpaert (writer)
Lisa Larrivee (writer)

Genre:

Drama

Plot:

In Topanga Canyon, in a beautiful but sparely appointed house, Jean Mackenzie feels like she's suffocating in her marriage to Paul...

Plot Keywords:

Affair | Architect | Marriage | Bohemian | Pregnancy

Awards:

2 wins

Cast

Kelsey Oldershaw	...	Jean
Andy Mackenzie	...	Viggo
Horacio Le Don	...	Paul
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Stephanie Bentley	...	Starr
Ronnie Gene Blevins	...	Donny
Thomas Brooks	...	Cop
Maree Cheatham	...	Charlene
Barbara Kerr Condon	...	Grams
Charles Fathy	...	Eric
Elizabeth Jean	...	Claudia
Kat Ogden	...	Gina
David Selby	...	Vincent

Also Known As:

Topanga (USA) (working title)
Topanga Canyon (USA) (working title)

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Company:

Cineville

Quotes:

Eric: Women never know what they want. All they know is to test the nest. And if the nest is good, they'll stay. And if they see some sign of weakness, they're out of there. They test you all day long until you die.

If we only cared about the characters....

Belgian Carl Colpaert has a solid reputation as the founder of CINEVILLE Releasing, as a producer of some very fine small films (Mrs. Palfrey at the Claremont, Where Eskimos Live, Surviving Eden, Hurlyburly, etc) and has directed and written a few less interesting ones. This film THE AFFAIR (originally titled TOPANGA) tries hard to be a European flavored examination of relationships, but for this viewer it falls short not only in story (scripted by Colpaert and Lisa Larrivee) and in a fuzzy cast of TV actors, but also in the directorial stance of being in control of a story that needs a lot of attention.

Jean (Kelsey Oldershaw) is a bored housewife living in a designer house with her architect husband Paul (Horacio Le Don), a man of success who is so self-centered and controlling that he forgets his relationship obligations to his wife. Jean has residual scars from a traumatic childhood experience and her needs go beyond the wifely role, searching for some degree of excitement, passion and fulfillment not available in her marriage. At a local dance club she meets Viggo (Andy Mackenzie), a bohemian passionate, live for the moment guy who sweeps Jean off her feet in an affair that produces disaster in her marriage. The story concentrates on the intricacies of this love triangle, offering alternative ways to approach love, needs, and responsibilities.

The notion is solid (if quite over used) and there are aspects of the film that suffuse the atmosphere with tension and artsy techniques. But in the end the story and the actors elude our concern and we are left feeling like window peeping voyeurs, wondering why we are sneaking a peek. Grady Harp