The Other Man (2008)

The story of a husband who suspects his wife of adultery, and sets out to track down the other man in her life.

Director:

Richard Eyre

Writers:

Richard Eyre (screenplay), Bernhard Schlink (short story),

Stars:

Laura Linney, Antonio Banderas, Liam Neeson

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Laura Linney	...	Lisa
Antonio Banderas	...	Rafe
Liam Neeson	...	Peter
Romola Garai	...	Abigail
Abigail Canton	...	Designer
Pam Ferris	...	Vera
Paterson Joseph	...	Ralph
Craig Parkinson	...	George
Lola Peploe	...	Eleanor
Sophie Wu	...	Shop Assistant
Richard Graham	...	Eric
Lisa McDonald	...	Receptionist
Emma Fielding	...	Gail
Paul Ritter	...	Guy
Amanda Drew	...	Joy

Storyline

In Cambridge, the software engineer Peter (Liam Neeson) and the shoe designer Lisa are successful in their careers and have been happily married for twenty-five years. They have an adult daughter, Abigail, and Lisa frequently travels to Milano to do business with the Gianni & Gianni Company. When Lisa is gone, Peter finds a message in her cellular and decides to snoop her e-mails and discovers in a secret folder named Love that she had a lover, Ralph. Peter travels to Milano and stalks Ralph; he finds that the man plays chess in a bar. Peter gets close to Ralph and discusses his relationship with Lisa without knowing that he is her husband.

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Plot Keywords:

chess | love | adultery | shoes | e mail | 

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Taglines:

Is knowing the truth worth living a lie?

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Genres:

Drama | Mystery | Thriller

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Details

Official Sites:

Image Entertainment [us]

Country:

USA UK

Language:

English

Release Date:

27 May 2009 (France)

Also Known As:

A másik férfi

Filming Locations:

Ealing Studios, Ealing, London, England, UK

Box Office

Budget:

$15,000,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Gotham Productions, Rainmark Films

Technical Specs

Runtime:

88 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Laura Linney replaced Juliette Binoche.

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Goofs

The piece of paper written end ripped by Lisa on the bed is bigger then the one inside the red shoe.

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Quotes

Abigail: [answering phone] Hello? Dad?
Peter: Listen, can I talk to you?
Abigail: Yeah. Just talk dad, it's what people do on phones.

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Connections

Featured in Siskel & Ebert: Episode dated 12 September 2009 (2009)

User Reviews

Good but with some unexpected things

Looking at the cast of "The Other Man" you could consider in buying this film: Liam Nesson, Antonio Banderas, Laura Linney and Romola Garai. The movie delivers? Yes. All that much? No. And if you consider that this was directed by Richard Eyre who directed great ensemble casts in "Iris" and "Notes on a Scandal" there are things that makes of "The Other Man" an inferior film than this two examples.

Neeson plays Peter, a man married with a beautiful wife (Linney), that discover that she hides from him a long affair with Ralph (pronunced Rafe, played by Banderas). What Peter does? Tracks down this man in Italy and tries to see who he really is and what his wife saw in that men. His first idea is to kill this guy but he's always reluctant, so he keeps on playing games with his guy who seems to love Peter's wife very much.

The whole drama pretending to be a thriller goes well, it makes the story interesting until the ending which is quite disappointing and a little bit unexpected. But if you think I can buy the idea that these two guys reveal part of their lives to each other during chess games matches, well I did not buy it. And if they were drunk maybe but that was not the case. Two unknown figures sharing their romantic passages of their lives (with the same woman) is something unbelievable (or perhaps it's just me who likes to play the mysterious guy in front of other people so it's very difficult to make me really share something of this kind of nature). This scenes were great, interesting dialog, except for some angered reaction of Neeson throwing the pieces away after losing a match.

It's a very psychological work about how one can deal with adultery, different reactions might come from the audience, it's very interesting the way Peter does that, changing his persona all the way through this chase after his wife's lover. It's a great material for passionate people who can't forget a betrayal and feel a need to do something about it. This film will make that kind of people think again just like Peter changed his mind in the course of the story.

The acting is decent, the cast is at their best considering the material they were giving. More complexity, more realism and more thrilling moments instead of some bits here and there would make this film better. 7/10