Adoration

Plot synopsis:
In New South Wales, Roz, her husband Harold and their son Tom live near the beach. Lil, who is a widow lives nearby with her son Ian. Roz and Lil are best friends, and so are Tom and Ian. Harold applies for and is offered a job in Sydney without telling Roz. He expects Roz to move to Sydney with him, however, she hesitates. Ian and Roz start a sexual relationship. Tom discovers this and takes revenge by initiating a sexual relationship with Lil. Now Roz has even more reason to stay, and later Roz and Harold divorce.Tom marries a woman of his own age. Supposedly his sexual relationship with Lil ends here, and Roz decides, out of solidarity, but to Ian's regret, to stop their sexual relationship too. Ian has a relationship with a woman of his own age, but is not happy with it. He plans to break up, but he does not after hearing from her that she is pregnant. Later he finds out that Tom and Lil have resumed their sexual relationship. He is so angry that he discloses to the two young women what has been going on. They are so shocked that they break up with their husbands and leave with their children.

Tags: revenge, flashback

Review:
A fascinating, intellectual and profound exploration of the psyches of four uniquely damaged characters: two boys who never quite left the womb, growing up in a small and affluent community far removed from reality, with one father figure MIA, the other passive and disconnected, and only their mothers for comfort and company; and two women, who never conquered their fears of aging or their struggles with self-esteem and sexual confidence, and whose intimate love for each other and need to feel young and desired manifest themselves in dangerous liaisons with each other's sons.
It's directed by Anne Fontaine, a French woman (which explains the exorbitant number of scenes with smoking cigarettes, and an insanely un-American story concept that young men might be attracted to older women.) It's beautifully crafted (gorgeous cinematography) and has intelligent editing (watch for the skillful matched cuts that "age" the characters).
Robin Wright is amazing--it's an Oscar caliber performance, however, the film probably won't get a large enough release to be on the radar for awards (sort of like poor John Hawkes not getting nominated for "The Sessions", what was the Academy thinking?) Of course, setting the movie in Australia means the other main character is the location.
Tanned surfing teenage boys with model-beautiful mothers in bikinis, cowabunga mate (and significantly less handsome husbands and admirers, thankfully not shown in Speedos.)There was laughter in the screening in places unexpected by the director, but this was probably just anxious laughter by viewers unaccustomed to thinking about middle aged women having sexual and emotional interest in younger men.
Actually, I felt the laughter lightened up the viewing experience, and made the characters more human (okay, so I laughed and cried in this movie, but I never laughed at it.) At almost every story point where an expected turn would happen (if following Hollywood development script notes) the writer took what I call the "elegant decision" and pleasantly surprised me.
I was stunned to my seat with lot of thoughts and emotions.Plot: Two lifelong friends and mothers - Lil, who is a widower and Roz, who is married - whose bonds go back to their childhood, adore each other and their sons.
Tom (Roz's son) sees his mother leaving Ian's room and Tom takes the news to Lil. It doesn't take long for Lil and Tom to fall into the same pattern.There are hesitations, but these do not last long and the secret relationships continue until the plot takes you to 2 years later when Tom goes to Sydney.
I truly liked how they played their characters, they had quite a big tasks with these roles and they were believable and natural as Ian and Tom. Very suitable cast in my opinion.Generally: Adore is a controversial movie.
Well, I have to recommend this movie to anyone who wants to be stunned by a cozy and atmospheric setting, a convenient cast, surprisingly calm and well thought dialogs and a plot which sometimes triggers a variety of mixed feelings like disgust & attraction, shame & dignity.
Finally, the isolated cove with its stationary sun-raft is an apropos symbol.Though it's obviously not a "family film" or one for younger children, there is no gore, serious nudity (just a couple of brief booty-shots of Robin Wright and Xavier Samuel), or other flinchable elements (unless you count the multiple unexplicit sex scenes).ADORE is one of the strongest, most satisfying films to come out in recent years, and I enjoyed it immensely..
The audience is polarized in response to this astonishingly refreshing and brilliant little film: some are completely disgusted with the theme of 'aberrant love' while other are awash in the courageous work by director Anne Fontaine, Fontaine and Christopher Hampton's adaptation of Doris Lessing's short story 'The Grandmothers', and the acting by two of our finest actresses on the screen.
Knowing that it is both loved and hated depending on the degree of appreciation for experimental film should be the driving force as to whether or not to take advantage witnessing this brave new film.In New South Wales, Roz (Robin Wright), her husband Harold (Ben Mendelsohn) and their son Tom (James Frecheville) live near the beach.
The rest of the film is a rapidly moving progression of changing affinities and eventual strange resolutions.The nuanced performances by Robin Wright and Naomi Watts are brilliant and very equally balanced with the sensuous and realistic portrayals By Xavier Samuel and James Frecheville.
The subject of the movie is not young adults who can't face the reality of an outside world or some older women not able to deal with their age (close-ups are still great and really narrative by themselves), it's also not about decorums and society, because it can happen and fate or destiny have nothing to do with it; it's just about a part of a life story, not ordinary but quite unstoppable.There is more than a parallel to make with Brockeback Mountain with the movie, the characters, the story line, the making, the sound...
In rural New South Wales, childhood friends and now mothers Roz (Robin Wright) and Lil (Naomi Watts) live a secluded existence.
So you sort of drag along the scenery and the beauty of Robin Wright and Naomi Watts (and the two gorgeous boys) and you think you're in for a good nap.Then things start to unfold.
Lil (Naomi Watts) and Roz (Robin Wright) are two lifelong friends living their idyllic beach life.
The movie has an original story centering on unusual relationships between two mothers and their sons, which can be very interesting and emotional if you are a fan of romance or drama.
Adore is not for everyone and a lot of people may find it controversial, but i think that is exactly what the movie is about, it can also get a little boring at some points, but the ending definitely makes up for it, so if you start watching it don't stop and just wait until the end..
Then the movie could have build up real tension, because then this affair could have jeopardized the whole friendship between Lil and Roz. Instead both mothers had an affair, both knew about it, both were okay with it and therefore there was no conflict and the whole story became boring.
After Lil and Roz "let their sons go",they both found girl friends within 2-3 scenes (by the way all developments in the movie were way too fast!), then they both married at the same time, they both had children at the same time (of course girl and girl) and maybe even got divorced at the same time (LOL).
I realized there are only 2 cases in Hollywood when actors have children in movies: either 60 year old men like Al Pacino, Jack Nicholson and others have 4-5 year old children where everybody thinks, omg he could be grandpa OR in the other case (like in this movie), beautiful women like Robin Wright and Naomi Watts in there best ages (45-47) have sons played by 30 year old actors who pretend to be 20, just ridiculous!
LOL I mean in the end when the 45 year old grandmothers play with their 4 year old grand children is really ridiculous and unreal (because as I said normally these 4 year old kids would be daughters not granddaughters - I mean just check out Naomi Watts movie from 2012 "The Impossible" where she has 3 boys, 2 of them being 5 or 6!) I was really looking forward to this movie because I thought wow these very good actresses together, the movie must be good and I expected a lot and then I was very disappointed.
It tells the story about a man named Tom who lives with his mother named Roz and his father named Harold, and who spends most of his time surfing at a nearby beach with his friend named Ian. Distinctly and subtly directed by French filmmaker Anne Fontaine, this quietly paced fictional tale which is narrated from multiple viewpoints, draws a surfacing and involving portrayal of two middle-aged mothers and longtime friends and how their relationship with their sons and with each other changes when their children reaches adulthood.
This generational, conversational, somewhat literary and adoringly condemning indie which is set in New South Wales and Sydney in Australia in the 21st century and where the husband of a wife who manages a gallery is offered a new job which might entail moving to a new place and their only son whom is about to attend a drama faculty and a mother whom has raised her son on her own makes a crucial discovery, is impelled and reinforced by its cogent narrative structure, subtle character development and continuity, distinguishable depictions of characters, masterful last scene and the commendable acting performances by American actress Robin Wright, English actress Naomi Watts and Australian actors James Frecheville and Xavier Samuel.
It's always intriguing when actresses as respected as Naomi Watts and Robin Wright turn up in films with plot outlines straight out of a porn movie or a particularly salacious soap opera.
That's the theory anyway – it certainly isn't borne out in practice.Lil (Watts) and Roz (Wright) are the very best of friends – they have been by each other's side from their sun-kissed, beach-warmed childhood days, right through to getting married and giving birth to two beautiful young boys.
The boys, in particular, are never really given the opportunity to demonstrate any depth or complexity as believable, mature adults.As a result, the connections forged between Lil and Tom, Ian and Roz, feel forced – it's hard to brush aside the feeling that there's nothing more there than sex and lust, even when the film deliberately tells us that there is.
I suppose one should feel grateful that filmmaker Anne Fontaine ("Coco Before Chanel") doesn't stoop to montages of crashing waves on the Australian surf to epitomize the ecstasy that two middle-aged women feel when they fall in love with each other's sons in this solemn 2013 melodrama that treats its taboo subject with surprising matter-of- factness.
Based on Doris Lessing's 2003 novella, The Grandmothers, the film centers on lifelong best friends Lil and Roz, beautiful women in their mid-forties and true soulmates who live very close to each other.
Meanwhile, Tom and Lil's son Ian have over the years become best friends who like nothing more than to surf and spend their days lying on a floating pier in the sun, a major symbol of escape in the story.However, late one night, Ian gives Roz a passionate kiss which signals the beginning of their insatiable affair.
It has a few "so bad it's good" moments, but ultimately it failed to keep my attention and had me bored from the moment I realized it was a chick flick.Two best friends who grew up together (Naomi Watts and Robin Wright) now find themselves in love with each other's sons.I can't say it wasn't well made, it's just the story that was too ridiculous to captivate my attention.
I love the actors in it (except for the guy from Twilight), they all give great performances no matter how lame the script is, specially James Frencheville who previously starred in "Animal Kingdom".I was expecting to see something similar to "Y Tu Mama Tambien" or "Shame", but boy was I wrong, get ready to see something more like a movie adapted from a Nicholas Sparks novel.
The movie doesn't realize that it's just too bizarre, it acts like just any other chick flick and the characters fail to recognize that what they're doing is weird and just wrong.It might be pretty funny to watch with a couple of friends though, some scenes were hilarious when seen as a sort of dark comedy instead of a drama.
Apart from that I don't know how I could recommend a film like this to anyone, I was pretty excited when I saw that Ben Mendelsohn (from The Place Beyond the Pines, Killing Them Softly) was in it, but then got bummed out when his character left on vacation from the beginning of the movie.I wouldn't recommend this to anyone really..
The film is undoubtedly thought provoking and interesting but it might leave you wanting to take several showers.Watts plays Lil and Wright plays Roz, two women (in their mid-forties) who grew up best friends next door to each other in the same beach town.
I agree with another review in that this movie could have been so much more than it was if just one of the women got involved in their best friend's son, but the fact that they both did with hours or days of each other was just ridiculous.
2.) Iain and Roz are doppelgängers with identical hair (enough said) 3.) Ian miraculously whacks out a dry pack of cigarettes whilst floating on a barge suspended in the middle of the ocean 4.) Tom (seemingly much like Harold) gets all the girls but is in fact boss eyed, dodgy haired with not only a rather flat arse and skinny waist but also the worse sex face in the world 5.) Massive fan of Ian, bar his weird jeans (massive turn off) 6.) Lil wears the same swimsuit for 10 years, despite the fact that her boobs would have inevitably sagged 7.) The end is dubious to say the least (see above) 8.) The cycle will inevitably be continued by the younger children however the director failed to come up with this creative ending (anything could have been better than what actually happened) 9.) amended title has no relevance, sounds like an ice-cream 10.) in reality Ian would have been killed by the rocks Only promising acting came from Saul but in summary we'd give the whole film the elbow.
Beautiful movie, i wanted to pause every scene just to take in the beauty of the characters and places.Ending could've been better though.Also Roz's accent was not the best, but Xavier Samuel was a joy to look at!
I couldn't get beyond the fact that in the movie, Naomi Watts's character seemed only mildly shocked to find out that her best friend had been shagging her son!
Given the fact that Robin Wright and Naomi Watts are both very attractive, intelligent women you'd think that each of their characters in the movie would have found it very easy to meet any number of eligible, handsome, intelligent, sexy men to fool around with or to embark on relationships with so it didn't make sense to me at all that they would resort to shagging one another's sons!Aside from the beautiful Australian beach scenery, there really wasn't anything to this movie to hold my attention for longer than half an hour or so.
It is based on a novella by Doris Lessing titled The Grandmothers.Should this frenetic name changing lead you to the conclusion the producers weren't sure about this film or how to market it, I imagine you'd be pretty close to the mark.Set in a very small coastal town some hours north of Sydney, Adoration tells of the intertwining lives of two life-long friends, Lil (Naomi Watts) and Roz (Robin Wright).
After a couple of brief scenes showing the friends in their younger years, the film picks up their story as the women enter middle age.Lil is widowed; Roz married to her long time husband Harold (Ben Mendelsohn).
-2 50-year-old mothers look like 20 -2 18-year-old sons act like 48 years old -the only good thing about this movie is the scene,the sea,the island -Roz is too easy to start the relationship with Ian and also for the relationship between her son and her best friend -Roz is too easy to give up on her husband.An Australian wife acts like this?
An honest porn.OrGet talented actors who can play shocked-mother-finds-her-son-with-her- best-friend, get a good script, deliver a mind blowing film.I recently watched Breathe In and, watching Adore the other night, I couldn't help thinking wow!, how big a deal it is to be able to create believable characters!We had scenes of infinite silence watching Breathe In, when we wouldn't even well, breathe in, while Adore seemed like involuntary comedy..
"Now I feel really sinful."Adore is an Australian film by French director, Anne Fontaine (Coco Before Chanel) focusing on a taboo subject matter involving two mothers falling for each others sons.
Lil (Naomi Watts) and Roz (Robin Wright) have been neighbors and best friends since they were young girls.
In fact once you accept the premise of the love for their mother's best friends, the fantasy world of this movie seems completely real.French director and adaptor Anne Fontaine handles this difficult material as tastefully as possible.
Ian has true feelings for Roz and Tom has sexual feelings for Lil. Eventually, friends decide to put an end to the relationship and let the "young Gods" go free.
She lives by the beach, next door to her childhood friend Roz (Robin Wright), and they lazily watch their two sons Ian (Xavier Samuel) and Tom (Animal Kingdom's James Frecheville) catch the waves.
The mind boggles at what was in the heads of the writers, director and actors of this laughably, so bad-its-almost-good, romantic melodrama about two lifelong friends and middle aged women who fall for each other's sons.Nobody in this film seems to have a believable job or life set in idyllic beachside locations.Despite the provocative concept, this movie plays out like a torpid middle aged romance fantasy novel - the characterizations, dialogue, directing, acting (apart from Robin Wrights impressive Aussie accent) and music is dull, one dimensional, utterly unimaginative, sometimes almost amateurish and often cringe worthy.Perhaps Watts was desperate to work at home and bring another distinguished actress with her, but despite their obvious skills, they have to deliver some shockingly dopey lines and can't save this woeful middle aged soap opera which seems desperate to find a deeper vein where there is none.Avoid..