Review: The Other Man

The Other Man caught my eye primarily because of the cast, headed by Laura Linney, on of my personal favorites, and Liam Neeson, but also because of its director, Richard Eyre. It is his follwo up to Notes on a Scandal, a somewhat chilling movie he brought to the festival two years ago. Mr. Eyre greeted the audience at 9:00 AM, commenting that not only was he touched by the packed theatre at that hour on a Monday, but that his "heart was warmed that so many people would applaud an [earlier] announcement to please turn off your cell phones". I liked him already.

Before the movie started, he said that the film was about adultery, but hinted that there was more to it. There was, but he divulged after the screening that he likes his audience to be naive going into the movie, which I generally prefer to be, so I was happy to be left in the dark. While I don't necessarily think that knowing more about the plot would destroy the enjoyment of this film, I'll honor his wishes here.

I will tell a bit more than he did, though, even if I seem evasive. Neeson plays Peter, a software developer (the job part wasn't too convincing, being in the business, but it wasn't a focal point, so I let it go) who is happily married to Lisa (portrayed by Linney), a shoe designer. I'm sure she wasn't the most realistic shoe designer either, but what the hell do I know about shoe designers?

Anyway, like I said, Peter is happily married to Lisa, but I never said anything about Lisa being happily married to Peter. I'm not saying she isn't, but there was obviously some reason for a suave Antonio Banderas to appear in the film, so it must have been to roll around with Linney. The movie jumps around a little bit, and early on it jumps forward. Lisa is out of the picture, and Peter learns of Ralph (Banderas). He's understandably angry, and trots off to Milan to kill him, or at least beat him at chess.

Antonio isn't one of my favorites, but I thought he performed quite well in this film. He certainly showed, as Eyre pointed out in the Q&A, nuance that you could not have detected in Zorro. Linney was great, as always, but the movie really was a Neeson feature. He is a skilled actor and, delivering his native northern Irish accent in this film, he shows great range. Apparently, according to Eyre, the northern Irish keep their emotions a little bottled up, which probably fit his character's profession. Not that I do necessarily, but please, keep the comments about the movie and not my emotional intelligence.

I enjoyed this picture, the acting was great all around, and I thought the Eyre, who developed the screenplay from a Bernhard Schlink short story, rolled out the story in the best way he could. Things might seem confusing for a bit, but it pulls together. My imdb rating: 7/10.