Chloe

[kimmy]

Chloe (the movie) is directed by a Canadian, and set in Toronto, but the story is by an American writer and it stars big name American actors Julianne Moore and Liam Neeson. Also American (though not nearly as big name yet) is Amanda Seyfried, who has been in all kinds of stuff lately, as the title character.

Chloe (the character) a high-end call-girl. When we meet her she explains to us that she can be anything her client wants her to be, from a centerfold, to the teacher you hated, to the neighbor's daughter you wish you could screw. She can read people, she tells us, and she knows what people really want, as opposed to what they say they want... a distinction that's rather key in her dealings with Dr. Catherine Stewart.

Catherine Stewart (Julianne Moore) is a successful gynecologist, but she's also insecure as a mother and a wife. Her husband David Neeson) is a college professor who is popular with his students, especially female ones, and women seem to find him charming and attractive, which grates on Catherine to no end. She's afraid she's lost touch with her 18 year old son, she's afraid she's become old and unattractive, and when a suspicious text message arrives on his cell phone, she's afraid he's cheating on her. A chance encounter with Chloe gives Catherine the idea to hire the prostitute to test her husband's fidelity.

Julianne Moore is just awesome in this movie. Everything she's feeling, from anger to despair to frustration to arousal to shame, is so real that you can feel it yourself as you watch her. She actually seems to physically transform to fit the scene, seeming fragile and old at one moment but beautiful later on. I don't recall when I have ever felt so drawn in by an actress before. Neeson and Seyfried are very good as well, but it is Moore who makes what could have been a clunker into a compelling movie.

Sadly, Moore's Oscar-calibre performance is countered by an Oscar Meyer ending. It is as if the writer and director are saying to us: "Well, we've built this dilemma and we really have no idea how to resolve it and we're an hour and 40 minutes into this thing, so we'll just borrow the ending from a B-grade thriller. Sorry, LOL!"

Worth a mention is the role of modern communications technology in the intrigue in this movie. It's a world where everybody has a cell-phone with a camera in their pocket. You can send someone a text message quite secretly, but someone other than the recipient might get it. You might think twice about how much information you put on your Facebook page.

-k

[Pliny]

Atom Egoyan is the epitome of Oscar Meyer. I might like the acting, Julianne Moore is quite good.