The Other Woman is a 2009 American drama film written and directed by Don Roos. It is based on the Ayelet Waldman novel Love and Other Impossible Pursuits and stars Natalie Portman, Lisa Kudrow, Scott Cohen and Charlie Tahan. It was released in the United Kingdom as Love and Other Impossible Pursuits. It was distributed by Incentive Film Distribution in the US.
Video The Other Woman (2009 film)
Plot
Emilia is a young lawyer in New York. Her husband, Jack, is a divorcee with a child from his previous marriage. Emilia and Jack's infant daughter, Isabel, recently passed away, seemingly from Sudden Infant Death Syndrome.
Carolyn, a physician, and Jack's ex-wife vilifies Emilia as a home wrecker. Emilia believes that Carolyn's pregnancy is a form of spite, made worse by the revelation that Emilia can no longer conceive. Emilia's step-son, William, upsets her with constant references to Isabel's death (saying that under the terms of Jewish law, Isabel did not live long enough to be considered a full human being). Emilia's efforts to bond with William do not go well and succeed only in making both Carolyn and Jack think less of her.
Emilia confesses to Jack that she withheld some details concerning Isabel's death: she didn't find Isabel's dead body in her crib, but on her breast, where she could have possibly suffocated after Emilia fell asleep. A further uneasiness crops up in their relationship and causes Emilia to move out. She tentatively begins to mend fences with her father (who'd cheated on Emilia's mother) and joins her old friends at a Legal Aid office. She's surprised when Carolyn unexpectedly calls her, asking her to come by her office. Carolyn says that she told William about the possibility that Emilia could have accidentally caused Isabel's death, only for William to chasten his mother on her attitude towards Emilia. Out of guilt, Carolyn personally looked into Isabel's autopsy report to confirm that Emilia was not responsible for Isabel's death. Emilia breaks down at the realization that she's been punishing herself for something that was out of her control.
Emilia attempts to reconcile with Jack, but he rejects her. However, a crisis involving Carolyn's wedding and an unexpected connection between Emilia and William leads Jack to ask her out. On the day Carolyn gives birth, Emilia takes William to the park and gives him a boat that was given to her when she was his age. She tells him, "I love you" to which he responds, "I know" before adding, "Me too." The film ends with a montage of pictures and art, showing the various figures in the story.
Maps The Other Woman (2009 film)
Cast
- Natalie Portman as Emilia Greenleaf
- Lisa Kudrow as Dr. Carolyn Soule
- Scott Cohen as Jack Woolf
- Charlie Tahan as William Woolf
- Lauren Ambrose as Mindy
- Kendra Kassebaum as Sharlese
- Daisy Tahan as Emma
- Anthony Rapp as Simon
- Elizabeth Marvel as Pia
- Debra Monk as Laura
- Maria Dizzia as Jaime Brennan
Release
Post-production was completed in 2009 and the movie was released 2011.
Reception
The film received mainly negative reviews from critics. Review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reported that 39% of 44 of its critics gave positive reviews, with an average rating of 5.5/10. The website's consensus reads, "Natalie Portman and Lisa Kudrow deliver fine performances in The Other Woman, but they're muted by Don Roos' clumsy direction, cluttered, and melodramatic script." Metacritic, which assigns a weighted average score out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, gives the film a score of 37 based on 16 reviews, which is interpreted as "Generally unfavorable" by Metacritic.
References
External links
- The Other Woman on IMDb
- The Other Woman at Rotten Tomatoes
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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