The other man, 2008

The other man, 2008
Director: Richard Eyre
Cast: Liam Neeson, Laura Linney, Romora Garai, Antonio Banderas



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

Stage: Home theatre, ready with a bowl of pop corn, to be strongly americanized and romantic :)

Preps: Seeing the trailer I know that Liam Neeson, who I adore, acts here and I expect again a set of action items on the list he has to work on when driving through the movie. I loved him in Taken (see it and you will know exactly what roles he's brilliant in in my opinion) and I adore his voice, so father-like. Also Schindler's list, Nell, Rob Roy are one of my favourites for his act.
In this case, the title of the movie projects a fraud or a deception in the movie.
Liam was nominated for an oscar for this role!


Reality: It is amazing, how a post-mortum discovery can influence someone's life. When a family is torn apart by her death (cancer that leads to death due to her not being ready to go through a serie of operations), he discovers she had a lover. She was away many times, on business trips. And on one of them, she found a new romance, she had with an italian guy (brilliantly presented by Antonio Banderas). It happened ten years from this present moment, and the husband is eager to see who this man was (or is).

Pretending to be her, longing for touch with an old romance, he travels to Italy, meets the guy, leads him on and discovers fragments of her past life that both, hurt him and on the other hand, make him understand her more. Or not understand her. The dilemma, whether it's worth discovering something that hurts you in the end as much as it hurt him, makes the viewer wonder whether it wouldn't be better for some things to stay under the cover, since there's nothing you can do in the present moment, as the person, involved with this, is dead. And yet, there are numerous people that are convinced that the truth should and must be revealed no matter the time, no matter the cost.

The way the husband reveals the password for the folder she was hiding in the computer, is a miracle, and so are some scenes in the movie. The rage, with which he looks at the pictures, taken while she was having the romance, the despair and crying, this is however, very real and gives me shivers as I watch it. And she puts it brilliantly, when talking to him.. it's a matter of choice.



My personal rate: 6,0 (decent movie, however it brings out the question - what is worth discovering something after the person is gone.. Is knowing the truth worth living a lie?)

The other man on IMDB
Official site