"Chloe" a Gallic Shrug-fest of Adultery

Chloe is posh, cool, and never less than obvious. The movie was adapted by Erin Cressida Wilson from Anne Fontaine's marital thriller Nathalie..., and it's a sophisticated Gallic shrug-fest hailed by some for featuring an adulterous triangle unimaginable in an American movie. Successful gynecologist Catherine (Julianne Moore) suspects, not without...

By J. Hoberman

March 25, 2010

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Chloe is posh, cool, and never less than obvious. The movie was adapted by Erin Cressida Wilson from Anne Fontaine's marital thriller Nathalie..., and it's a sophisticated Gallic shrug-fest hailed by some for featuring an adulterous triangle unimaginable in an American movie. Successful gynecologist Catherine (Julianne Moore) suspects, not without reason, that her husband, distinguished professor David (Liam Neeson), is having affairs with his students; in lieu of a detective, she hires a fresh-faced young hooker who calls herself Chloe (Amanda Seyfried) to entrap him. Before long, the enigmatic child is giving Catherine a detailed account of her relations with David. The story doesn't make much sense, but the client is turned on, Moore miming arousal with the wide-eyed passion of a silent movie queen. Chloe puts quotation marks around its tantalizing nudity, caressing camera moves, and rhapsodic music. The grotesque finale aside, it's all too soigné to be truly risible, but the fun is more cheesy than queasy.

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