[img]7|left|||no_popup[/img]Stories about infidelity come with a certain amount of risk. It’s
easy to get caught up in the melodrama of a person cheating on another,
to dwell on the sexual and/or emotional betrayal in a way that renders
the characters as caricatures drawn in black and white. Hard is
resisting the impulse to moralize. Harder is presenting a nuanced
psychology. Harder still is examining infidelity as it occurs in
multiple sets of interconnected characters.
Yet, writer/director Kate Gorman pulls it off. “Five Moments of
Infidelity” is the “Crash” of frail human relationships, although where
“Crash” gets it wrong and ends up a blunt, brutish thing that leaves
one sullied and bruised, “Five Moments” is perceptive, humane, and
fully capable of handling the synchronicity of its ensemble cast. It is
remarkably organic, a quality manifested as much in script’s meticulous
construction as in the liquid, almost dance-like camerawork that
elevates “Five Moments” above similarly-budgeted indie films – although
flat, characterless cinematography does the film no favours.
Of course there’s the vanilla straight couple coming to grips with
the death of love in their relationship, and the impressionable young
woman strummed by a lothario – and stung. But there’s also the gay
couple with an open relationship, the family with overworked and
sexually stalled parents, and a massively dysfunctional family running
on alcohol fumes and despair. For all the universality of most of the
scenarios she presents, the one involving the severely dysfunctional
family shows that infidelity can often be harder to pin down than
expected.
The focus on the rich variety of motivations and vulnerabilities,
instead of the coincidental connections between characters, keeps “Five
Moments” from self-consciously exposing its structure. And Gorman
wisely avoids going for pat answers and white-glove tidiness. As with
the situations the various characters find themselves in, convincingly
presented by a uniformly superlative cast, the fall-out from those five
moment span a spectrum; forgiveness, failure, hope, tragedy,
stagnation, renewal. There may not necessarily be great insight, and,
inevitably, some of the film’s scenarios hit harder than others, but
there is considerable honesty in how it all plays out. The characters,
faults and all, are sympathetic in their humanity. To go back to that
impulse to moralize; “Five Moments” isn’t interested in preaching about
the evils of adultery – nor, conversely, does it glorify a rebellion
against social strictures. “Five Moments” is an earnest, lovely film
about the human, fracture-prone heart.
Entertainment Value: ** (out of two)
Technical Quality: ** (out of two)
Five Moments of Infidelity.Written and directed by Kate Gorman. 90 minutes. Visit www.echelonstudios.us for distribution and screening information.
Frédérik invites you to discuss this film, and more, at his blog.