After the small but haunting drama "Simon's Secret", director Atom Egoyan tries his hand at remaking the French drama "Nathalie - Who Do You Love Tonight with his latest work "Chloe"." by Anne Fontaine.
The core of the story remains the same, but Egoyan has skillfully added his own unique touch to the proceedings: Actually, the marriage of doctor Catherine (Julianne Moore) and charismatic music professor David (Liam Neeson) is proceeding along harmonious lines. But after David finds less and less time for his wife and then misses his own surprise party, Catherine begins to have doubts. When she reads a rather explicit text message from one of David's students, she has to fear that her husband is having an affair. To be on the safe side, Catherine hires the high-class prostitute Chloe (Amanda Seyfried). The young woman is to try to seduce David and thus provide Catherine with proof of his infidelity. In fact, her worst fears seem to be confirmed, because soon Chloe can tell her client about erotic experiences with David. Catherine is shocked, but at the same time succumbs to an unprecedented fascination that makes it impossible for her to break off business contact with Chloe.
While in 2003 Fanny Ardant had enlisted the help of Emmanuelle Béart to test Gérard Depardieu for infidelity, in Atom Egoyan`s remake these roles are taken by Julianne Moore, Amanda Seyfried ("Mamma Mia!", "Jennifer`s Body") and Liam Neeson. This casting choice proves to be the film`s greatest strength. On the one hand Moore and Neeson make an absolutely believable couple, but on the other hand it is also understandable how an outwardly strong woman like Catherine can fall for the fascination Chloe exudes. Amanda Seyfried does a first-rate job of transporting the right mix of wickedness and innocence, of charm and pure malevolence to the screen.
Other than that, what benefits the film, whose story has a few too many hangs and clichés, is Atom Egoyan's visually very classy execution. Already with "True Lies" the Canadian director with Armenian roots proved that he can stage eroticism sizzling but not voyeuristic. It would have been easy for "Chloe" to turn out extremely campy. However, it is thanks to Egoyan's sure touch that the film never feels embarrassingly raunchy, but that the erotic aspect of the story becomes an important part of the tension that makes the proceedings worth watching right up to the finale, despite clear weaknesses.
Surely, "Chloe" is not a necessary remake, the original simply wasn't good enough for that. Still, Atom Egoyan has managed to make a very well-cast and engagingly directed drama with a touch of thriller and eroticism that thoroughly deserves to find its audience. Worth seeing
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