Critic's Grade: C

Originally left with little interest in Adrian Lyne's "Unfaithful" back in May of 2002, it hardly seemed necessary for me to rush out and rent the film's inspiration, a 1969 Claude Chabrol film entitled "The Unfaithful Wife." Quoted as being Lyne's "favorite film," it has now come to my attention in the wake of a recent revision of my thoughts about the remake, but now I'm beginning to wonder if Lyne's version of the adulterous spouse suspenser was as faulty as I initially portended it to be.

For those who have seen one or the other, a recap is pretty much unnecessary, but here's a quick overview for newbies. Living a quiet, contented life in Versailles, the Desvall?es enjoy all the amenities of their upscale existence, and the company of their young, inquisitive son. The husband, Charles (Michel Bouquet), commutes to Paris for work, initially unaware that his wife, H?l?ne (St?phane Audran), makes her own trip to the city every other day to meet with her lover, Victor Pegala (Maurice Ronet). When suspicion gets the better of him, Charles hires a private detective to follow her; once the damning evidence makes it all clear, the outcome of their collective lives ends both cataclysmically and in an uplifting manner.

But which version is better? Do Bouquet, Audran, and Ronet have the same onscreen heat as Diane Lane, Richard Gere, and Olivier Martinez? Does writer/director Chabrol manage to keep things as keenly suspenseful as his American counterpart Lyne? Call me an American at heart, but I have to admit that when it comes down to it, "Unfaithful" blows its predecessor out of the water by a longshot.

For one thing, Chabrol's film is quiet, a little too much so, perhaps. His graceful cinematography, his lush settings, and his glimpses at the lives of his characters provides very little tension or intrigue, whereas Lyne, with his moody, stylized visuals and darker tone, managed to heighten the increasing inevitability that gives rise to one character's memorable line: "Someone always gets hurt." Also, the performances from the trio of stars in the remake speak volumes of the characters' inner emotions and torments, sometimes without words, while those of this film speak very little. Audran lacks the sympathetic appeal that Lane possesses in bringing audiences into her character, and Bouquet, although in fine form here, isn't very exciting, either.

I think the thing that Lyne's version benefits from the most is its emphasis on the other side of the situation. In taking things in a direction from the wife's perspective, he is able to show us a multitude of emotions, not only the wife, but also that of the husband once he commits the final deed. Chabrol, whose movie focuses more on the husband's plight, has a noticeably lessened impact; dare I say that it's always more interesting in films of this nature to watch the adulterer rather than the person being cheated on? It would appear so here. I'm still not keen on the final series of events in either version, but in the overall scheme of things, that's beside the point. Here we have two films that are nearly identical in nature, tone, and exposition, yet they differ immensely in terms of how well they relate their subject matter. "Unfaithful" is made to look like a masterpiece by "The Unfaithful Wife," which feels dreary and tiresome.

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