Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned … by another woman. Or so goes the subtext of Chloe, director Atom Egoyan's latest sexual thriller that features Julianne Moore, Liam Neeson and Amanda Seyfried in a sort of kinky variation on John Schlesinger's bisexual classic Sunday, Bloody Sunday. There are also many sexy elements from the Wachowkis' Bound, which found Gina Gershon and Jennifer Tilly unexpectedly ending up as lovers. The result is par for the course for Egoyan, who has been doing his best to turn on audiences since his 1994 breakthrough, Exotica.
Egoyan doesn't waste any time and brings out the lingerie immediately over the opening credits—the fishnets and the lacy bra and garter belts—along with the red lipstick worn by Seyfried as Chloe, the shapely, mysterious blonde goddess, a prostitute with a thing for fantasy. Suitably teased, Egoyan gives us the plot ( as adapted by Erin Cressida Watson, from Anne Fontaine's script for the French film Nathalie ) . Moore plays Catherine, an uptight gynecologist who suspects her college professor husband David ( Neeson ) is fooling around with one, or many, of his willing female students. The couple, along with their sexed-up teenage son, Michael ( Max Thieriot ) , live in one of those ultra-modern glass houses that filmmakers use to reflect the icy emotions kept prisoner within. Catherine, by appearances, is apparently the only one who isn't gettin' any.
After a chance meeting with Chloe at a fancy restaurant populated by middle-aged guys and their comely escorts ( a typical Egoyan conceit ) , Catherine hires Chloe to find out if her instincts are right. "How do you do this?" the anxious Catherine asks the assured Chloe, who answers confidently, "I try to find something to love in everybody"—an answer that intrigues Catherine. Soon, she finds herself inexplicably drawn to the Lolita-like beauty, only to find herself in over her head. And, yes, that kiss you've read so much about between the two leads to a sensual tryst that the L in LGBT moviegoers will definitely appreciate.
All this, as expected, places us in typical Egoyan country exploring the sexual tension and hidden kinks of the lead characters. But in casting the luscious Seyfried ( who expands her range from Mamma Mia! and Dear John ) as a sort of lesbian nymphet variation on the Glenn Close character in Fatal Attraction—in itself a refreshing twist—and Moore as the older, experienced female, the script touches on the rarely explored area of female eroticism from a woman's point of view. And the script also gives Moore—who gives her usual fearless performance—a great confessional monologue about aging in a world of 23-year-old glamour pusses.
This perspective helps elevate Chloe from Egoyan's usual sexy ( but satisfying ) thriller ( as it does a nice last-act twist ) into something a tad more insightful—the filmmaker having discovered apparently that a little female philosophy, along with the fishnets, never hurt anyone.
Film notes:
—The monthlong 13th Annual European Union Film Festival at the Gene Siskel Film Center, 164 N. State, continues with the inclusion of three more queer-tinged entries. OSS 117: Lost in Rio again finds the bumbling, hunky French James Bond-like detective on the trail of spies down South American way. As in the first edition, expect a lot of homoerotic undertone. It plays March 26 and 27.
Brotherhood, an entry from Denmark, is the story of Lars, who joins a group of homophobic Neo-Nazis after being kicked out of the Army for being gay. But soon the group suspects that Lars is a closeted homo just as he's finding his attraction to a straight counterpart surprisingly reciprocated. It plays March 27 and 31.
Finally, The Swimsuit Issue, a Swedish variation on the Britcom The Full Monty, follows an out-of-work, divorced man who hits upon the idea of creating an all-male synchronized swim team with the typical winsome results. It plays March 28 and 29. See www.siskelfilmcenter.org .
—Turner Classic Movies is hosting its first-ever film festival in Hollywood April 22-25. To celebrate, it is hosting advance screenings of classic Hollywood films throughout the country in a program titled "Road to Hollywood." Chicago's legendary Music Box Theatre, 3733 N. Southport, will screen director Alfred Hitchcock's 1959 classic North By Northwest on Tuesday, March 30, at 7:30 p.m. as part of the tour. North By Northwest, one of Hitch's most entertaining thrillers, finds Cary Grant as a Madison Avenue ad man mistaken for a spy who soon finds himself outrunning both the authorities and a group of sophisticated baddies led by James Mason and Martin Landau as his gay and rather deadly sycophantic number two. Eva Marie Saint plays one of Hitchcock's sexiest blondes who has an agenda all her own. TCM host Robert Osborne will host the evening and Saint will attend. Tickets are free ( first come, first served ) and can be downloaded at www.tcm.com/roadtohollywood.
—Threat Level: An Evening of Queer Shorts groups a cross-section of LGBT-themed shorts in a program titled "Channeling: An Invocation of Spectral Bodies and Queer Spirits" Wed., March 31, at The Nightingale, 1048 N. Milwaukee. That's also the title of a DVD release of the evening's eight queer-themed shorts, curated by Lathan Zearfoss and Ethan White, which the night also celebrates. Doors open at 7 p.m. with screenings beginning at 7:30 p.m. See myspace.com/threatlevelqueershorts or facebook.com/threat.level.
Check out my archived reviews at www.windycitytimes.com or www.knightatthemovies.com . Readers can leave feedback at the latter Web site.
