Director: Don Roos
Screenplay: Don Roos, Ayelet Waldman (novel)
Producers: Carol Cuddy, Marc Platt
Starring: Natalie Portman, Lisa Kudrow, Lauren Ambrose, Scott Cohen, Charlie Tahan
MPAA Rating: R
Running time: 119 min.

(3/5)

Though it was produced in 2009, few outside of TIFF audiences had a chance to see Don Roos’ drama The Other Woman until last year when the film had a limited release just before John Cameron Mitchell’s Rabbit Hole ruffled feathers among film viewers. Though on the surface the films appear to be much different, at their core they share a common element of women dealing with the loss of a child. In the case of Mitchell’s film, the material is handled as a hard hitting drama with a capital D where nothing good seems to happen to anyone who comes into contact with Nicole Kidman’s grieving mother. Roos’ film takes a different approach, spreading itself a little too thin by incorporating not only the loss of a child but also a step child, among other things, into the story.

Emilia is a young, beautiful lawyer starting a new job at a major law firm where she falls for Jack, a senior partner who happens to be married with a pre-teen son. The two start a relationship which eventually ends Jack’s marriage when Emilia finds herself pregnant. The two have a quickie marriage but soon after the birth and death of their daughter, Emilia starts to fall apart. She has problems connecting with her step son William, is hated by Jack’s ex-wife who is making it increasingly difficult for Emilia to connect with William and she blames herself for the death of her baby which only adds pressure to the already deteriorating relationship.

I didn’t care for Rabbit Hole mostly because I didn’t feel anything for Kidman’s grieving mother character. She was too cold and distant for any sort of emotional connection. The opposite is true here where Portman delivers a beautiful performance as a woman in constant pain. Everything she does is clouded by an air of depression and there’s a real sense of desperation in her attempts to connect with William as if having a meaningful relationship with her step-son will take away some of the pain of loss.

The problem with The Other Woman is that it sprawls, involving too many people and issues that detract from the film’s driving force. To start with there’s the film’s title which draws attention to the fact that Emilia’s relationship is the result of her breaking up a marriage. This comes up repeatedly throughout the film, usually via a confrontation with the ex-wife, but is never really explored beyond confrontation. It doesn’t help that the film also includes the infidelity in Emilia’s family, another issue that is shoehorned in with little explanation; all of these issues add an interesting dynamic to the story but they just sit there festering with little explanation or consequence. Except they do affect Emilia. There’s the simple fact that her family and friends are aware of the fact that she was “the other woman” in the relationship but no one stops to really question or examine what that means for the relationship or the people affected by it. It’s just presented as fact with no immediate consequence. There’s a mixing of messages here that doesn’t work as if Roos wasn’t sure whether to make a movie about the loss of a child and how it effects a relationship or whether the movie was about the effects of infidelity on a relationship.

There are some genuinely touching moments in The Other Woman, most of them coming from Emilia’s interaction with William. Their relationship develops in baby steps and often it’s not clear if they’re making any headway and it’s very touching to see how it changes both characters. It was also refreshing to see Lisa Kudrow in a dramatic role. Her character is very similar to her role in Easy A, it’s loud and a bit too showy but she, none the less, provides a memorable performance.

I had a hard time deciphering the point of The Other Woman; it’s too unfocused to really hit home any one idea, but Portman’s performance is wonderful and I was engaged with her character and wanted to know how things would work out for her. Portman’s performance alone makes the film worthwhile.

The Other Woman is available on DVD and Blu-Ray on June 14th.

DVD Extras: No extras on the DVD.