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Adulterers (2015) - free will ...
and its consequences:
Review by Jack Kost
Adulterers is a cautionary tale,
a powerful drama inspired by true events, and far more compelling than the
contrived Fatal Attraction (1987) and Unfaithful (2002).
How
you feel at the end of Adulterers may depend on your personal experience
of the subject it deals with.
It’s
right there in the title.
If
you’ve ever been cheated on by your significant other – then this movie might
sting.
If
you have cheated on your significant other – then this movie should rightly
sting if you have any conscience and sense of guilt about the choice you made.
Consequences
for making the wrong choice is the theme unflinchingly examined in this movie,
released in the United States on January 5, 2016, written, produced and
directed by H.M. Coakley.
Lead
actor, Sean Farris threw himself into this role of a betrayed husband.
We
see the anguish of his character, his pain, regret, broken heart, broken life,
and ultimately broken mind.
Sean
Farris is Samuel, a store assistant, working extra hours during a sweltering
New Orleans afternoon.
It’s
his first wedding anniversary; a special day in any marriage.
Samuel
is a proud and happy man, deeply in love with his wife, Ashley (Danielle
Savre).
He
regrets having to work so many hours and laments at their lack of money, but he
plans on making it up to Ashley.
He
swings by his home halfway through his day, carrying his wife’s favorite
flowers and chocolates.
Besides
their money troubles, all seems right with Samuel’s world until he catches
Ashley and her lover, Damien (Mehcad Brooks), naked, having sex in the bedroom.
Devastated,
Samuel shoots them both.
This
is not a spoiler; it happens within the first twelve minutes.
Downstairs,
he sits on the couch, and drinks whiskey straight from the bottle.
Suffering
a psychological break, he rethinks the situation.
This
time, in his imagination, he doesn’t pull the trigger.
What
if I’d waited instead of acting on impulse?
What
would I say to them?
How
far would I go to punish them?
What
would they say to justify their sin, or lie their way out of the situation?
These
questions are the basis for the imagined trial and torture he puts his wife and
her lover through in that stifling room.
As
Samuel struggles with the pain of betrayal and infidelity, the wedding ring,
crucifix and Bible often the focus of the camera, he struggles with his faith.
Finally,
as Samuel himself points out:
"You
ain't sorry. You're just sorry that you got caught. It's time that you dealt
with the consequences of your actions."
In
forcing them to face the consequences of their actions, Samuel is then left to
face the consequences of his own.
There
are no winners in this story; everyone is destroyed.
Adultery
… it’s all fun and games ... until you get caught!
