Mon 11 Sep
A clever, poignant and entertaining examination of infidelity, The Real Thing is a multi award-winning modern classic. We take a look at films which explore the same topic...
The Real Thing is at the Rose from Tue 3 - Sat 14 Oct, for more information, click here.
Fatal Attraction (1987)
This psychological thriller coined the term bunny boiler and sees a married Manhattan man (Michael Douglas) have a weekend affair with an unstable woman (Glenn Close), whilst his family are away. Cue psychotic behaviour where Alexandra (Close) attempts suicide and blackmail in an attempt to destroy his family life.
An Affair to Remember (1957)
Starring Cary Grant and Deborah Kerr, An Affair to Remember is considered to be one of the most romantic films of all time. After a series of chance meetings abroad a transatlantic liner, the pair strike up a friendship. They give themselves 6 months to leave their partners and begin new careers and arrange to meet at the top of the Empire State Building, but love never runs smoothly and an accident derails their plans until months later when they are reunited again.
The Graduate (1967)
‘Are you trying to seduce me Mrs Robinson?’ Dustin Hoffman (Benjamin) and Anne Bancroft (Mrs Robinson) star in this comedy drama about an awkward relationship between a college graduate and his parents’ friend. The emotionless affair soon becomes more complicated when Elaine (Katherine Ross), Mrs Robinson’s daughter, becomes part of the love triangle, competing against her mother.
American Beauty (1999)
What do you get when you have a man in the middle of a mid-life crisis, trapped in a loveless marriage, infatuated with his daughter’s best friend and a weed dealing next door neighbour? American Beauty. Then comes the infamous dream scene where Lester (Kevin Spacey) imagines Angela (Mena Suvari) floating in rose petals.
Unfaithful (2002)
This erotic thriller sees a middle-aged wife (Diane Lane) embark on an affair with a mysterious French passer-by (Olivier Martinez), despite having a happy and stable home with her husband (Richard Gere) and son. Things don’t go to plan when Gere discovers the affair and everything comes to a dramatic climax.
Walk the Line (2005)
Based on the true story of Johnny Cash (Joaquin Phoenix) and June Carter Cash’s (Reese Witherspoon) affair, you follow the singers through the years of Cash’s drug and alcohol abuse, breakdowns of both their marriages until the pair end up together. This story does have a happy ending with the couple staying together until their deaths in 2003, dying just months apart.
Brokeback Mountain (2005)
The romantic drama stars Jake Gyllenhaal and Heath Ledger, sheep herders in the Wyoming Mountains, who begin a secret relationship with one another. After they have finished their time in the American West, the men go back to their normal lives, both marrying and starting families. Jump forward four years later and the two rekindle their love behind their wives’ backs.
Closer (2004)
This intertwining story of two couples (Jude Law, Natalie Portman, Julia Roberts and Clive Owen) as they lie, cheat and obsess over one another. Everything unravels when the affair becomes known and the couples have to face up to their actions.
Chloe (2009)
A suspicious wife (Julianne Moore) enrols the help of a call girl, Chloe (Amanda Seyfried), to entrap her husband (Liam Neeson) to see if he’s been unfaithful, however things don’t go to plan. Moore discovers her husband is innocent, but she can no longer say the same thing about herself…
Y Tu Mamá También (2001)
This iconic Mexican film of 20-something best friends on a road trip sees heightened sexual tension between the friends and an older woman who joins them. Despite having girlfriends at home, the pair gets seduced by their companion and… you can guess the rest.
