The Other Woman (2009 film)
| The Other Woman | |
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 Theatrical release poster |
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| Directed by | Don Roos |
| Produced by | Carol Cuddy Marc E. Platt Natalie Portman (executive producer) Dan Bucatinsky (executive producer) |
| Screenplay by | Don Roos |
| Based on | Love and Other Impossible Pursuits by Ayelet Waldman |
| Starring | Natalie Portman Lisa Kudrow Lauren Ambrose Scott Cohen |
| Music by | John Swihart |
| Cinematography | Steve Yedlin |
| Editing by | David Codron |
| Distributed by | Incentive Filmed Entertainment |
| Release date(s) | September 16, 2009 (Toronto) February 4, 2011 (United States) |
| Running time | 119 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
The Other Woman (original title: Love and Other Impossible Pursuits) is a 2009 drama film written and directed by Don Roos. The film is based on the Ayelet Waldman novel Love and Other Impossible Pursuits, and distributed by Incentive Film Distribution in the US. The film stars Natalie Portman, Lisa Kudrow, Scott Cohen, and Charlie Tahan.
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[edit] Plot
Emilia Greenleaf's (Portman) life is turned upside down when she gets pregnant with a married man's baby. After a quick divorce and a quick wedding, it is revealed through a series of flashbacks that her baby girl died of SIDS. Grieving the loss of her infant daughter Isabel, she is still coming to terms with her status as the second wife of lawyer Jack Woolf (Cohen). Vilified as a homewrecker, she attracts the unyielding ire of his embittered ex-wife Carolyn (Kudrow), who is revealed to also be pregnant (after she heard about Emilia's pregnancy, she realised that she too wanted another child). Emilia thinks that this is purely out of spite. Now she must come to terms with her stepson, William (Tahan), who upsets her with constant references to her dead baby. After trying to carry the load on her own, her life finally collapses, and Jack tells her he cannot go on with the relationship. Emilia has a breakdown during a fight where she reveals to Jack that the baby did not die in her crib but in fact in her arms: she believes that she killed her own baby. She then tells him that she can also no longer do this, and leaves Jack alone, crying over their daughter. Carolyn phones Emilia to come to her office, after William told her he is ashamed of her, she tells her that she has personally looked into the autopsy report on Isabel and she can confirm that Emilia did not kill her baby. At first it appears that this information is not sinking in and Carolyn tells her that she is going to repeat, "You did not kill your baby" until Emilia understands this. Emilia starts crying in realisation that she has been punishing herself for so long, and that it was not her fault, Carolyn leaves her alone in the office to process what has just happened.
On the day that Carolyn's baby is born, Emilia takes William to the park and gives him a boat that was given to her when she was his age, she then says, "I love you William" and he replies "I know." He looks at her and away again and says, "Me too."
[edit] Cast
- Natalie Portman as Emilia Greenleaf
- Lisa Kudrow as Dr. Carolyn Sowle
- Scott Cohen as Jack Woolf
- Charlie Tahan as William Woolf
- Lauren Ambrose as Mindy
- Kendra Kassebaum as Sharlese
- Daisy Tahan as Emma
- Anthony Rapp as Simon
- Elizabeth Marvel as Pia
- Debra Monk as Laura
- Maria Dizzia as Jaime Brennan
[edit] Release
Though post-production wrapped in 2009, the movie was shelved until 2011, probably due to star Natalie Portman's victory as Best Actress for the 2011 Academy Awards for her internationally praised performance in the 2010 film Black Swan.[1]
[edit] Reception
[edit] Critical
The film received mainly negative reviews from critics. Review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reports that 25% of 16 of the websites top critics gave positive reviews, with an average rating of 5.1/10. The website's consensus reads, "Natalie Portman and Lisa Kudrow deliver fine performances in The Other Woman, but they're muted by Don Roos' clumsy direction and cluttered, melodramatic script."[2] Metacritic, which assigns a weighted average score out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, gives the film a score of 37 based on 16 reviews, which is interpreted as "Generally unfavorable" by Metacritic.[3]
[edit] References
- ^ "The Other Woman (2009)". http://www.trailerdownload.net/articles/details/2449-the-other-woman-skeletons-from-natalie-portman-s-closet.html.
- ^ "The Other Woman". Rotten Tomatoes. http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/the_other_woman_2011/. Retrieved 2012-1-6.
- ^ "The Other Woman". Metacritic. http://www.metacritic.com/movie/the-other-woman/. Retrieved 2012-1-6.
[edit] External links
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