Chloe (film)

Chloe
US release poster
Directed by	Atom Egoyan
Produced by	Jason Reitman Ivan Reitman Tom Pollock Jennifer Weiss Simone Urdl
Screenplay by	Erin Cressida Wilson
Based on	Nathalie... by Anne Fontaine
Starring	Julianne Moore Liam Neeson Amanda Seyfried Nina Dobrev Max Thieriot
Music by	Mychael Danna
Cinematography	Paul Sarossy
Editing by	Susan Shipton
Studio	Montecito Picture Company StudioCanal
Distributed by	Sony Pictures Classics USA (theatrical)
Release date(s)	September 13, 2009 (2009-09-13) (TIFF) March 26, 2010 (2010-03-26) (United States)
Running time	96 minutes
Country	Canada France United States
Language	English
Budget	$11 million
Box office	$11,702,642 (worldwide)

Chloe is a 2009 erotic thriller directed by Atom Egoyan, a remake of the 2004 French film Nathalie.... This version stars Julianne Moore, Liam Neeson, and Amanda Seyfried in the title role. The screenplay was written by Erin Cressida Wilson, based on said earlier French film, written by Anne Fontaine.

StudioCanal fully financed Chloe, which had already made its budget back via international pre-sales. In 2009, the film received award nominations from London Film Festival, San Sebastián International Film Festival, and Toronto International Film Festival under the category of Film Presented.

Sony Pictures Worldwide Acquisitions Group paid a low seven-figure sum to acquire the United States distribution rights of Chloe, and the group opened this film in limited theatrical release in the United States on March 26, 2010 through Sony Pictures Classics. In the United States, this film grossed $3 million theatrically and became one of the higher-grossing specialty films in 2010 (according to Variety, "$3 million is the new $10 million" for specialty films' box office in 2010).

Several months after the DVD/Blu-ray release of Chloe, Atom Egoyan said that Chloe had made more money than any of his previous films.

In the wake of Chloe, Atom Egoyan had since received many scripts of erotic thrillers. Amanda Seyfried's performance in this film also helped her to gain more industry acclaim and receive more opportunities to play more roles.

Plot

The film opens with Chloe (Amanda Seyfried) getting dressed. In a voice over, she discusses her business as a call girl. Catherine (Julianne Moore) is a gynecologist and her husband David (Liam Neeson) is a college professor. Catherine suspects David of having an affair after she sees a cell-phone picture of him embracing a female student.

After work, Catherine stops by the hotel bar where Chloe waits for clients. Chloe tells her that she doesn't usually service women. Catherine tells Chloe she wants to hire her to test David's loyalty. The next evening Catherine and Chloe meet and Chloe tells Catherine that she asked David to kiss her, and he did. Angered, Catherine tells Chloe that wasn't what she wanted her to do. However, she insists that Chloe meet with David again. Over the next few nights, they meet and Chloe describes in explicit detail her encounters with David, which arouses Catherine. The two kiss; Catherine leaves. Later, she recalls her meeting with Chloe, then meets Chloe at a hotel and has sex with her. Afterwards, David asks her if she's been unfaithful. Catherine tells him she thinks he's been unfaithful. David does not respond.

The next afternoon the two women meet and Catherine calls off their relationship. That night Catherine and David go to a coffee house, where Catherine demands that David admit that he is having an affair. David denies it. Chloe suddenly walks in and David does not appear to know who she is. Chloe leaves quickly, and Catherine realizes that Chloe made up her encounters with David. Catherine confesses her sexual encounters with Chloe. David embraces and kisses her.

Chloe goes to Catherine's home and has sex with Catherine's son Michael (Max Thieriot) in Catherine and David's bed. Catherine arrives home to find them. Chloe tells Catherine that she cannot be bought off with money, and threatens to hurt Catherine with her hair pin. Catherine asks Chloe what she wants. Chloe asks for one last kiss and Catherine complies. Michael sees, startling Catherine and causing her to accidentally push Chloe into the bedroom window, breaking the glass. Chloe manages to grab hold of the frame but then she lets go and Chloe falls to her death. Paramedics wheel away the body while Catherine is comforted by her husband. Later, at Michael's graduation party, Catherine is wearing Chloe's hairpin in her hair.

Cast

• Amanda Seyfried as Chloe Sweeney
• Liam Neeson as David Stewart
• Julianne Moore as Dr. Catherine Stewart
• Max Thieriot as Michael Stewart
• R. H. Thomson as Frank
• Nina Dobrev as Anna
• Meghan Heffern as Miranda
• Laura DeCarteret as Alicia
• Mishu Vellani as Julie

Critical reception

The film opened in 350 theatres to mixed reviews. Chloe was given a 53% "Rotten" rating on Rotten Tomatoes. Metacritic, which assigns a normalized score from major reviewers, gave the film a 48 out of 100, based on 33 reviews. Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times gave the film 3.5 out of 4 stars, while Elizabeth Weitzman of New York Daily News gave the film 1 out of 5 stars.

Production notes

• Financed solely in France, the film was shot in Toronto. Several famous local landmarks can be seen, such as Allan Gardens, Cafe Diplomatico, The Rivoli, the Windsor Arms Hotel, the Royal York Hotel, the Royal Ontario Museum, the CN Tower, the Art Gallery of Ontario and the Ontario College of Art.
• Liam Neeson's wife, Natasha Richardson, had a skiing accident during filming. Neeson decided to leave the set to take care of his wife, who died from her injury a few days later. The filmmakers changed the script accordingly for Neeson’s absence. Just a few days after his wife's death, Neeson returned to the set and filmed the remainder of his scenes in two days.
• Jason Reitman helped persuade Amanda Seyfried to star in this film.
• Canadian indie rock band Raised by Swans has two songs featured in the movie and the band is mentioned several times by Chloe.
• Anne Fontaine (the writer/director of Nathalie...) said that she was interested in Egoyan's take on her original. Fontaine also said that she even wasn't happy with Nathalie..., because the two lead actresses of the film objected to Fontaine's original intention for a lesbian relationship to develop between their characters.

Home video release

Chloe was released in the United States on July 13, 2010 in both DVD and Blu-ray Disc. The disc includes an audio commentary, making-of featurette and deleted scenes.

See also

• Nathalie...

External links

Official

• Official website
• Julianne Moore Chloe – interview.
• StudioCanal (fr) Chloe

Database

• Chloe at AllRovi
• Chloe at Box Office Mojo
• Chloe at the Internet Movie Database
• Chloe at Rotten Tomatoes