Conversations with Other Women stars Aaron Eckhart and Helena Bonham Carter as two former lovers who run into each other at a wedding many years after the last time they saw each other. The movie follows them through the rest of the night.

Basically, this movie is about two adults who have a love affair. Carter is married with two children, and Eckhart has a serious, but younger, girlfriend. These two people have gone on with their own lives since last meeting, but it is quite clear that they both never lost that old feeling for each other. Having recently been married, I’m not too entertained by stories about cheating spouses, so that was a downer for me. Even so, I thought the way in which this story was told was very interesting as well as somewhat confusing.

This movie was shot using a split screen effect where half of each side of the screen is a different frame, and the picture uses the extra wide 2.35:1 aspect ratio. It is an interesting way to present the movie because when the two characters speak to each other, we get to see their reactions to every word and nuance, as opposed to the typical cutting back and forth that is done in most other movies. To make the split screen effect work best, it requires a lot of effort on the part of the actors, and both Eckhart and Carter give splendid performances.

As the seduction unfolds, a lot of fantasy type sequences are used to show what the characters secretly wish would happen both as things are going as well as what might happen a few seconds into the future. It’s a cool way to briefly look inside their thoughts, but it also makes the movie somewhat hard to follow. There’s also a running theme involving some of the events from their previous encounters, so often the split screen will use one side to show these flashback sequences. This movie must have been hell to edit.

I found where many reviewers on other sites have drawn comparisons to this movie and Richard Linklater’s Before Sunrise and Before Sunset movies, which were far superior in every way. Linklater’s movies told a genuine love story whereas this movie is more about two lusting adults who lie and fantasize their way through most of the story.

This movie was directed by Hans Canosa, whose only previous movie was something called Alma Matter. The screenplay was written by Gabrielle Zevin, who also wrote Alma Matter. Together, they have another movie due out in 2008 called After Dark, but I don’t know anything about it other than the title. Zevin has also authored several books, and she’s still in her 20’s. Given the frequency of snappy dialogue in this movie, I think she’s worth keeping an eye on for future work.

According to the IMDb.com Trivia listing for this movie, the director actually cut a full screen version of this movie for show on television. I’d like to see that just to compare how much would be lost without the split screen. Literally half of it would have to be removed.

In the end, Conversations with Other Women is a run of the mill adultery tale that’s told in a unique way. I don’t regret seeing it because I can really appreciate the artistic effort that went into putting this together, but I think it has a limited appeal to most audiences due to the subject matter.


Recommended:
No

Viewing Format: DVD
Video Occasion: Better than Watching TV
Suitability For Children: Not suitable for Children of any age