Chloe

Catherine (Moore) plans a surprise birthday part for her husband David (Neeson) to which he calls and says he has missed his flight and wont be home until the morning. The next day Catherine looks at his phone and he receives a text from a girl thanking him for the previous night. Catherine is furious, but still does not quite know how to approach the situation, that is until she meets the mysterious and sexy Chloe (Seyfried) and she asks Chloe to see how her husband acts. Chloe comes back saying David was more than a little flirty but wouldn’t go through with anything. Catherine asks Chloe to keep meeting her husband and eventually Chloe tell Catherine very descriptive sexual encounters between her and David. Catherine becomes drawn to these tales as the only form of sexual contact with her husband and Chloe becomes drawn to Catherine in what becomes an unhealthy manner.

Chloe is a film where the plot is centered on human emotion being trust. Catherine does not trust her husband, which is evident when she gets Chloe to seduce him over and over. What takes it one step further is Catherine does not seem to be completely angry with these stories but aroused by them. Chloe has a lot of sexual tension, a lot of graphic description as well as many sex scenes. This movie combines sex with plot and substance as well as development. For a film that is about 80 % sexual description and or sexually based scenes this film has a surprising amount of plot development and character movement. These characters are far from bland, for from one Dimensional. They feel what these actors are able to show as genuinely real emotion.

Chloe is displayed as a mysterious sexual person. We know little about Chloe, no background information, no current information other than she is rather sexual in her day to day life. As the film progresses and Chloe begins to fall for Catherine, which is where the film takes its turn.Catherine and Chloe begin to see each other in a different, and Chloe makes a move on Catherine who initially rejects the move but ultimately succumbs to Chloe’s seduction.

What this film does so well is make the build up real as well as suspenseful, leaving some room for creativity. It takes us in one entire direction only to throw us for a complete loop, a loop that eventually does become visible if you watch closely, but still intriguing none the less. This film keeps you engaged with the struggles of these characters, their inner emotional struggles. It has a mixture of romance and lust if that is your cup of tea, and if you like detailed descriptive sexual scenes, this film is definitely for you. It could be considered a softcore porn, as there is enough fake looking sex scenes through out the run time.

Liam Neeson was a bit underused until the final confrontation, where his character has a chance to explode emotionally giving Neeson full usage of the emotional range scale. But at times his meagre attempts to act all innocent seem doomed to fail (yet we get it only after the final outcome). Moore does a fantastic job, playing the confused, angry wife. Her chemistry with Seyfried was what made the film watchable. The interactions between the characters was at first mysterious, interesting to say the least and then after a while it became something more, a story of two people who embrace each other. These characters were exactly what they needed to be, nothing more nothing less and that’s acceptable for todays standards.

Chloe: I guess I've always been pretty good with words. In my line of business. It's as important to be able to describe what I'm doing as it is to do what I'm doing. When to say what. What words to select.
Chloe: Some men hate to hear certain terms. They can't stand specific moves and then they can't live without others. It's part of my job to know where to place my hand, my lips, my tongue, my leg and even my thoughts.
Chloe: What kind of pressure, for how long, when to stop. I can become your first kiss... or a torn out image from a Playboy magazine that you found when you were 9 years old.
Chloe: Am I your secretary or am I your daughter? Maybe I'm your seventh grade math teacher you always hated. All I know is that if I do it just right, I can become your living, breathing, unflinching dream, and then I can actually disappear.

Chloe is a lot more likeable than initially thought, at first I watched this simply to pass the afternoon away, but before long I was drawn to the film, to the characters, to the emotions and most of all to the performances. Watch it at your own discretion, because this film has a lot of sexual scenes, but they do help further the plot which is one thing beneficial about them.


8/10