All it takes is one look at his list of films to know what director Adrian Lyne’s obsession is: relationships and sexuality. Lyne, director of such films as 9½ Weeks and Fatal Attraction, revisits this theme with Unfaithful, loosely based on the French film La Femme Infidele (The Unfaithful Wife). Here, Richard Gere and Diane Lane play Ed and Connie, a happy, comfortable, upper middle class husband and wife who live with their son in suburban Westchester County, NY. One fateful day, Connie goes into New York City to run some errands and literally runs into a handsome Frenchman named Paul (French heartthrob Olivier Martinez). Shortly thereafter, she begins an torrid love affair with him, which ends up having more serious consequences than she could have ever imagined.

There are some strong points in Unfaithful: good acting (especially by Lane), beautiful cinematography, and fertile subject matter for after-viewing discussions. But there are also some downsides, including parts of the story which were too contrived and too slow of a pace. Plus, I had a problem buying 52-year-old Gere and 37-year-old Lane as a middle-aged couple (not to mention 36-year-old Martinez as the “younger” lover). But overall, while Unfaithful may not restore your faith in humanity, it may make you think, and that’s not something too many films do these days.