Spoilers:
After the initial affair, Daniel repeatedly attempts to reassure himself, telling Alex that he is happily married with children. Alex's replies of, "then why did you do it?" are the most important lines in this film.
First glances may reveal a film in which a man makes a simple mistake and is disproportionately punished. Actually, the mistake was well thought out and the disproportionate punishment is given to poor little Alex.
Daniel does not suffer from a sudden attack of passion. He sees a woman he finds attractive, and makes use of the next opportunity he has to take her out to eat. Luckily, he thinks to himself, his wife is gone and he quickly proceeds to engage in propositions of a clearly sexual nature. If these hours of meditation do not reveal his extremely conscious infidelity, the fact that they are committed on back-to-back days surely does. Even more selfishly, Daniel waits until the moment when he has no choice to confide in his wife. No remorse is shown by Daniel, he simply wants to save his own hide.
With Alex, the director explicitly attempts to dehumanize her into a crazy psychotic. Nothing of her past is shown to possibly explain her extreme dependence; we're reassured by this and can think, "She's JUST crazy." But the fact remains, it was Daniel who is the transgressor here. Breaking the bonds of marriage is incomparable to Alex's playful, single, copulations.
In the end, Daniel emerges the victor and his family is at last whole again. Is it really? Alex's original question of "why" still remains unanswered. Daniel's infidelities were the result of an underlying disunity with his family. Only a heathenistic liberal of a director could believe that these problems could be solved with an abortion or murder. A just and wholesome ending would have Daniel be murdered. He was the original cause of the discord and Alex was merely infected by him. By destroying the consequent and edifying the cause, an unacceptable message of anti-family-values and anti the-sanctity-of-marriage is proclaimed. This movie, along with Daniel, must be burned.
After the initial affair, Daniel repeatedly attempts to reassure himself, telling Alex that he is happily married with children. Alex's replies of, "then why did you do it?" are the most important lines in this film.
First glances may reveal a film in which a man makes a simple mistake and is disproportionately punished. Actually, the mistake was well thought out and the disproportionate punishment is given to poor little Alex.
Daniel does not suffer from a sudden attack of passion. He sees a woman he finds attractive, and makes use of the next opportunity he has to take her out to eat. Luckily, he thinks to himself, his wife is gone and he quickly proceeds to engage in propositions of a clearly sexual nature. If these hours of meditation do not reveal his extremely conscious infidelity, the fact that they are committed on back-to-back days surely does. Even more selfishly, Daniel waits until the moment when he has no choice to confide in his wife. No remorse is shown by Daniel, he simply wants to save his own hide.
With Alex, the director explicitly attempts to dehumanize her into a crazy psychotic. Nothing of her past is shown to possibly explain her extreme dependence; we're reassured by this and can think, "She's JUST crazy." But the fact remains, it was Daniel who is the transgressor here. Breaking the bonds of marriage is incomparable to Alex's playful, single, copulations.
In the end, Daniel emerges the victor and his family is at last whole again. Is it really? Alex's original question of "why" still remains unanswered. Daniel's infidelities were the result of an underlying disunity with his family. Only a heathenistic liberal of a director could believe that these problems could be solved with an abortion or murder. A just and wholesome ending would have Daniel be murdered. He was the original cause of the discord and Alex was merely infected by him. By destroying the consequent and edifying the cause, an unacceptable message of anti-family-values and anti the-sanctity-of-marriage is proclaimed. This movie, along with Daniel, must be burned.