8 films about whether there is life after treason

1. Pedro Almodóvar, Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown, 1988

Very often, women are urged not to show real feelings and to go forward with their heads held high, despite the disappointment and emptiness after a breakup. The Spanish soap opera actress Papu is only annoyed by the annoying recommendations of others. All she can think about is how to keep Ivan, her longtime lover, by her side at any cost. 

Most recently, Pepa found out that she was pregnant from Ivan, and he left her, leaving a message on the answering machine, and went to another. The edge of a nervous breakdown is stretched like a string of a Spanish guitar and is about to break. In just 24 hours, Pepa will have to realize that the man she so desperately tried to win back is not worthy of her or any other woman — only a feminist villain who is debunked along with the movement that she represents.

2. Nancy Meyers Simple Difficulties, 2009

After struggling to recover from a divorce and raising three children on her own, Jane Adler meets her ex-husband at her youngest son’s graduation. Word by word, glass by glass… They end up in bed. And Jack is counting on a second chance, despite the fact that ten years ago he left his family for the sake of his mistress. 

The cyclicity of life leads him to the old rake, because the new family has old problems. The young lover Agnes quickly turned into a nervous, twitchy wife and became obsessed with the desire to have more children. Now Jack finds solace in the company of his ex-wife, as he yearned for soulful sex and delicious pies. And Jane, on the contrary, is just getting better in her personal life: after many years of suffering and psychotherapy, she finally has a boyfriend. What will it be like for Jane to take the place of the one to whom they want to leave the family?

3. Francois Truffaut «Neighbor», 1981

Bernard and Matilda (Gerard Depardieu and Fanny Ardant) were once a couple, but both would prefer to forget and never remember their stormy, sometimes pathological romance. And now, eight years later, former lovers become neighbors. Despite the fact that everyone now has quite prosperous families, temptation cannot be avoided — old feelings flare up with renewed vigor. 

Burning passion takes Bernard too far — beyond the line where self-control is destroyed, where there are public attacks, where love rhymes with blood. And Matilda’s strong feelings bring her to a psychiatric clinic. Their spouses find out about the affair on the side and help their partners recover emotionally. But the empathic French view of adultery does not rule out an unexpected, almost Hitchcockian denouement.

Curiously, the passion of this film transcends the screen. The director had an affair with the leading lady, and Fanny Ardant became the muse and mistress of the late Francois Truffaut.

4. Wong Kar-wai «In the Mood for Love», 2000

Hong Kong. Sixties. Su is beautiful and well-groomed, wears elegant qipao dresses and buys noodles in a shop opposite the house. Chow — polite and unflappable, writes a book about martial arts. She is married. He is married. And their spouses are lovers.

Loneliness, rejection and pain bring Su and Chou together. They look at each other with loving, longing eyes, but go home to sleep alone. “For us to do the same would mean that we are no better than them,” they agree and continue to suffer side by side with each other. The nascent reciprocal adultery never developed into something more. They cannot take a step forward, but there is no way to go back either. And the heroes live in such an oriental way with the hope that they will be able to find their happiness in the next life …

5. Todd Field «Like Little Children», 2006

On the playground of an American suburb, a handsome failed lawyer and a nervous intellectual housewife meet. After his weddings, he found no use for his beauty, she for her mind. Sarah and Brad are single-handed babysitting while their spouses go to work to support their families. They start an affair that looks more like a teenage vacation fling. 

Sarah and Brad are victims of their own childhood delusions, and they share a stunning immaturity. Heroes with the help of betrayal are trying to find tools to change themselves, their attitude to the world, spouses, children, work. Alas, Sarah remains closer to Madame Bovary than to her own daughter; and Brad to teen skaters than to a family and a career that requires adult effort. The topic of betrayal turns into satire, where there was a place for adultery, Internet porn, pedophilia, self-harm and murder … And other traps that imaginary adults set for themselves, refusing to grow up.

6. Nigina Sayfullaeva «Loyalty», 2019

Lena is the best gynecologist in the Kaliningrad region. Seryozha is an unimportant actor in a provincial drama theater. Their young and beautiful family is going through a difficult period: life has taken precedence over sex. The lack of sex in the family Lena explained to herself by her husband’s infidelities and with a pure soul went to the side to look for adventures in her bored libido. At first, she tortures herself with sex on the side in order to take revenge. But soon he gets a taste, having found in himself the sources of sensuality and freedom that have been curbed for so long.

The former way of life of Lenin’s life is about to collapse, the marriage will collapse, the career will fly to hell. And when the tragic ending of the main Russian traitor Anna Karenina is already suggesting, a paradoxical discovery makes Lena an anti-Karenina. This time, in the conflict between the sincerity of feelings and the hypocrisy of public decency, feelings win. Be that as it may, this story is not about women’s happiness, but about family happiness, which in a contradictory way can overtake a family at completely unexpected turns of fate.

7. Atom Egoyan «Chloe», 2009

In a model Canadian family, grey-haired Professor David arrives late for his own birthday party hosted by his wife Katherine. She is on the verge of an age crisis — life has become insipid, her teenage son does not obey at all. Due to impending old age, self-doubt progresses. And the competence of a highly professional gynecologist turns out to be completely useless for her sex life, which is in complete decline. 

A holiday without a hero of the day becomes the last straw — besides, Katherine finds proof that her husband spent that ill-fated evening with a young student. But instead of the suggestive detective investigation, an exciting thriller begins. In order to expose adultery, the heroine tries to recreate David’s affair. Skillfully setting traps, Katherine hires a seductress named Chloe for her husband, but she herself does not notice how she falls under her spell.

8. Peter Howit “Beware! Doors are closing”, 1997

There are many ways to respond to betrayal — get drunk and leave, understand and forgive, or not notice the betrayal at all. London-based PR manager Helen (Gwyneth Paltrow) has to explore the different paths a woman’s life can take, whether or not she catches a cheater in bed with a mistress. 

After a sudden layoff, Helen leaves the office to take the subway and return home. In one scenario, she catches the train. In another, the doors are closed. It depends on this how her character and life will change. Or an insecure woman fading before her eyes, who is unaware of infidelity. Or a burgeoning platinum blonde who, having suffered enough, breaks ties with her former life and is ready to start a new career and romance. No matter how far the options for destinies diverge, they are united by one thought — in order to get closer to personal happiness, it is important to understand yourself.