Chloe

Written by: Erin Cressida Wilson

Directed by: Atom Egoyan

Atom Egoyan’s Chloe had to be the sexiest film this year at the Toronto International Film Festival.

Egoyan masterfully created, in Chloe, an accessible film that is wonderfully smart and character-driven. Liam Neeson plays the flirtatious husband whose wife, played by Julianne Moore, is convinced he is having an affair. His credibility is questioned all the way through the film because of the stories that come from the prostitute, Chloe, Moore’s character hires to spy on him. A complicated, deeply intricate relationship develops between the women who are both looking for intimacy on some level. Moore’s character has lost her connection with her husband, and Chloe (played by Mama Mia’s Amanda Seyfried) is looking for anyone to love. She claims she can manage can find something to love in everyone—a  theme that ties the plot together.

Moore is smart, professional and sexy but you can slowly watch her unravel as she weighs the gravity of her marriage coming apart. Neeson’s antics in the film show a man who is ultimately a family guy, but is also struggling with the dissipation of the connection to his wife.

Another character worth mentioning is one of the most important elements: the city of Toronto. Egoyan does a superb job of showcasing a city’s corners and nooks that ultimately are the central element of this film.

Though I saw other notable movies at this year’s festival—The Men Who Stare at Goats, The Private Lives of Pippa Lee, Mother and Child and Love and Other Impossible Pursuits—Chloe wins in my books for hands-down thrills and chills. Watching this unusual love triangle play out in the streets of my home city was the best entertainment I’ve seen from the big screen in years. My fellow audience agreed with me, giving the cast and crew a well-deserved standing ovation at the end of the premiere.

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