Conversations with Other Women, He Said

If you'd judge this film by the first few scenes, you'd have to conclude you were watching a thirty-something drama about two married people trying to decide if they wanted to go to bed with each other, and how dull is that? But your dealing with the beguiling Helena Bonham Carter and the always charming Aaron Eckhat. Somehow they suck you into their flirtatious conversation. Maybe it's because the dialogue is so sharp and witty or possibly because it suggests something beyond the bland pick up lines of the meat market bars and gyms.

She is the distracted bridesmaid that doesn't seem to fit into the wedding, much less the wedding party. He is a guest. What we soon learn is that, he, they have no character names in the film, thinks he remembers her from and earlier encounter. He challenges her to remember that he approached her at a picnic with friends. She was siting under a tree reading a book. He describes her quite completely, but she dismisses it because he can't remember the title of the book she was reading. Flash backs, with two different and younger actors playing the roles, suggest that this encounter may have happened or at least he believes or wished it had happened. We are given two possibilities here. this previous encounter happened or he is constructing a role playing game that, if she slips into the role, they might use to enhance their sexual game

She is a last minute replacement in a wedding party. She is so uninvolved that she can't remember the grooms name. He, we are surprised to learn, is the brides brother. She had left New York for London after a divorce from an attorney. She has remarried to a heart surgeon. He is an attorney and has had a tragic divorce. He is currently dating a dancer that is many years his junior. They smoke, they drink, they dance and finally they end up in her room. It is here that more than their bodies are revealed.

If you stay through the long take off, this drama is truly an amazing flight. It is a bull fight with two matadors, and a stunning and marvelous thing to watch. Strangely, when you catch your breath after the not to be guessed ending, you'll understand that this was a big plane and it needed all of that runway to get into flight.