The Affair

The first thing I noticed about The Affair was how pretty it was to look at. Well, that’s not entirely true. Before I even watched The Affair I noticed that it had a pretty poor review rating of 35/100 on metacritic. In the early minutes of the film, this provided intrigue. How did such a pretty, adeptly shot film receive such a low critical rating? Rest assured, reader. By the end of the film, I had my answer.

Based on the novel, The Glass Room, The Affair disregards the novel’s structure of focusing on numerous casts of characters to instead focus on a singular story line. Beginning in the early 1930’s in Czechoslovakia, the film follows the relationship between two women. While newly married, Viktor Landauer enlists architect Rainer von Abt to build he and his new wife, Liesel a modern masterpiece of a house to live in. But of course, Liesel and Viktor’s relationship is not as glamorous as the house they inhabit. While Viktor engages in an affair with the nanny, Liesel carries on far too close a relationship with her friend, Hana. The film spans several decades, anchored Liesel and Hana’s close but never requited relationship. Of course, the film beginning in the 1930’s and spanning decades means that World War 2 is also a factor in this story.

That the film spans several decades is to its detriment. There’s little opportunity for depth of character or story. There’s usually a gap of several months between two scenes. Liesel goes from a newlywed, to heavily pregnant, to holding a baby and expecting another in the course of three scenes. It really cuts off the ability to connect with these characters as we only see small slivers of their life. Comparatively sheltered as these characters are, even World War 2 feels glossed over. Liesel and Viktor are Jewish, so they flee to Switzerland. And then they’re largely off screen until near the end of the film. Instead, The Affair focuses on Hana moving into the house with a lover. When Hana’s voiceover compares her suffering in this house with a man she doesn’t love to what’s going on in the rest of the country, it’s a pretty big eye roll.

Another huge problem is the characters. I don’t care for any of them at all. Part of this is due to the story structure. But it’s also because they’re just not interesting. Architecture is a framework theme for the film. That’s not something I thought was interesting before I began the film and The Affair did nothing to change my mind. The characters in The Affair certainly have their problems, but they are also extremely privileged. The film never makes a strong enough argument about why you should care for the personal problems of comparatively sheltered rich people in a time of major death and destruction in their country. Because even their personal drama isn’t that interesting. The story structure really suggests that these characters only do anything interesting once or twice a year. And even these moments of interest are pretty standard relationship drama.

The through line is the relationship between Liesel and Hana. There’s clear desire from the start. But they have literal decades of near-miss moments. These range from whoops! Almost kissed by best friend; to whoops! Almost got fingered by my best friend when her hands wandered while stroking my pregnant belly. Actresses Hanna Alström and Carice van Houten have good chemistry in the scenes in which they’re together. But it’s not enough to overcome how dull these characters are or how much the story structure nukes the potential for emotional engagement. When they finally actually kiss once they’ve been given bad grey wigs to pretend like they’re 30 years older, I don’t give a shit. Sapphic or not, these women still make up part of a cast of deeply dull people.

Again though, the visuals are top notch. The Affair is a period piece about rich people. The women wear great outfits and the set designers successfully made a beautiful set to act as Rainer von Abt’s masterpiece of modern architecture. I can’t ding the film on its visual know-how. Director Julius Ševčík shows major talent in these areas. Which in some ways, makes the disconnect between the visuals and story even more jarring. The story can be so shallow that it feels like it’s written by a teenager. Yet the visuals suggest that this teenager is also an absolute savant when it comes to lighting and setting a shot.

The Affair constructed a beautiful world. And then inhabited it with some seriously dull characters. This is one of those films that might work better if you watched it on mute. Because the shots are beautiful. But the story has the same structure and depth as a two minute trailer; a bunch of nice-looking and seemingly dramatic moments that don’t really connect. The film isn’t offensively bad. But it is an absolute failure in making me care about the characters or story the film depicts.

Overall rating: 4.4/10

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