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Watch 2 New Clips From ADORE Starring Naomi Watts And Robin Wright

By Michelle McCue | August 20, 2013

Naomi Watts and Robin Wright deliver riveting performances in ADORE, a sensual and provocative drama about two lifelong friends who find unexpected happiness in relationships that cross the bounds of convention. An unpredictable tale of misguided love and a heartfelt celebration of the enduring nature of female friendship, the film is the English-speaking directorial debut of distinguished filmmaker Anne Fontaine (COCO BEFORE CHANEL).

It is adapted for the screen by Academy Award-winning writer Christopher Hampton (DANGEROUS LIAISONS), from a novella by Nobel Prize winner for Literature Doris Lessing.

Over the course of her career, French writer/director Anne Fontaine has explored the gray areas of emotional desires in acclaimed films such as DRY CLEANING and NATHALIE. Each of those films turned on a staid middle-class couple who are unexpectedly pulled off the straight-and-narrow by an alluring young person. With ADORE, Fontaine brings her light, sensuous and intelligent touch to a story that is arguably even further off the beaten social track.

Set in an Australian seaside town of otherworldly beauty and shot in lush 35mm Cinemascope by Christophe Beaucarne, ADORE establishes an aura of fable as it follows two women’s plunge into uncharted waters. Watts and Wright fearlessly engage with both the physical and psychological components of the story, capturing the complex emotions and powerful desires driving their characters.

Strong performances from relative newcomers Xavier Samuel (THE TWILIGHT SAGA: ECLIPSE) and James Frecheville (ANIMAL KINGDOM) complement Watts and Wright’s and add another layer of intricacy to the story. Under the precise gaze of Fontaine’s camera, ADORE radiates with intoxicating sensuality while exploring the intricacies of love, family, morality and passion.

Fontaine and Director of Photography Beaucarne decided to shoot ADORE on 35mm film, using anamorphic lenses to give it a classic, softer look. As Beaucarne explains, “With the highlights of the landscape and the sea with its reflections, to shoot in HD is tricky. Also, we wanted the film definition; when shooting with anamorphic the definition is amazing.”

Shooting on film also enabled them to create an almost tactile sense of the environment. The camera sometimes seems to hover between sea and sky creating the sense of a place out time. Says Fontaine, “It is as if you’re at the end of the world. Nature is heightened, enchanting, and at times unreal. And there in the ocean is that dock where, ever since childhood – and thus innocently – all those bodies come into contact.”