'Fatal Affair' Movie Review

Introduction

After twenty years love can begin fade, however, new or rediscovered things can spark the fire again. After bumping into an old friend, Ellie realises she wants to commit to her marriage, whilst the old friend is insistent on starting something new.

Key themes

Ellie bumps into an old college friend, David, at her lawyer firm. David invites Ellie to catch up.

Whilst on a night out of drinks, Ellie and David reminisce, and talk about their present lives. After a few more drinks, they act slightly promiscuous.

Ellie leaves the firm to start her own and her marriage improves vastly. Ellie tries to avoid David who becomes persistent in communicating with her.

Ellie invites Courtney over for dinner. Courtney shows up with her new 'date'. The date is David. David is persistent in having an affair with Ellie.

David begins to pursue Ellie. Ellie begins to research information about David and his past. David threatens Ellie with a video of the night they acted promiscuously.

Ellie follows David hoping to gather more information about him. She discovers David playing golf with her husband, Marcus.

Ellie sneaks into David's apartment and discovers David has been tracking her. Ellie is convinced that David killed his ex-wife, Deborah.

Ellie shows up at Courtney's apartment, in an attempt to warn her of David. She finds Courtney unconscious. Ellie calls the police who begin to investigate David.

David fakes his death. The police believe he committed suicide.

When Ellie believes she can get her life back to normal, her assistant sends her a message claiming there is paperwork that needs signing.

Upon arrival to the office, Ellie finds her assistant dead and realises that David isn't dead.

Ellie calls the police and rushes home, to which she endeavours in a battle with David.

After a long struggle, David falls off a cliff and dies.

Key questions

• How close were Ellie and David in college? What was their relationship then?
• Did Ellie, Marcus and David go to the same university? David appeared to already know Marcus, but Marcus did not know David when he came over for dinner. Ellie supposedly met and dated Marcus in college, so how come Marcus did not recognise/know David?
• How come Courtney didn't know that David worked at Ellie's firm?
• Why didn't Courtney tell Ellie about David before bringing him to dinner? Aren't thy best friends?
• How long had Courtney and David been seeing each other for her to bring him to dinner with Ellie and Marcus?
• How long had Courtney and David been dating that she believed and trusted David over Ellie, her best friend of years?
• Did Deborah go to the same college as Ellie, Marcus and David?
• Why did Ellie ask David why they never dated back in college? David appeared to be a 'nerd' and Ellie appeared to be a 'popular', therefore, she probably didn't notice him, she didn't even remember/notice Deborah. Why ask that question?
• How did Ellie recognise David so quickly after twenty years, when they barely spoke in college?
• How did Courtney get into David's phone? A hacker and stalker would never leave their phone unlocked/without a lock.
• What was the time frame of this whole story? Brittany, the daughter, was home for fall break, which typically lasts 2 weeks, Ellie had finished a case and well started her own law firm, which could take up to 2 months or more, Courtney and David had become serious, which could take a month. So what was the timing?
• After the Courtney incident, the police sergeant informed Ellie that officers would patrol her house for a while, why was it that the night David appeared there were no officers patrolling her house, especially when that same day the news reported the case to be 'ongoing'?
• If David was so obsessed with Ellie, why did her only re-enter her life after twenty years?
• Why did David marry Deborah? Did he become obsessed with her too? Was Deborah, alike to Ellie, a college obsession?
• If David was obsessed with Ellie, why did he call her 'Deborah'?
• Did cheating help Ellie fix her marriage?
• Did David marry Deborah in an attempt to recreate her as Ellie? Ellie's college friend mentioned how Deborah looked 'just like her'. So was Deborah a plan B for David? If so, why did he kill her and her new lover and why did he call Ellie 'Deborah'? Who was David actually obsessed with?
• Why did David kill Scott, Brittany's boyfriend, but keep Marcus and Brittany alive? Surely he should have killed them because they were in the way of his 'life with Ellie'?
• David was a supposed 'hacker' and he was able to cover his tracks when he murdered Deborah, how come his 'work' became 'messy' when he was pursuing Ellie? Ellie was able to follow him and log into his laptop, Courtney was able to access his phone easily; for a hacker and murderer, his criminal instincts/abilities were poor.
• How long had David been tracking Ellie? Surely if he was a hacker he would have spied on her through her phone, car, technology etc.
• Did David only become obsessed with Ellie after his divorce?
• Did David continue to work at the firm, even after Ellie left?
• Did David previously know of Ellie's plans to leave the lawyer firm and start her own? Did David know that Ellie moved out of the city? Was David really tracking Ellie all these years?
• Was David really obsessed with Ellie over the past twenty years or did their brief promiscuous encounter spark his desire to be with her?

Conclusion

'Fatal Affair' is a potential tragedy. The thriller successfully saved the protagonist and ended the antagonist. The plot was based on a long-term obsession, however, the visuals failed to recollect the time-length of the obsession. This disappointingly made the persistent desire very much short-term or more along the lines of 'love at first sight'/'obsession at first sight'. If David had been 'in love' with Ellie for 20 years, why did he decide to re-enter her life after so long? How did he manage to stay away all those years?

The title is slightly misleading, however, worked effectively as it led increased audience support for Ellie as we discover she is truly the victim of a psychopathic and narcissistic crime.

David's criminal intentions are slightly questionable; he appears to have all the right stereotypes - hacker, quiet and unknown, yet he appeared to lack the psychopathic element. David was not a good enough criminal.

The film, alike to many others, stuck true to its genre and depended too heavily on the 'thriller' aspect rather than the crime or narrative. This made the over production lack a real thrilling element.

Overall, value love over lust or else it could lead to loss. Luckily for Ellie this wasn't the case.

Cast

Nia Long - Ellie

Omar Epps - David

Stephen Bishop - Marcus

Maya Stojan - Courtney