Chloe is the first of Atom Egoyan's thirteen films that he has not written himself. Yet the theme of exploring sexual politics fits nicely into his field of interest. The screenplay by Erin Cressida Wilson zeroes in on the emptiness in the lives of two very successful and well-off people. The stage is set for adultery as a force field of great magnitude.
Catherine (Julianne Moore) is a gynecologist, and her husband David (Liam Neeson) is a gregarious university music professor with many adoring students. They have a teenage son (Max Theriot) who has just discovered the joy of sex, much to his mother's dismay. Catherine and David have plenty of friends, go out to dinner and the opera regularly,but they seem to be just going through the motions in their marriage. When he misses a flight home one night and the surprise party his wife has planned for him, she is very disappointed. Jealousy rears its ugly head when she reads an e-mail with a photo from a female student on David's cell phone.
One night at a fancy restaurant Catherine connects with Chloe (Amanda Seyfried), a prostitute who works in the area's hotels. Convinced that David is having an affair, she hires Chloe to try to seduce her husband and see if he is indeed available to other women. When the young hooker confirms her worst fears, Catherine is actually turned on by her descriptions of what took place between them. Even more surprising is that Chloe finds herself sexually attracted to Catherine. They soon find themselves at a point beyond reason and propriety.
Atom Egoyan is a master at directing erotic scenes and in exploring the heated sexual desires which frequently take hold of people despite their intentions to control them. Julianne Moore is perfectly cast as the doctor who becomes the object of Chloe's desire, and Amanda Seyfried vividly conveys the seductive spell of the hooker and her attempt to put her life in turnaround.
Special features on the DVD include "Discover the Mysterious Chloe with Deleted Scenes"; "The Making of Chloe"; and a commentary with director Atom Egoyan, actor Amanda Seyfried, and screenwriter Erin Cressida Wilson.
