Afterglow

REVIEW
Director Rudolph again casts his eye on contemporary relationships, intertwining and enmeshing two disparate couples in crisis. Lucky (Nolte), a high-ticket handyman who takes care of the plumbing in more ways than one, is married to Phyllis (Christie), a faded former film star who seeks climactic experience -- even that of grave illness. Marianne and Jeffrey, a younger, upper-strata corporate couple (Boyle and Miller), bicker in their expensive but sterile condo -- a perfect reflection of their life together. A slightly surreal Montreal is the backdrop for myriad expressions of selfishness and memories reflected like images in a shattered mirror. While the older twosome have the depth of character provided by life experience, it affords them no greater ability to understand or communicate. Nolte and Christie are perfect complements; Christie providing subtle yet profound emotional depth to a character that would have been easy to overplay. The film is slightly choppy, but remains an adult exploration of the magnitude of a lie's impact, and the saving grace of its forgiveness.