Unfaithful marks the latest film from director Adrian Lyne after a relatively short, yet successful, filmography including Fatal Attraction and Flashdance. His previous film was in 1997, leaving a five year gap between projects, yet all of his works have been well received by the public. Sadly, Unfaithful missed out at the Australian box office, yet holds that little bit extra that many American films today tend to throw out the window.

With a running time of just over two hours, the film does have a tendency to drag at times, as this is definitely no action blockbuster. Yet these longer sequences are the driving mechanism of the suspense in the film. However the film is well worth the ride, and now on DVD you can ride it all over again in the comfort of your own home.

The film draws from several genres – the erotic film, the emotional drama, the who-dunnit-murder-mystery and the suspense thriller. Lyne grabs hold of these genres, pulls them all together, swirls them around and throws Unfaithful on the screen with superb technique. The use of interesting visuals commence from the opening credits, with an effective and slick, yet subtle, opening title sequence where the titles interact with the backgrounds of the scenes, and are “taken away� by the wind.

Rather than other affair films where the husband gets overly violent and possessive, this film focuses on the continuation of life after the affair, and the emotions, stresses and relationships between the involved characters. This gives a more relevant and realistic appearance, and also gives audiences something to relate to. Subtlety is a great technique in film which allows the audience to think for themselves, rather than mindlessly and passively sit like slugs watching the film. Lyne uses small subtle props, scene settings, backgrounds, inferences and assumptions to make the audience figure out parts of the relationships for themselves, rather than just supplying them on a silver platter.

This film questions what is right and what is wrong, the essence of which has been captured with this quote. The film opens on a family house in the suburbs of New York where Constance (Diane Lane) and Edward (Richard Gere) Sumner live with their eight-year-old son. This day is particularly windy - an omen of the winds of change if you like - and sees Constance head to the city to run errands. Here she bumps (literally) into Paul Martel (Olivier Martinez) and cuts her knee. Martel, being the charming thing that he is, invites her upstairs to his apartment to clean up and apply a Band Aid. Constance is drawn in by the quote above in one of Martel’s books and this alters her perception on her life, and consequently brings her back again on other occasions to this apartment. The affair of possession, obsession and betrayal starts the suspenseful tale that leads the audience on to the film's rather weak conclusion. This is the downfall of the film, for whereas the content throughout is handled realistically and maturely, it all falls flat on its face with a flop of an ending that leaves a salty taste in your mouth. And no, it’s nothing sexual...

The video is presented in its original theatrical aspect of 1.85:1, and is 16x9 enhanced.

A rich cinematic style has been used by Lyne, with the strong backlighting on the scenes giving a realistic and rustic appearance to the characters, specifically in the musty confines of Martel’s apartment and the conflicting nature of the discussions between Edward and Constance. However, with this style being used, the picture isn’t always clear, as shadows do tend to overpower in some scenes. Yet the clarity in the other scenes, such as the exterior of the house and the rubbish dump, is superb and shows off how good a DVD can look.

Film artefacts are only a minor problem, with one or two large occurrences such as a large purple splat mark in the opening sequence, with the remainder being small scratch marks or blemishes in the original print. Compression artefacts are nowhere to be seen, and grain is highly visible, yet not annoying as it adds to the texture of the film.

Colours are fairly muted and subdued throughout the film, with only a splash of colour here and there. The suburban appearance of the Sumner house holds the bright palette of the film with a stunning green grass and stark white house. The inner city scenes in New York have a dirty appearance to them, and consist mainly of greys, blacks and whites. The blacks are as black as the blackest of hearts, and as solid as the honeymoon period between two new lovers. Shadow details are clear and boast superb detail, without appearing murky.

Skin tones are nicely saturated, and appear lifelike, real and sensual. Being a single sided, single layered disc, there is no layer change. English subtitles for the hearing impaired have been included, and are accurate but not complete, with many sentences being cut down from their aural versions.

One audio track is supplied, and that is in Dolby Digital 5.1 English.

Dialogue is crisp and clear for the main portion of the film, with the final conclusion being swallowed by the actors’ actions. There are no synchronisation issues.

This is a film that easily could have borne a mono soundtrack, as dialogue and most sound effects are from the centre channel, and the centre channel alone. The surrounds are used effectively during the opening sequence, yet remain relatively quiet for the remainder of the film. The subwoofer very rarely raises its head, the major occurrence being when Lane runs back into the elevator. You’ll know when that is, as it is the only “thump� for the film.

The score by Jan A.P. Kaczmarek is superbly fitting for the tone of the film and consists mainly of piano pieces, with the odd addition of strings here and there. The fidelity of the piano recording is remarkable, and really takes the audience into the recording studio.

OK, this isn’t a 'Collector’s Edition' or anything overly special, but the inclusion of two deleted scenes is a start. These run for 3:04 combined, with Dolby Digital 2.0 audio and they're presented in the enhanced widescreen aspect of 1.85:1. Now all we need is an introduction for these...

Unfaithful strikes a sharp point in the dilemma of infidelity, and hits home with an emotion-based story as opposed to a silly teenage movie where love is as easy as pie. The video transfer subtly adds to the style of Lyne, and along with the audio, creates a great environment on screen. The extra features are most unexpected, and unfaithful to the “rental disc� syndrome of a lack of features. The pacing may be a bit slow for action fans, but Lyne’s mix of suspense, sensual passion and startling realism really hits home for adult audiences, and this should really be considered for hire.