Review: Fatal Affair
The film opens with a couple getting romantic by the fire. Everything feels safe. But as the woman steps away into the next room for a moment, she moves from the safety of light into the unknown darkness. Cue the suspenseful music to set the tone. Returning, the woman notices her love has also mysteriously stepped away from the room. Yet, she believes the clatters and noises she hears around her are simply her love playing tricks on her. Little does she know what she’s about to discover and that the end is near.
Thriller films always seem to begin in this way. These scenes set the tone, add suspense. It attempts to prepare the audience for what to come for the rest of the film, putting them at the edge of their seat. Some films do it better than others, but this type of scene has practically become a part of the formula for horror and/or thriller film plots and storylines. But, does the entire film have to feel just as imitative and predictable?
Fatal Affair released on Netflix this past July 16, 2020. The film landed a spot in Netflix’s Daily Top Ten, starting on the day after its release on July 17th. It was even awarded the number one spot for a couple of days, but has now withered off the charts. However, the film in itself does not reflect this win. Rotten Tomatoes presents the film with a Tomatometer of 22% and an audience score of 17%.
Lawyer Ellie Warren and her family have just moved to the coast. A new house should come with a fresh start. Still, Ellie husband, who’s recovering from an unsaid accident, feels distant. Their daughter is off away at college and won’t be home for months. With this time alone together, Ellie and her husband should be getting closer, right? Unfortunately, their house and marriage just feel emptier than ever. When things are at their lowest, Ellie’s law firm hires Ellie’s old college classmate and friend David Hammond to work with on their current case. Instantly, there’s a spark, which accelerates quickly days laters to passionate moment at a nightclub. Ellie stops before anything gets too out of hand, which ignites a jealous rage in David. Believing she left him in the past, David persistently reappears in Ellie’s life, threatening more than just her marriage, but the safety of her loved ones.
The storyline feels long overdone. More specifically, the film could remind many of the 1987 drama Fatal Attraction. The films share a similar name along with a similar story of a romantic affair gone haywire. Except in Fatal Affair, the roles are reversed so where the man acts as the one crazed with jealousy. Peter Sullivan directed the film and cowrote the screenplay with Rasheeda Garner. Sullivan also wrote the 2019 thriller Secret Obsession starring Brenda Song. That film also didn’t receive outstanding reviews. It seems that Sullivan does not have the knack for writing thrillers.
It attempts to be different at some moments. Towards the conclusion, it tricks audiences into believing the film might be over when the characters reach a moment of peace. Then, it goes into a plot twist. Unfortunately, this tactic only drags the film out longer than it needs to. Some areas felt stretched out to make the film reach the ninety-minutes mark. That time could have been used to develop characters and their relationships more. For example, after coming home from her night with David, Ellie pensively sits on the edge of her bed until her husband wakes. The film then fades into black and then jumps into a montage of Ellie running on the beach, dancing with her husband, and other shots intended to mark her newfound clarity. However, there is no information given on how she rekindled her marriage. The audience is just to automatically assume that Ellie’s encounter with David put her marriage into perspective. Everything feels so rushed as this all happens in the first twenty minutes of the film.
Not only that, some dialogue feels so cliché. In one scene, Ellie talks about having the “perfect” life. This line repeats itself throughout the film. Instead of hitting like a sucker punch like the film wants it to, the line ends up sounding like a reoccurring joke because it sounds so overdramatic. The poor dialogue also makes the relationship between characters seem surface level. For example, there is no depth in the conversations between Ellie and her best friend Courtney, who works at the same law firm. Nothing proves they have been friends for a long time or know each other’s personal lives beyond the workplace. These examples and other moments take away from the film and the credibility of the characters, reminding audiences that they’re watching a film instead of transporting them into the film.
The film may not excel in many aspects, but it does shine by having a diverse cast. Apparently, the film originally planned to have a white cast. Luckily, after lead Nia Long took on the role and became executive producer, she changed the film’s original intentions.
Nia Long plays main protagonist Ellie Warren. Long’s appeared on countless films, starting her film career in the 1990s with hit films like Boyz n the Hood and Friday. Fatal Affair is not her best performance, but this is her first thriller film. Nonetheless, in an interview with Variety, Long explained how also being an executive producer for the film made her feel heard for the first time on a set. As a producer, she takes pride in the diverse cast and how that promotes for inclusivity behind the camera film and television productions. Long stated, “The unions need to be responsible for the amount of diversity there is in the hiring. Producers, studios, networks need to mandate. I have a mandate where the hair and makeup trailer is diverse. […] It’s to say that there are talented people of all colors that are capable of doing the job. […] “If you can’t find anybody of color to hire then let’s make sure that there is a program to train young African-American men and women who want to work on the production side.” You can watch the entire interview below.
In Fatal Affair, Long reunites with Omar Epps, who plays stalker David Hammond. The two previously played a couple in the 1999 crime film In Too Deep and the 2004 romantic comedy Alfie. Many may know Omar Epps from the 2000 film Love & Basketball or the television drama series House. Nia Long commented that she choose Epps for his “household name”, declaring, “you put his name in the hat and people automatically feel a sense of kinship to him.” Epps creates a fine performance of coming off as the seemingly collective and charming new guy. One may also recognize retired baseball player Stephen Bishop, who plays Ellie’s husband, Marcus Warren. Bishop has starred in BET’s Being Mary Jane and other thrillers like Til Death Do Us Part.
Fatal Affair is definitely a film that we’ve seen before time and time again. It doesn’t succeed nor does it really attempt to add anything original to the plot. However, the film does have a couple of powerhouse names that might be worth the watch. If one’s just willing to joke about the film or wants something on their television in the background, this film may be for you.
