The Other Woman

Movie Title--  The Other Woman

Release Year--  2009

Running Time--  1 Hour and 42 Minutes

Director--  Don Roos

Cast--  Natalie Portman, Scott Cohen, Lisa Kudrow, Charlie Tahan, Lauren Ambrose, Michael Cristofer, Debra Monk, Mona Fastvold, Anthony Rapp, Elizabeth Marvel

A woman has trouble coping with her life and the people she loves after the death of her infant daughter.

Emilia Greenleaf (Natalie Portman) meets Jack Woolfe (Scott Cohen), a married paralegal and immediately has a strong attraction to him.  They try to deny the connection between them but on a business trip they can no longer contain themselves and start a relationship.  Soon Emilia learns that she is pregnant.  After telling Jack, he quickly divorces his wife Carolyn (Lisa Kudrow) and even more quickly marries Emilia, causing the family element to become complicated since Emilia now gains a new stepson, William (Charlie Tahon).

Emilia has her baby, a girl they name Isabel and three days later, Isabel dies of SIDS.  Emilia then starts to treat the people she loves cruelly and pushes them away as she copes with the loss of her baby daughter whom she thinks everyone has moved on from the loss of.

I enjoyed this film.  Don't get me wrong, the characters of Emilia, William and Carolyn make it difficult to like because the whole time you are thinking about how awful these three people are (and one of them is a child, so think about how much you would have to dispise a child to not like this one) but once the story plays all the way through you see the motives for these characters.  It doesn't make you like them any better but it helps the viewer to understand where each person is coming from.  

I actually do grow to like Emilia and William in the end, after seeing where each of them were coming from; Emilia unable to let go of the death of her baby and William being fed horrible and ugly information from his bitter mother.  Upon hearing that this boy, who seems to torment this grieving woman for 2/3rds of this film, has asked his mother to help her cope really touches the heart.  The moment he does this for Emilia, she realizes that she truly does love him as well, although she does do her fair share of mistreating this child (like tricking him into eating ice cream when he is lactose intolerant because she believes that his mother is trying to keep him from doing things with his "new" family).

I like this film but it is one of those that not too many people are going too have much interest in.  Make your own decision when it comes to this one.  For me, it was an unexpectedly deep look at how different people cope when their circumstances change.  If you are willing to give this one a shot, Don't Forget the Popcorn!