Real life means mysterious tingling for one and malicious backstabbing for the other; it is worth seeing in the cinema and means a plot of a special kind. Either it is exciting and often ends in a tragedy, or it is funny and presented with many gags.
A partner’s infidelity is the central theme in numerous films, and you have certainly often shared in the excitement or laughter. Below we present you the best movies:
1. Fatal Affraction (1987)
If there is one film that explosively embodies the subject of cheating – and its consequences – it is 1987’s “A Fatal Affair,” starring Michael Douglas and Glenn Close. The two have a brief, exciting affair at the film’s beginning, but the husband quickly recalls his family and married life and ends it. Glenn Close as the deported lover, doesn’t like that at all, and she starts stalking; that is quite a sight to behold.
Surely no man has ever regretted falling into the clutches of a mistress as much as Michael Douglas as Dan Gallagher in this highly acclaimed film.
The final scene is hard to beat in terms of suspense and has gone down in film history with its twist. Fans later often thanked Glenn Close for saving their respective marriages with her convincing performance. The film was nominated for an Oscar a total of six times.
2. The Other Woman (2014)
Again, in this movie, cheating is extremely funny and portrayed with a lot of great gags. In the end, it’s the ones who are left behind – yes, there are actually several in this case – who are the winners, not the other way around.
Cameron Diaz and Nikolaj Coster-Waldau (now better known as “Game of Thrones”) shine in the leading roles. If the screen beauty still believes she has found great love at the film’s beginning, she soon has to find out that he is not only already married but even has another mistress.
The three of them set out on a quest for revenge that the beau of the film will not soon forget. The three of them quickly realize that their mutual lover is not going to let anything go to waste and is already having fun with numerous other ladies.
Don Johnson is especially great as Cameron Diaz’s father, who also gets his money’s worth in the end.
3. Unfaithful (2002)
Absolutely thrilling portrayal of Diane Lane’s infidelity starring Richard Gere in the suspenseful and often very dark film “Unfaithful.”
A bored suburban housewife meets a younger man in New York (sexy Olivier Martinez also makes you want to eat him up), with whom she begins a torrid affair. He plays hot S&M games with her, and she can’t let him go, although she is actually quite happy with her husband and son in the suburbs. But cheating excites her so much that she can’t let go of her lover.
Richard Gere as the cuckolded husband finally figures it out, and the story takes an unexpected turn that is hard to beat for suspense. Diane Lane was nominated for an Oscar as Best Actress for the film.
4. Closer (2004)
This 2004 film has a really top-class cast, with Natalie Portman and Julia Roberts in the leading female roles and Jude Law and Clive Owen in the male parts.
Natalie Portman and Clive Owen were nominated for an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor for this film. This very suspenseful drama has an intricate plot line of the four protagonists, with the two couples closely intertwined.
Natalie Portman, as stripper Alice, is first involved with Jude Law as Dan, but later she meets Clive Owen as Larry. Again Julia Roberts as Anna dates first Larry and later Dan. The four of them almost sink into a whirlpool of truth and lies and cannot get away from it.
The four Hollywood stars outdo each other in their performance of this convoluted story, and it’s really worth seeing.
5. Shall We Dance? (2004)
Jennifer Lopez has a great voice as a singer and can act. Together with Richard Gere, she performs in this beautiful yet stirring film, which rather captivates with its gentle tones.
Richard Gere, as John Clark, leads an exemplary marriage with his wife Beverly, portrayed by Susan Sarandon. On the way back from his work in Chicago, he discovers a woman at a window who fascinates him.
Since it is a dance school, a few days later, he goes to Miss Mitzi’s school on short notice and starts a dance class to be close to Paulina, who also dances and teaches there. Meanwhile, he tells his family nothing about his new hobby. He actually takes a great liking to the ballroom dances he learns and even prepares for a dance tournament. But it all turns out quite differently.
6. The Graduate (1967)
This is probably one of the most famous seduction stories ever. Simon& Garfunkel’s famous plays “Mrs. Robinson” and “Sound of Silence” have made the film immortal at the latest.
The young Dustin Hoffman plays the male lead Ben Braddock, who falls in love with Elaine Robinson. At the same time, however, he is taken in by their mother; Mrs. Robinson is seduced and, as a young hottie, doesn’t really know how the story should go on. Anne Bancroft is very seductive as an aging lover and goes to work skillfully.
On the one hand, the college graduate is flattered by the attention of this experienced, mature woman. On the other hand, he loves Elaine very much and wants to build a future together with her.
The legendary ending has gone down in film history with a lot of original action and a surprising plot. The film won several awards and received the Oscar for Best Director.
7. The Boy Next Door (2015)
Once again, it is Jennifer Lopez who, as a great actress, very convincingly takes on the female lead role. She portrays Claire Peterson, who her husband betrays and abandons, lives with her son in a small town, and works at a high school as a teacher. Moving in with their next-door neighbors is their nephew Noah, who lost his parents in a car accident.
The latter idolizes her, and she is flattered and starved for love after their breakup. A one-night stand occurs on a rainy night, but she regrets it the next day and wants to end the liaison.
However, the young lover sees it quite differently, and he begins to stalk her, which not only brings her sleepless nights but almost brings her to the limit of her nerves because Noah’s brutal side comes out, and he thus shows his true face.
This very exciting course brings a lot of action into the story, and one is very curious about the end, which has it all in itself.
8. Arbitrage (2012)
This film has a top-class cast, with Richard Gere and Susan Sarandon as Mr. and Mrs. Miller and Laetitia Casta as the lover. Tim Roth plays the detective. Robert Miller is a very successful hedge fund manager and multiple millionaires.
He has made a mistake in a business deal and is now trying to sell his company unnoticed. He’s got everything lined up, but he’s running out of time, and his daughter, who works as a manager at his company, is getting in on his machinations.
His current mistress, art dealer Julie, to whom he has repeatedly promised to leave his wife, puts him under sustained pressure, and he takes her to his weekend home to spend time with her. The two have a car accident on the way, and everything turns out differently…
To avoid spoiling anything, we have to stop here – because the plot takes a dramatic turn and is hard to beat in terms of suspense. Let’s just say one thing: Richard Gere can not only play charming and sexy but also play evil.
This highly acclaimed film won five Oscars, including one in the two supreme disciplines for Best Picture and Best Actor in a Leading Role, Kevin Spacey.
Mena Suvari (also known as “American Pie”), who was only twenty years old at the time, plays the young seductress very well and brings the family father, Lester Burnham, played by Kevin Spacey, up to speed.
Lester is in the midst of a midlife crisis and can’t do anything with his wife, played magnificently by Annette Bening and his pubescent daughter. But all the more with Angela, the girlfriend of his daughter. He gets massively involved in this obsession and gets into several fatal situations, which cost him not only his job.
Sam Mendes is the director of this extraordinary flick, and critics readily describe it as a satire of the U.S. middle-class population focused on sex and materialism.
10. Eyes Wide Shut (1999)
Exceptional talent Stanley Kubrick directed this thriller. He wrote the screenplay (based on the “Traumnovelle” by Arthur Schnitzler), produced the film, and directed it.
Stanley Kubrick died a few days after the film was completed. Its two main protagonists, Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman were a married couple at the time and were chosen for the lead roles specifically because it was meant to lower the inhibition threshold for some scenes.
In the film, they also play a married couple, but they are thrown into crisis when Nicole Kidman, as Alice Harford, reveals to her husband that she has secret sexual fantasies with other men. The latter then fall into an identity crisis and search for extra-marital, amorous adventures, which culminate in a visit to Somerton Castle. Bill experiences a night full of tingling, sexual curiosity, and fantasy – but also danger.
11. Malice (1993)
Great cast with Alec Baldwin and Nicole Kidman in the leading roles as well as Bill Pullman as Andy Safian.
Andy has a seemingly happy marriage with Tracy, and they desperately want a child. Surgeon Jed Hill moves into their house as a lodger and soon annoys them with his loud parties and numerous female visitors, who loudly make themselves known at night with sexual games.
Then, a mysterious story begins when Tracy has emergency surgery performed by Dr. Hill, a healthy ovary is removed, and she can no longer have children. Because nothing is what it seems, and who is really a couple?
12. Chloe (2010)
Here Amanda Seyfried presents herself in a completely different way. If you know her dancing and singing cheerfully from “Mamma Mia,” she plays a mysterious young woman who has it all in this exciting film.
Catherine Stewart, embodied by Julianne Moore, suspects her husband, portrayed by Liam Neeson, of being unfaithful to her. She sets the call girl Chloe on her husband to try to seduce him. But then Catherine falls for the young woman’s charms and begins a passionate affair with her.
The latter falls in love with the much older, more experienced Catherine, and an exciting cat-and-mouse game begins, in which not only Catherine and her husband are involved with Chloe but also her son Michael. Things start to get dicey, and the film ends with an exciting climax.
13. A Perfect Murder (1998)
This thriller has a top-notch cast, including Michael Douglas and Gwyneth Paltrow as married couple Steven and Emily Taylor, and Viggo Mortensen (better known as Aragorn from the “Lord of the Rings” trilogy).
Emily, the rich heiress of a huge family fortune, starts a liaison with the penniless painter David and falls in love with him. However, her husband figures it out and seeks out her lover. Steven Taylor gives the young man an ultimatum: he offers him a large sum of money if he kills his wife and then immediately disappears.
Otherwise, he betrays the police, who will put him in jail for many years because of his criminal past. It’s all supposed to look like a brutal robbery in one’s own home and thus become the perfect murder. But the cornered lover gets scruples, but this should not be revealed here; otherwise, it will spoil, and the suspense is gone!
14. The Descendants (2011)
Starring screen beau George Clooney, this is not only an absolutely thrilling movie that is all about cheating and intrigue. The film is also set in the beautiful scenery of Hawaii and is a real feast for the eyes – and that, of course, also because of George Clooney.
The Oscar-winning film is exciting and has numerous surprising twists and turns. Matt King figures out that his wife, Elizabeth King, is having an affair. Unfortunately, he only finds out after she has a boating accident and is in a coma.
He can’t question her about it anymore, and with his children, he searches for his lover. When he finally is able to spot him, he gets into a lot of trouble because he is married and has a family, too. The film is especially captivating with its beautiful Hawaiian music with traditional singing.
15. Match Point (2005)
The film opens by showing a gold wedding ring bouncing off a bridge railing. In the end, what is at first meaningless decides the fate of the main protagonist?
Former tennis pro Chris Wilton meets and marries Chloe, the wealthy daughter of a good family. But he’s much more interested in his brother-in-law’s cute girlfriend, penniless actress Nola. He starts a hot affair with her but does not want to give up his privileged status in the rich family he was able to marry.
When Nola, now single again, confesses to him that she is pregnant by him, pressuring him, Chris plans a perfidious murder that he wants to look like a simple robbery. But he doesn’t have all the puzzle pieces of his plan in place, and it almost becomes his undoing – or does it?
16. Indecent Proposal (1993)
Everyone likes to think that they – and their bodies – can’t be bought, but many of us watch this movie and wonder what it would be like to be so desired that someone is willing to pay a million dollars for a night out. We’re also curious how rolling around on Benjamin’s bed feels.
Demi Moore plays the better half of a bankrupt couple (Woody Harrelson plays the husband) who are approached by a wealthy man (Robert Redford) who makes them an offer they can’t refuse… and it destroys their marriage.
17. Newness (2017)
Welcome to the world of dating apps and technology-driven relationships. Gone are the days of writing secret letters to each other or having clandestine first dates in cafes. In the age of Tinder, love is fast, convenient, and selfish. This happens to Martin and Gabriella when they meet through an online dating app they use to meet people.
After their first date, they go back to Martin’s apartment and have sex; later, Gabriella moves in with him. Things soon take a turn for the worse; however, when they start fighting, and one day they both sleep with someone else. Later they confess their infidelity to each other and start an open relationship.
18. Indiscretion (2016)
Secret Desires, a directorial effort by John Stewart Muller, follows Veronica (Mira Sorvino), the therapist wife of prominent politician Jake Simon (Cary Elwes). Veronica has suspected her husband of infidelity for years. After their chance encounter with artist Victor Bernard (Christopher Backus), they embark on a torrid affair.
But soon, her sense of morality returns, and she tries to sever all ties with him. That’s when Bernard begins to show his psychotic side and stalk her and her family. Sorvino, who won an Oscar for her portrayal of Linda Ash in Woody Allen’s 1995 film Beloved Aphrodite, leads the cast with an effortless performance.
19. Anna Karenina (2012)
Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy is one of the greatest books ever written. Consequently, the novel is also considered one of the most beautiful love stories ever written.
Anna Karenina’s (Keira Knightley) romance with Count Alexei Kirillovich Vronsky (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) is consuming, hurtful, and hard to ignore. The movie takes only a fraction of the time it takes to read the 800-page book. So it’s worth a look!
20. Disobedience (2017)
21. Brokeback Mountain (2005)
22. Notes on a Scandal (2006)
23. Revolutionary Road (2008)
24. The Wolf of Wall Street (2013)
25. Last Night (2010)
26. The Piano (1993)
27. Vicky Cristina Barcelona (2008)
28. Gone Girl (2014)
29. Girl on the Train (2016)
30. A Walk on the Moon (1999)
Affairs without end
One could go on indefinitely at this point because countless filmmakers have dealt with the subject of cheating magnificently – sometimes funny, sometimes exciting, and sometimes mysterious. But maybe there is a good idea for a nice evening at the movies, and you can enjoy it together with your friends in front of the TV. Have fun with it!
