Chloe (2009)

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General		Extras
Category	Drama	Deleted Scenes
Rating
Year Of Production	2009
Running Time	92:11
RSDL / Flipper	Dual Layered	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Ads Then Menu
Region Coding	4	Directed By	Atom Egoyan
Studio Distributor	Roadshow Home Entertainment	Starring	Julianne Moore Liam Neeson Amanda Seyfried Max Thieriot R.H. Thomson Nina Dobrev Mishu Vellani
Case	Amaray-Transparent
RPI	$39.95	Music	Mychael Danna

Video		Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame	None	English Dolby Digital 2.0 (320Kb/s) English Descriptive Audio Dolby Digital 2.0 (224Kb/s)
Widescreen Aspect Ratio	1.85:1
16x9 Enhancement
Video Format	576i (PAL)
Original Aspect Ratio	1.85:1	Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures	No
Subtitles	None	Smoking	No
		Annoying Product Placement	No
		Action In or After Credits	No

     Human foibles are a constant in the works of Canadian filmmaker Atom Agoyan. Although sexual behaviour doesn't lie too far below the surface of many of his films there are a few in which sex and dependency are a strong source of strength and devastation - Exotica, Where the Truth Lies and the latest, Chloe.

     The eponymous Chloe (Amanda Seyfried of teen film and Mamma Mia fame) is a successful escort. In a voice-over that begins the film she tells us in cool clear terms how she perfects her craft, using economy of touch to intensify emotion and catering to her clients psychological, as well as sexual, desires. As she intones her tricks of the trade we can't help but wonder what made her such a clinician at such a young age. Meanwhile, successful gynaecologist Dr. Catherine Stewart Julianne Moore has hit a deep trough in her relationship with college lecturer husband David Liam Neeson. It's clear that their relationship has deteriorated in intimacy over the years to a point where they are friendly but not loving. They have a talented musician son, Michael (Max Thieriot), who though living at home has passed into adulthood and is out of her care and control. Having organized a huge birthday party for her husband Catherine is humiliated when he calls her saying that he missed his plane. Checking his phone the next day she sees a damning text from one of his adoring students. Convinced he is having an affair she enlists the services of Chloe to find out whether he is easily swayed by young female attention. Is he a womanizer on the side?

     Chloe is based on a recent French film, Nathalie, which features the same inexplicable plot hinge. I suspect two out of three marriage counsellors suggest sitting down with your partner and talking through the problems and suspicions but that hardly makes for exciting cinema. Chloe takes to the task reluctantly but once put on the case she reports back to Catherine the first tentative steps leading David into infidelity. Her stories, and the affair, get steamier and steamier and Catherine finds herself aroused by proxy and drawn into her own relationship with Chloe. But is the young escort all she seems?

     With Chloe Atom Egoyan has a ball steering the plot, via a tight spare script, through a rompish sexual melodrama with thriller elements thrown in for good measure. It drew him some of his weakest reviews perhaps because of a salaciousness that recalls the movies of Adrian Lyne, i.e. 9 1/2 Weeks. There is a real lipstick-lesbian chic about the film but the above average performances turn it from tawdry sexual melodrama into an intriguing drama cum thriller. Seyfried graduates to a serious adult role whereas Moore is a tantalizing image of beauty and vulnerability. Neeson, who had to leave the set after the death of his wife, is strong as the maybe philanderer.

     Not Oscar material but it is a lot of fun. No posies for Roadshow in providing a piracy warning and 4 trailers prior to the film! They are skippable but annoying!

Video

     Chloe was shot on 35mm film and projected in the cinema at a 1.85:1 aspect ratio. That aspect ratio has been preserved for the DVD release. It is 16x9 enhanced.

     My Toronto-based friend tells me that the film was shot in all the "nicest" parts of the city. No wonder then that the city looks beautiful and the cinematography is correspondingly bright and colourful. The colours are not only accurate but very stable and the flesh tones, the milky skin of Seyfried and the freckled face of Moore, are strikingly good. There are no technical problems with the film. Compression is not a problem as the film and very few extras are spread across a DVD9.

     There are subtitles for the Hearing Impaired that give a good account of on-screen action.

Video Ratings Summary

Sharpness
Shadow Detail
Colour
Grain/Pixelization
Film-To-Video Artefacts
Film Artefacts
Overall

Audio

     Chloe carries two soundtracks - an English Dolby Digital 2.0 track running at 320Kb/s and an English Descriptive Narration track, also 2.0 running at 224 Kb/s. It would have been nice to have a surround track to give this film, which contains thriller elements, a better sense of mood. Also a higher bitrate track would have given greater depth to the wonderful music of Egoyan regular composer Mychael Danna. Still, for what we have it does the job - clearly rendering the dialogue and ambient sounds.

     There are no technical problems with the track and the actors are in audio sync.

Audio Ratings Summary

Dialogue
Audio Sync
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts
Surround Channel Use
Subwoofer
Overall

     There are only limited extras provided with this DVD.

Deleted Scenes 12.05

     Although these are pegged as deleted scenes only the first three actually fit that description. One is an extension of the idea of Catherine dealing with a patient who has trouble experiencing an orgasm then, once she learns how, has trouble stopping and the other two represent a dropped plot-line relating to Catherine’s son and a former infatuation. Actually, both could have found their way comfortably into the finished film. An additional scene which is in the finished film is given alternate voice-overs by Catherine and Chloe. Neither works hence the reason why in the film the end is silent. Finally, there is a scene featuring Chloe before the VFX was added. Interesting but very brief.

     The film has been released in other Regions and also on Blu-ray in Region A and Region B UK. By all reports the Blu-ray of this already visually impressive film is a stunner. More importantly the film has a number of extras which make the overseas product a better proposition for fans. According to a reliable source these are in the case of the UK Blu-ray:

• Making Of Chloe Directed by Atom Egoyan (25:41 in SD)
• Interviews with Atom Egoyan (22:00), Julianne Moore (4:57) and Amanda Seyfried (6:58 all in SD)
• The Strange Case of Atom Egoyan (1:25:57 in SD)
• Two Deleted Scenes (5:19 in HD!)
• Alternate Ending (5:21 in HD!)
• Trailer (1:53 in HD!)
• Photo Gallery (38 stills in HD running slideshow fashion 4:00 minutes)

     Please note that another Region B review mentioned only the extras on the Region A release so details are a little sketchy. In the case of the Region A Blu-ray apparently the long film about Egoyan is replaced with a commentary track featuring Egoyan, Seyfried and writer Erin Cressida. The DVD release in other Regions appears to have the commentary, deleted scenes, making of materials.

     Whichever way you cut it Region 4 is not the place to buy this film if you are a keen fan.

     Chloe follows on from Where the Truth Lies in presenting a sometimes sordid sexual melodrama. There is no doubt that the central premise is dodgy but there is a lot of fun to be had as the film jumps genres as fast as Chloe whips of her knickers.

     A nice looking and sounding DVD are a bonus but real fans of Egoyan will want to get the film from overseas to get the added extras.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall