''Chloe'' is a 2009 erotic thriller film directed by

Atom Egoyan Atom Egoyan (; hy, Աթոմ Եղոյեան, translit=Atom Yeghoyan; born July 19, 1960) is a Canadian filmmaker. He was part of a loosely-affiliated group of filmmakers to emerge in the 1980s from Toronto known as the Toronto New Wave. Egoyan ...

, a remake of the 2003 French film '' Nathalie...''. It stars

Julianne Moore Julie Anne Smith (born December 3, 1960), known professionally as Julianne Moore, is an American actress. Prolific in film since the early 1990s, she is particularly known for her portrayals of emotionally troubled women in independent films, ...

Liam Neeson William John Neeson (born 7 June 1952) is an actor from Northern Ireland. He has received several accolades, including nominations for an Academy Award, a British Academy Film Award, and two Tony Awards. In 2020, he was placed 7th on ''The I ...

, and

Amanda Seyfried Amanda Michelle Seyfried ( ; born December 3, 1985) is an American actress. Born and raised in Allentown, Pennsylvania, she began modeling at age 11 and ventured into acting at 15, with recurring roles as Lucy Montgomery on the CBS soap opera ...

in the titular role. Its screenplay was written by

Erin Cressida Wilson Erin Cressida Wilson (born February 12, 1964) is an American playwright, screenwriter, professor, and author. Wilson is known for the 2002 film ''Secretary'', which she adapted from a Mary Gaitskill short story. It won her the Independent Spirit ...

, based on the earlier French film, written by

Anne Fontaine Anne Fontaine (born Anne-Fontaine Sibertin-Blanc; 15 July 1959) is a Luxembourger film director, screenwriter, and former actress. She lives and works in France. Life and career Born Anne-Fontaine Sibertin-Blanc in Luxembourg, sister of actor ...

. Despite receiving mixed reviews from critics, the film was a commercial success and it grossed more at the worldwide box office than any of Egoyan's previous films.

Plot

Catherine is a gynecologist, her husband David is a

college professor Professor (commonly abbreviated as Prof.) is an academic rank at universities and other post-secondary education and research institutions in most countries. Literally, ''professor'' derives from Latin as a "person who professes". Professors ...

, and they have a teenage son, Michael. Catherine suspects David of having an affair after she sees a cell-phone picture of him with a female student. At a restaurant, Catherine encounters a young woman named Chloe and realizes she is a

call girl A call girl or female escort is a sex worker who (unlike a street walker) does not display her profession to the general public, nor does she usually work in an institution like a brothel, although she may be employed by an escort agency.< ...

. One day, she also notices Chloe from her office window, entering an upscale bar, and surmises that they work in the same neighborhood and Chloe goes there to meet clients. Catherine goes there to meet Chloe and tells her that she wants to hire her to test David's loyalty. Chloe reports back that David kissed her, saddening Catherine. She asks that Chloe show her the results of her tests for sexually transmitted diseases. Chloe brings the test results to Catherine's office, where she meets Michael and flirts with him. Catherine and Chloe meet multiple times, and Chloe describes in explicit detail her sexual encounters with David, which arouses Catherine. During a meeting at a hotel where Chloe says she had a tryst with David, Chloe kisses Catherine. Catherine, surprised by this, abruptly leaves. Later, she is taken aback by David's awareness of the scent of her lotion; it is the same lotion that Chloe wears. Upset by this, Catherine leaves and meets with Chloe again at a hotel, where she undresses Chloe and asks how David touches her. Realizing that Catherine wants her, Chloe has sex with her. Catherine gets home very late, leading David to ask if she has been unfaithful. Catherine tells him he has been unfaithful as well, and the two argue. Chloe confronts Catherine and tells her what they shared together is real, but Catherine insists their relationship was a business transaction and asks her to please leave. She calls off their relationship, but when Chloe mentions that David called Chloe again, Catherine decides to settle this once and for all: she calls Chloe to meet at a coffee house, where she also calls David. David arrives first and she angrily demands that he admit he is having an affair. Chloe walks in, and it is clear that David does not recognize her. Chloe quickly leaves without speaking to either of them and Catherine realizes that Chloe made up all the stories of her encounters with David. David admits that he has flirted and been tempted but has never been unfaithful to her. Upset, Catherine reveals everything about Chloe and that they slept together. She apologizes, saying that she felt she had become invisible to David as she aged, while David became more attractive to her. David comforts and kisses her and the couple reconciles. Chloe goes to Catherine's house and has sex with Michael in Catherine's bed. Catherine arrives home, and Chloe tells Catherine that she is in love with her and that she only had sex with Michael because Michael reminds her of Catherine. She threatens to hurt Catherine, requesting a kiss, and Catherine complies. Michael sees, startling Catherine and causing her to push Chloe into the bedroom window. Chloe grabs hold of the frame, but intentionally lets go and falls to her death. Sometime later, at Michael's graduation party, Catherine is seen wearing Chloe's hairpin; the family is reconciled.

Cast

as Dr. Catherine Stewart, a gynecologist, David's wife, and Chloe's love interest *

as David Stewart, a college professor and Catherine's husband *

as Chloe Sweeney, a call girl who Catherine hires to expose David but instead falls in love with Catherine *

Max Thieriot Maximillion Drake Thieriot (; born October 14, 1988) is an American actor and director. He made his acting debut in the 2004 adventure comedy film ''Catch That Kid''. Thieriot has since appeared in the action comedy '' The Pacifier'' (2005), the ...

as Michael Stewart, Catherine and David's son * R. H. Thomson as Frank *

Nina Dobrev Nikolina Kamenova Dobreva ( bg, Николина Каменова Добрева, ; born January 9, 1989), credited professionally as Nina Dobrev ( ), is a Canadian actress. She is best known for portraying Elena Gilbert and Katherine Pierce o ...

as Anna *

Meghan Heffern Meghan Heffern (born October 3, 1983) is a Canadian actress. She was born in Edmonton, Alberta, and lives in Toronto, Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic easte ...

as Miranda *

Natalie Lisinska Natalie Lisinska (born 11 January 1982) is a British-Canadian actress. Lisinska was born in Shrewsbury, Shropshire, England and grew up on Vancouver Island in British Columbia British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmo ...

as Eliza *

Laura de Carteret Laura de Carteret is a Canadian actress from St. Catharines, Ontario. She is most noted for her recurring role as Janet in the television series ''Seed'', for which she was a Canadian Screen Award nominee for Best Supporting Actress in a Comedy Se ...

as Alicia * Mishu Vellani as Julie

Production

''Chloe'' was the first film produced by the director

that was not written by himself. The entire filming time was only 35 days. The film was financed solely in

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...

and was shot in

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the anch ...

and

Lake Ontario Lake Ontario is one of the five Great Lakes of North America. It is bounded on the north, west, and southwest by the Canadian province of Ontario, and on the south and east by the U.S. state of New York. The Canada–United States border ...

, Canada. Some local restaurants and scenic spots appear in the film under actual names, such as

Allan Gardens Allan Gardens is a conservatory and urban park located in the Garden District of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The property includes a playground, off-leash dog park, and a conservatory with six green houses. The park originated from lands donated ...

, Cafe Diplomatico,

The Rivoli The Rivoli is a bar, restaurant and performance space, established in 1982, on Queen Street West in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The club originally earned a reputation as one of Canada's hippest music clubs, and many major Canadian comedy and mu ...

, the

Windsor Arms Hotel The Windsor Arms is a boutique hotel in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is located at 18 St. Thomas St. in the heart of the Yorkville neighbourhood. The hotel includes The Living Room, Court Yard Cafe and a Spa. This neo-gothic style building was d ...

, the Royal York Hotel, the Royal Ontario Museum,

The Royal Conservatory of Music The Royal Conservatory of Music (RCM), branded as The Royal Conservatory, is a non-profit music education institution and performance venue headquartered in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It was founded in 1886 by Edward Fisher as The Toronto Con ...

, the

CN Tower The CN Tower (french: Tour CN) is a concrete communications and observation tower in downtown Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Built on the former Railway Lands, it was completed in 1976. Its name "CN" referred to Canadian National, the railway c ...

, the

Art Gallery of Ontario The Art Gallery of Ontario (AGO; french: Musée des beaux-arts de l'Ontario) is an art museum in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The museum is located in the Grange Park neighbourhood of downtown Toronto, on Dundas Street West between McCaul and Bev ...

and the

Ontario College of Art Ontario College of Art & Design University, commonly known as OCAD University or OCAD, is a public art university located in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The university's main campus is spread throughout several buildings and facilities within d ...

. Producer Jason Reitman helped persuade Amanda Seyfried to star in this film. Seyfried accepted the role of Chloe after a friend of hers withdrew from consideration due to discomfort with the nudity. Julianne Moore described Seyfried as a "very dependable" acting partner and claimed that they were largely comfortable with the intimacy in the film. In describing her view of Catherine's relationship with Chloe, Moore noted "an emotional quality to their intimacy that has to do with their conversation and their basic receptivity to one another. Now what they turn into personally obviously is very different. They are having completely subjective experiences, but that doesn't mean hey'renot incredibly receptive to one another and it clearly creates something in-between them. And that's what love and sex and intimacy and all that is. Someone who is listening to you, hearing you, there for you, that's the person you end up having a relationship with, sexual or just emotional or whatever. I don't know if that has to do with gender necessarily".

's wife,

Natasha Richardson Natasha Jane Richardson (11 May 1963 – 18 March 2009) was an English actress of stage and screen. A member of the Redgrave family, Richardson was the daughter of actress Vanessa Redgrave and director/producer Tony Richardson and the granddaug ...

, had a skiing accident during filming. Neeson decided to leave the set to take care of his wife, who died from her injury a few days later. The filmmakers re-arranged the shooting schedule accordingly for Neeson's absence. Just a few days after his wife's death, Neeson returned to the set and filmed the remainder of his scenes in two days. Canadian

indie rock Indie rock is a subgenre of rock music that originated in the United States, United Kingdom and New Zealand from the 1970s to the 1980s. Originally used to describe independent record labels, the term became associated with the music they produc ...

band

Raised by Swans Raised by Swans is the recording alias of Canadian solo artist Eric Howden. A singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist, Howden chose the name 'Raised By Swans' in 1997 following a cathartic dream he had after leaving his previous band, The Ga ...

has two songs featured in the movie and the band is mentioned several times by Chloe.

(the writer/director of '' Nathalie...'') said that she was interested in Egoyan's take on it. Fontaine also said that she was not happy with ''Nathalie...'' because the two lead actresses of the film objected to her original intention for a lesbian relationship to develop between their characters.

studied at the University of Toronto, and

Joe Medjuck Joseph Medjuck (born February 17, 1943) is a Canadian film producer in Hollywood. Life and career Medjuck was born in Fredericton, New Brunswick, Canada. He received his BA in Honours English from McGill University and his MA and PhD from the U ...

, one of the film's producers, was a teacher of Egoyan at the University of Toronto.

Behind the scenes

Creative process

After determining the plan for the remake of the film '' Nathalie...'', the investor

StudioCanal StudioCanal S.A.S. (formerly known as Le Studio Canal+, Canal Plus, Canal+ Distribution, Canal+ D.A., Canal+ Production, and Canal+ Image and also known as StudioCanal International) is a French film production and distribution company that owns ...

believed that it was necessary to find a reliable screenwriter to write a script for the film because it tells a relatively complicated family and emotional story.

was chosen, in part because of her experience writing erotic films such as ''

Secretary A secretary, administrative professional, administrative assistant, executive assistant, administrative officer, administrative support specialist, clerk, military assistant, management assistant, office secretary, or personal assistant is a ...

'' (2002). This script took Wilson a lot of time and energy to create, and many times she couldn't figure out what real life was and what was the story in the script. Wilson found it easier to write for Chloe than for Catherine, later saying, "I related to Chloe, the young woman who loved to seduce people".

Making photography

''Chloes director Egoyan insisted on using

35 mm film 35 mm may refer to: * 135 film, a type of still photography format commonly referred to as 35 mm film * 35 mm movie film 35 mm film is a film gauge used in filmmaking, and the film standard. In motion pictures that record on f ...

to shoot the film. This is a time-consuming and labor-intensive process, but Egoyan enjoys it. The photographer

Paul Sarossy Paul Sarossy, , , (born April 24, 1963) is a Canadian cinematographer and film director. He is known for his collaborations with director Atom Egoyan, serving as his director of photography on twelve feature films (''Speaking Parts'', ''The Adjus ...

thinks filming this film is symbolic. In this

digital age The Information Age (also known as the Computer Age, Digital Age, Silicon Age, or New Media Age) is a historical period that began in the mid-20th century. It is characterized by a rapid shift from traditional industries, as established during t ...

, choosing to use film to shoot a movie is more of a feeling of escape from

digital electronics Digital electronics is a field of electronics involving the study of digital signals and the engineering of devices that use or produce them. This is in contrast to analog electronics and analog signals. Digital electronic circuits are usual ...

. Although the film eventually uses some

digital technology Digital technology may refer to: * Application of digital electronics * Any significant piece of knowledge from information technology Information technology (IT) is the use of computers to create, process, store, retrieve, and exchange a ...

, it is not a digitally produced film.

Costume design

The film also took great pains in the art design and

costume design Costume design is the creation of clothing for the overall appearance of a character or performer. Costume may refer to the style of dress particular to a nation, a class, or a period. In many cases, it may contribute to the fullness of the arti ...

. In the movie, mirrors and glass were used as props for reflection and refraction. The costume design of the film also pays attention to the concept of mirroring. In order to complement the artwork, costume designer Debra Hanson specifically used a layered mirror effect on the costume design. Those repeated laces, structures and decorations are also mirrored images. The effect is the same as showing the heart of a character. In addition, the relationship between clothing and the external environment has also been deliberately taken care of. In the film, Chloe's scene in the greenhouse was decorated with a lot of leaves and patterns on the clothes she wore, which could reflect some of her inner unrest. Similarly, Catherine's clothes are in part echoed by Chloe's clothing, and their relationship in the film is complex and subtle.

Financing and distribution

fully financed ''Chloe'', and StudioCanal were able to fully recoup the film's budget via international pre-sales. In 2009, the film received award nominations from

London Film Festival The BFI London Film Festival is an annual film festival founded in 1957 and held in the United Kingdom, running for two weeks in October with co-operation from the British Film Institute. It screens more than 300 films, documentaries and sho ...

San Sebastián International Film Festival The San Sebastián International Film Festival ( SSIFF; es, Festival Internacional de San Sebastián, eu, Donostia Zinemaldia) is an annual FIAPF A category film festival held in the Spanish city of Donostia-San Sebastián in September, in ...

, and

Toronto International Film Festival The Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF, often stylized as tiff) is one of the largest publicly attended film festivals in the world, attracting over 480,000 people annually. Since its founding in 1976, TIFF has grown to become a perman ...

under the category of Film Presented. Sony Pictures Worldwide Acquisitions Group paid a low seven-figure sum to acquire the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

distribution rights of ''Chloe'', and the group opened this film in

limited theatrical release __FORCETOC__ Limited theatrical release is a film distribution strategy of releasing a new film in a few theaters across a country, typically art house theaters in major metropolitan markets. Since 1994, a limited theatrical release in the Unite ...

in the United States on March 26, 2010 through

Sony Pictures Classics Sony Pictures Classics Inc. is an American film production and distribution company that is a division of Sony Pictures. It was founded in 1992 by former Orion Classics heads Michael Barker, Tom Bernard and Marcie Bloom. It distributes, produce ...

. In the United States, this film grossed $3 million theatrically, which was generally considered as a respectful result for an

arthouse film An art film (or arthouse film) is typically an independent film, aimed at a niche market rather than a mass market audience. It is "intended to be a serious, artistic work, often experimental and not designed for mass appeal", "made primarily f ...

release in early 2010's. In the wake of ''Chloe'', Egoyan had since received many scripts of erotic thrillers. Amanda Seyfried's performance in this film also helped her to gain industry acclaim and become considered for more roles.

Home media

''Chloe'' was released in the United States on July 13, 2010 in both

DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for Digital Video Disc or Digital Versatile Disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any kind ...

and Blu-ray Disc. The disc includes an

audio commentary An audio commentary is an additional audio track, usually digital, consisting of a lecture or comments by one or more speakers, that plays in real time with a video. Commentaries can be serious or entertaining in nature, and can add informatio ...

, making-of featurette, and

deleted scene A deleted scene is footage that has been removed from the final version of a film or television show. There are various reasons why these scenes are deleted, which include time constraints, relevance, quality or a dropped story thread. A similar o ...

s. The film did especially well in Home Video rentals; for instance, the film stayed in

Redbox Redbox Automated Retail LLC (stylized as redbox.) is an American video rental company specializing in DVD, Blu-ray, 4K UHD rentals, and formerly video games via automated retail kiosks. Redbox kiosks feature the company's signature red color ...

Top 10 DVD rentals chart for three straight weeks (very good result for an arthouse release in the United States). Several months following the

and

Blu-ray The Blu-ray Disc (BD), often known simply as Blu-ray, is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 2005 and released on June 20, 2006 worldwide. It is designed to supersede the DVD format, and capable of st ...

release of ''Chloe'', Egoyan said that ''Chloe'' had made more money than any of his previous films.

Reception

Critical response

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

, the film has an approval rating of 51% based on 163 reviews, with an average rating of 5.71/10. The site's consensus is that "Despite its promising pedigree and a titillating premise, ''Chloe'' ultimately fails to deliver the heat—or the thrills—expected of a sexual thriller."

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created by Jason Dietz, Marc ...

, which assigns a score from major reviewers, gave the film a 48 out of 100, based on 33 reviews, indicating "Mixed or average reviews." Roger Ebert of the ''

Chicago Sun-Times The ''Chicago Sun-Times'' is a daily newspaper published in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Since 2022, it is the flagship paper of Chicago Public Media, and has the second largest circulation among Chicago newspapers, after the ''Chicago ...

'' gave the film 3.5 out of 4 and wrote: "It's not the kind of movie that depends on the certainty of an ending. It's more about how things continue." Todd McCarthy of ''Variety'' gave the film a mixed review: "Sexual suspicion and game-playing spiral down from the exotically intriguing to outright silliness in Chloe." Anthony Lane of

The New Yorker ''The New Yorker'' is an American weekly magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. Founded as a weekly in 1925, the magazine is published 47 times annually, with five of these issues ...

compared the film to the French original: "The movie--directed by Atom Egoyan, who should know better--is closely adapted from '' Nathalie...'', a French film of 2004, with Gérard Depardieu and Emmanuelle Béart, but what seemed like standard practice for Parisians comes across here as unsmiling porno-farce.

Accolades

References

External links

* * * * *

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''Chloe''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Chloe 2000s erotic thriller films 2009 independent films 2009 LGBT-related films 2009 psychological thriller films 2009 films Adultery in films American erotic thriller films American independent films American LGBT-related films American psychological thriller films American remakes of French films Canadian erotic thriller films Canadian independent films Canadian LGBT-related films Canadian psychological thriller films 2000s English-language films English-language Canadian films English-language French films Female bisexuality in film Films about prostitution in Canada Films about threesomes Films directed by Atom Egoyan Films produced by Ivan Reitman Films scored by Mychael Danna Films set in Toronto Films shot in Toronto French erotic thriller films Remakes of French films French independent films French LGBT-related films French psychological thriller films LGBT-related thriller films The Montecito Picture Company films Sony Pictures Classics films StudioCanal films 2000s American films 2000s Canadian films 2000s French films