Category Archives: Marital Infidelity

2018, Acceptable for teenagers, Based on true facts, Bigamy, British, Divorce, DO NOT MISS, Drama, Family Conflict, Government cover-up, London History, Marital Infidelity, Mother-son relations, PBS Masterpiece Streaming, Personal Betrayal, Plot twists, Religious Theme, War

Mrs. Wilson (2018)

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From IMDB:

After the sudden death of novelist and ex-Secret Intelligence Service man Alexander Wilson, his wife Alison is forced to investigate when mysteries from her husband’s past come knocking.

From PBS Passport (also called PBS Masterpiece Streaming) you can stream the 3 episodes of this Masterpiece drama. Each episode is less than an hour.

Mrs. Wilson is based on the true story of actress Ruth Wilson’s grandmother, Alison, who discovered, upon the sudden death of her husband Alec, that he had another, secret family. … And it’s up to Alison to prevent her family and her world from being torn apart as she unravels them, one at a time.

Ruth Wilson, who plays her grandmother Alison, and Iain Glen, who plays the intriguing Alex Wilson,  are more or less the entire story. Rather than spoil the plot for you, let it suffice to say that Alison spends all three episodes trying to piece together her late husbands “adventures.”

Certainly you have seen Iain Glenn in many different productions. For example he played Jorah Mormont in Game of Thrones.  If you have never watched Ruth Wilson I would recommend your seeing her as Alison Bailey in The Affair  and as the diabolical Alice Morgan in Luther.

DO NOT MISS!

2014, Acceptable Trash, Accidental Death, Addiction, Alcoholism, Alzheimer's disease, Amazon Prime, Arson, Art Marketing, Autism, Binge worthy, Brother-Brother relations, Brother-Sister relations, Cancer theme, Cooking and food, Corny at times, Corrupt Prison Guards, Courtroom scenes, Depression, Detective, Divorce, DO NOT MISS, Drugs, Dysfunctional Lives, Ethical struggles, Explicit sex, Explicit sexual discussion, Extramarital Affair, Failing Marriage, False Imprisonment, Family Conflict, Father-daughter relations, Father-son relations, Fishing, Flashbacks, Flirting, Friendship, Gay theme, Happy Family Gatherings, Husband leaves wife, Illegitimate Child, Incompetent or unfit mother, Lawyers, Longsuffering wife, Love Story, Love Triangle, Marital Infidelity, Medical Theme, Mental Illness, Mother-daughter relations, Mother-son relations, Murder, Murder Investigation, Murder Trial, Narcissist, Nudity, Occasionaly violent, Prison, Psychiatrists, Romance, Small Town, Small Town Atmosphere, Soap Opera, Suicide, Surfing, Unhappy Marriage, Unmarried mother, Weird California Cultures, Wife leaves husband, Womanizing

The Affair (2014)

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From IMDB:

A struggling novelist and a young waitress strike up an extramarital relationship that promises to forever change the course of their lives.

From Amazon Prime you can stream the 10 episodes of this steamy romance and crime series. Each episode is just under 1 hour.

UPDATE:  Now from Amazon Prime you can stream 5 seasons of the soap opera that never ends. Season 2 has 12 episodes. Season 5 has 11 episodes. Seasons 1,3, and 4 have 10 episodes. Each episode is still about one hour.  That gives us a total of 53 hours of soap opera escape.

Nothing is perfect. Some portions are downright corny.  There is a strange interruption in plot when Noah seems to be having a series of psychotic episodes.  Did the writers forget to finish that part of the story?   Sometimes present events plus flashbacks from the past might seem somewhat confusing.

Toward the end I watched slowly because I did not want the story to end.  If a LOOOONG soap opera with a fair number of sometimes explicit sex scenes is your thing, DO NOT MISS!

Original review:

Noah Solloway is played by Dominic West,  the British actor with a long acting resumé. At the time of filming he was 45 years old.

Alison Bailey is played by Ruth Wilson, the British actress whose own resumé is just as long even though she was only 32 years old at the time of filming.  Her role as the sociopath “Alice Morgan” in the TV series “Luther” was chillingly unforgettable.

Alison’s marriage is failing while she and her husband morn the death of their young son.  Noah is having trouble writing his second novel and is trying desperately to be faithful to his wife even though he is immediately attracted to Alison.

Along the way there is a death that is being investigated  by Detective Jeffries.

As soap operas go, this one is not too bad.

2017, Abduction, Abuse of Women, Acceptable Trash, Action Hero, Action sequences, B-movie, Binge worthy, Blackmail, Bloody scenes, Bromance, Brother-Brother relations, Chase film, Complicated, Contract Killing, Corruption, Cover-up, Death penalty debate, Detective, Extramarital Affair, Father-daughter relations, Forensics, Frame someone for a crime, Friendship, Happy ending, Improbable details, Invincible Hero, Marital Infidelity, Mediocre, Mental Illness, Mother-son relations, Murder, Must suspend disbelief, Netflix Streaming, Personal Betrayal, Police Corruption, Psychiatrists, Psychopath, Torture, Violent

Somewhere Between (2017)

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From IMDB:

A local news producer is given one chance to relive a deadly week and stop a serial killer. If she fails, she’ll lose her daughter forever.

From Netflix:

While investigating a serial killer, strange coincidences begin to pile up around news producer Laura. Suddenly, her daughter disappears.

From Netflix you can stream 8 episodes of this TV thriller. Each episode lasts about 43 minutes.

Give this production B or, if you are feeling generous, B+.  Why the negativity on my part?  Don’t misunderstand me, I binged from one suspenseful episode to the next. But in order to let the good guys win and the bad guys lose, this plot will supply as many implausible or impossible details as it takes to succeed.  As an example,  in one comical device that is used several times, our heroes are submerged in water and can hold their breath for practically an entire episode. Perhaps I exaggerate, but you get the idea.

If any of the actors managed to steal the show, it was the 8 year old Serena (played to smart aleck perfection by Aria Birch) who plays the daughter of the news producer Laura Price.

At least a whole raft of unknown actors got a chance to perform.

Rest assured, after watching all the bad guys come to their well earned demise,  you can enjoy a happy sappy ending.

2004, Abuse of Women, Acceptable for teenagers, Amazon Prime, Athletes, Bisexual theme, Bullying, Divorce, Drama, Failing Marriage, Family Conflict, Father-son relations, Feel Good Not For Children, Friendship, Gay theme, High school students, Husband leaves wife, Marital Infidelity, Mother-son relations, Optimistic, Sensitive treatement of emotions, Small gem of a film, Spousal Abuse, Wife Beating

Jack (2004)

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From IMDB:

Jack (Anton Yelchin) is busy with adolescence when he realizes his parents are divorcing and even worse, his dad is gay. After some bittersweet experiences, Jack learns no family is perfect, but his own is more caring, supportive, and stronger than he knew.

From Amazon Prime:

Fifteen-year-old Jack finds his life turned upside down when his parents divorce and he discovers that his father is gay. When his friend Max reveals his own family troubles, Jack learns to appreciate all that he has – however unconventional and troubling it may be.

From Amazon Prime you can stream this 1 hour 43 minute family drama.

Dad Paul is played by Ron Silver. Mom Anne is played by Stockard Channing.  Jack is played by Anton Yelchin. Max is played by Giacomo Baessato.

Jack is 15 going on 16.  He is a typical kid who is on the varsity high school basketball team.  He and his best buddy Max gaze  shyly and longingly at their female school mates.  At fate would have it, it was only when Jack’s world seems to collapse that he able to befriend Maggie whose own father also turns out to be gay.  When Jack learns that Max’s father physically abuses Max’s mother,  he begins to appreciate his own family.

Despite the theme, this is a feel-good film in which Yelchin’s portrayal of Jack is pitch perfect and endearing.  This film is one of those rare gems that I somehow stumbled on.

 

2020, Acceptable for teenagers, Attempted Murder, British, Drama, Dysfunctional Lives, Extramarital Affair, Failing Marriage, Family Conflict, Husband leaves wife, Jealousy, Male Prostitute for Women, Marital Infidelity, Melodrama, Mother-daughter relations, Mother-son relations, Murder Investigation, PBS Masterpiece Streaming, Sex Scenes, Tragedy, Unhappy Marriage

Flesh and Blood (2020)

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From IMDB:

Lives of three siblings are disrupted when their recently widowed mother declares she’s in love with a new man. Tangled web of secrets, lies, rivalries and betrayals eventually leads to a murder.

From the PBS streaming channel you can stream the 4 episodes of this British Masterpiece Theater soap opera. Each episode lasts about 45 minutes.

Masterpiece Theater on PBS TV just finished doling out an episode per week of this drama. Now that it is over, you can stream all 4 episodes from PBS streaming. By contributing some money to PBS you can get a membership to the streaming source.

From Acorn through Amazon Prime you can also stream Gold Digger which is similar to “Flesh and Blood” in that both dramas are about an older widow falling in love with a new man despite the objections of her grown children. In the former story the new man is much younger. In the latter the new man Mark (played by Stephen Rea who was Alexander Pope in  Counterpart) is closer in age to the widow Vivien (played by Francesca Annis).

Add to the objections from Vivien’s grown children the passive aggressive behavior of Vivien’s longtime neighbor Mary.  Many of the actors have impressive resumés, but Imelda Staunton, who plays the nosy neighbor Mary, is a British classic. Her performance as Vera in  Vera Drake was memorable.  And of course we have seen Sharon Small (who plays Stella) just about everywhere, for example as Dr. Laura Maitland in Murderland.

Unquestionably a tragedy,  each of the characters is in an awful position and no one lives happily ever after.

Until the final fourth episode we never know who is in serious condition in the hospital.  Just to keep guessing is worth the trip.

 

2020, Acceptable for teenagers, Antique Cars, Assisted Suicide, Blackmail, Boating, Bullying, Classic, Controlling personality, Corny at times, Dancing, Detective, Ethical struggles, Extramarital Affair, Film Remake, Fist Fight, Forensics, Frame someone for a crime, Haute Couture, Interest in automobiles, Jealousy, Lawyers, Marital Infidelity, Murder, Murder Investigation, Netflix Streaming, Personal Betrayal, Police Investigation, Promiscuity, Psychopath, Remarkable Costumes, Revenge, Romance, Suspense, Terminal Disease, Unhappy Marriage, Upstairs - Downstairs

Rebecca (2020)

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From IMDB:

A young newlywed arrives at her husband’s imposing family estate on a windswept English coast and finds herself battling the shadow of his first wife, Rebecca, whose legacy lives on in the house long after her death.

From Netflix you can stream this 2 hour 3 minute complete remake of the Alfred Hitchcock classic rendition of Daphne du Maurier’s famous 1938 bestseller.

If the link works for you, you can read the review in the edition today (October 22, 2020) of the Boston Globe.  Let us say that the critic, Ty Burr, damns with faint praise. As Mr. Burr reminds us, Alfred Hitchcock make the film in 1940, which makes the first film version 80 years old. He also sadly informs us that currently (Oct 22, 2020) there is no genuine streaming source for the original.

Of course we old-timers will tell you that Lily James (playing the second Mrs.  de Winter is no Joan Fontaine. Nor is Kristin Scott Thomas (playing Mrs. Danvers) any Dame Judith Anderson.  For my taste Kristin Scott Thomas is scary enough.

Ignore the critics and enjoy this remake!

2018, Abandoned child, Abduction, Abortion, Adultery, Algerian-French relations, Binge worthy, Blackmail, Bloody scenes, Brother-Sister relations, Career Competition, Conspiracy, Controlling personality, Corny at times, Corruption, Detective, DO NOT MISS, Drama, Ethical struggles, Extramarital Affair, Failing Marriage, Family Conflict, Father-daughter relations, Father-son relations, Frame someone for a crime, French, French Culture, French Detective Series, Illegitimate Child, Jealousy, Journalist, Lesbian Theme, Made For TV, Male Chauvinism, Marital Infidelity, MHz Choice, Mother-daughter relations, Mother-son relations, Murder, Murder Investigation, Occasionaly violent, Orphanage, Paris in the 1960s, Police Corruption, Police Politics, Political Intrigue, Romance, Suspense, Torture, TV Culture, Unhappy Marriage, Womanizing, Women's Equality

Speakerine (2018)

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From MHz Choice:

In 1960s Paris, TV announcer Christine Beauval crashes the glass ceiling and brings criminals to justice in a drama that’s part ‘Mad Men,’ part Agatha Christie.

From MHz Choice you can stream the 6 episodes of this French TV dramatic series.  Each episode lasts roughly 50 minutes.

Looking for a binge-worthy TV series with all the right elements: corruption, male chauvinism, OAS terrorists associated with the Algerian drive for independence, powerful Frenchmen taking sexual advantage of women ?   Look no further because this French TV soap opera has it all. Consider the cast of characters:

  • Christine Beauval must prevail against French male chauvinism in her fight to be accepted as a woman TV personality.
  • Pierre Beauval, her husband and boss, is a TV careerist executive opposing her all the way, as in “the women belong in the home and kitchen.”
  • Colette Beauval, her daughter, is being taken advantage of by Eric Jauffret, another bureaucratic wannabe.
  • Jean-Claude Beauval, her son, who becomes involved with the OAS terrorist group who tried to assassinate General Charles de  Gaulle.
  • Isabelle Auclair, a young woman using her charms to induce men to help her replace Christine.
  • And many. many corrupt politicians and executives loosely connected through sometimes fatal sex parties. (Are you interested now?)

Among these French actors, the only one I recognized was Grégory Fitoussi who plays Eric Jauffret.   He played a lead in Spiral, another French TV series.  If you haven’t already seen Spiral, run do not walk to Netflix.  You can find my review  in this web site.

Granted that “Speakerine” is an unabashed soap opera which at the very end is a bit over the top, but

DO NOT MISS!

 

2019, Acorn TV, Amusing banter, Australian Detective, Boarding school, Clever Assistant, Cooking and food, Failing Marriage, Forensics, Interest in cats, Marital Infidelity, Mediocre, Murder by poison, Murder Investigation, NOT violent, Nothing special, Revenge, Unhappy Marriage, Witty dialog

My Life Is Murder (2019)

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From IMDB:

My Life is Murder follows the adventures of fearless private investigator Alexa Crowe, who solves the most baffling crimes as well as coping with the frustrations of everyday life.

From Acorn TV you can stream the 10 episodes (the 11th episode is just a bonus cast interview) of this (Melbourne) Australian crime series. Each episode lasts about 43 minutes.

Lucy Lawless (Xena: Warrior Princess) plays Alexa Crowe as a retired cop who cannot seem to stop solving crime. Each story begins with DI Keiran Hussey bringing a closed but dubious case to her attention.  Madison Feliciano is her smart and sassy assistant who is very good at not always legal research.

Just a lightweight series of who-done-it stories that is easy to watch.

 

1995, Abduction, Abuse of Women, Acceptable Science, Acorn TV, Action sequences, Alcoholism, Assisted Suicide, Bloody scenes, British Mystery Series, Cold Cases, Courtroom scenes, Crime thriller, Detective, DNA, DO NOT MISS, Explicit sex, Extramarital Affair, Forensic pathologist, Frame someone for a crime, Friendship, Gory, Gritty, Illegitimate Child, Jealousy, Kidnapping, Marital Infidelity, Medical Theme, Motorcycles, Murder, Murder by poison, Murder Investigation, Nudity, Police Investigation, Prostitutes, Psychiatrists, Psychopath, Sadism, Sex Scenes, Suicide, Suspense, Thriller, Violent, Womanizing

McCallum (1995)

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From IMDB:

From deep within the morgue at St. Patrick’s Hospital in London’s East End, Dr. Iain McCallum and Dr. Angela Moloney along with a team of brilliant pathologists and detectives help the dead tell their stories.

From Acorn TV you can stream two seasons of this pathologist crime series.  Season 1 has 4 episodes and Season 2 has 5 episodes. Each episode lasts about 1.5 hours.

Gory, riveting, and clever are a few apt adjectives for this engrossing series. Personal relations among the constant set of characters are as important as the plots themselves. Most episodes are complete crime and solution stories.

John Hannah, who plays Dr. Iain McCallum, was 33 years old at the time of filming.  Now (2020) he is still going strong at the age of 58.

Unfortunately season 2 episode 5 is a disappointing episode. At that time in the series, Iain and Angela have emigrated to Canada and are no longer in the episode.  For some strange reason this fifth episode introduces new characters and offers a bizarre almost silly plot. You might want to skip this last blunder of a story.

Otherwise — DO NOT MISS!

2019, Abuse of Women, Acceptable for teenagers, Acorn TV, British, Brother-Brother relations, Brother-Sister relations, Bullying, Dancing, Divorce, DO NOT MISS, Drama, Extramarital Affair, Failing Marriage, Family Conflict, Father-daughter relations, Father-son relations, Jealousy, Love Story, Marital Infidelity, Mother-daughter relations, Mother-son relations, Narcissist, Personal Betrayal, Sex Scenes, Spousal Abuse, Wife Beating, Wonderful acting

Gold Digger (2019)

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From Acorn TV:

On her 60th birthday, Julia (Emmy® winner Julia Ormond, Mad Men, Legends of the Fall) hits it off with handsome young Benjamin (Ben Barnes, The Chronicles of Narnia films, Westworld). But their whirlwind romance is marred by the disapproval of Julia’s adult children. Does Benjamin truly love her, or is he the gold digger her family believes him to be? “Bold and hugely entertaining” –The Guardian.

From Acorn TV you can stream the 6 episodes of this British thriller. Each episode lasts about an hour. There is a 7th episode that interviews the actors.

All the acting is splendid as is this riveting series.

  • Julia Ormond  is perfectly cast as the wealthy, beautiful, lonely Julia Day whose 60 years stand in stark contrast to the young Benjamin Greene.  Her acting resumé is most impressive. During filming Ms. Ormond was actually 54 years old.
  •  In the story no mention is made of the character Benjamin Green’s numerical age. Ben Barnes the actor was 38 years old during the filming.  His own acting resumé is noteworthy.
  •  One good villain is sometimes all it takes to make a story captivating.  In this respect Alex Jennings as Julia’s former husband Ted fits the bill to perfection. His portrayal of an aging narcissist is all too human.  From his resumé you will note that Alex Jennings has appeared in just about everything (slight exaggeration, but wow!)
  •  You might recognize Nikki Amuka-Bird as DCI Erin Gray from the series “Luther.”  In her role as Julia’s  friend Marsha I could only feel sorry for her despite her having betrayed Julia.

Is Benjamin a gold digger or is he genuinely in love with Julia?

DO NOT MISS!