Chloe

Amanda Seyfried and Julianne Moore in Chloe

Atom Egoyan's Chloe, from 2009, is a flat erotic thriller that apes Hitchcock's glossy surfaces, yet lacks the perverse irony of the master. Egoyan was a promising auteur of the 80s and 90s, but hasn't produced a fully satisfying film since 1997's The Sweet Hereafter. Amanda Seyfried plays the title character, a whore who ensnares gynecologist Julianne Moore and her family in sexual intrigue. The plot is too tiresome to repeat as elements of Teorema and Eyes Wide Shut are recycled to torpid effect. Liam Neeson is ludicrously miscast as a music professor. The scene of him lecturing on Don Giovanni undermines the film's credibility in the opening reel. He has zero chemistry with Moore who is also miscast as a dupe. Seyfried's character is a void, not even the blank faced critique of capitalism that Terence Stamp embodied in Teorema, but a similarly toned young bod. Scruffy costumes and bad hair mock the film's attempted aim of decadent elegance. A dreadful dud.