Chloe is a 2009 erotic thriller directed by Atom Egoyan, and starring Julianne Moore,
Liam Neeson,
Amanda Seyfried, Nina Dobrev, and Max Thieriot. The screenplay was written by Erin Cressida Wilson, based on the film, Nathalie..., written by Anne Fontaine.
StudioCanal fully financed this film, which had already made its budget back via international pre-sales.
This film's United States distribution rights had also been acquired by Sony Pictures Worldwide Acquisitions Group, which will release this film in the United States theatrically through Sony Pictures Classics; the film is receiving a limited theatrical release in the United States and Canada on March 26, 2010.
Plot
Catherine (Julianne Moore) and David Stewart (Liam Neeson) are married and have good jobs and a 17-year-old son, Michael (Max Thieriot), and live in Toronto, Ontario. David misses a flight home from New York and, as a result, a surprise party that Catherine has organized for him, and cryptically says that this was neither an accident nor on purpose. He tends to be friendly to female students and service personnel. Catherine suspects that he is having an affair.
A young call girl named Chloe (Amanda Seyfried) arranges what seems to be a chance encounter with Catherine in a hotel bathroom. Catherine hires Chloe to test David's fidelity and report back to her, but Catherine fails to instruct Chloe how far she is supposed to go if David wants to have sex. Catherine and Chloe meet repeatedly. The first time Chloe reports that he was just friendly, the second time she reports in detail a sexual encounter. Catherine has mixed feelings about the tests and tells Chloe to stop. However, Chloe continues to report encounters, Catherine continues to pay her, and she and Catherine also have sex together, which seems to have been Chloe's goal. However, she stalks Catherine with a visit to her work and an email with a photograph of the two in bed. It turns out that she made up the encounters with David. Catherine tells her to get out of her life. However, she has also sex with Michael in the parents' bed in Catherine's house, apparently in order to keep invading Catherine's life and be close to her. Catherine tells her to leave the house, which in turn upsets Michael.
Production notes
Financed solely in France, the film was shot in Toronto, Ontario. Several landmarks, hotels, hot spots and restaurants are used and seen in the movie with their actual names.
Liam Neeson's wife, Natasha Richardson, had a skiing accident during filming, so Neeson decided to leave the set to take care his wife (and his wife unfortunately died a few days later). The filmmakers changed the script accordingly for Neeson’s absence. But just a few days after his wife's death, Neeson himself decided to return to the set; he eventually finished his performance in two days.
Canadian indie band Raised by Swans has two songs featured in the movie and the band is mentioned several times by Chloe.
Anne Fontaine (the writer/director of Nathalie...) said that she was interested in Egoyan's take on her original. Fontaine also said that she even wasn't happy with Nathalie..., because the two lead actresses of the film objected to Fontaine's original intention for an erotic relationship to develop between their characters.
Movie details courtesy of
Wikipedia
