Coco Before Chanel director Anne Fontaine and screenwriter Christopher Hampton (Dangerous Liaisons, A Dangerous Method) tackle Doris Lessing’s novella (“The Grandmothers”) about Roz (Robin Wright) and Lil (Naomi Watts), childhood friends who, as adult neighbors, end up falling for each other’s sons. Tom (James Frecheville), Roz’s son and Ian (Xavier Samuel), Lil’s son, also happen to be best friends, but the situation gets twisted when Roz’s husband Harold (Ben Mendelsohn) accepts a job offer that requires a relocation, which Roz refuses, setting the stage for dangerously close intimate interactions between the sons and mothers. The incestuous premise recalls the sensually charged drama of Louis Malle’s Damage, from 1992, which was an adaptation of Josephine Hart’s slender tome. Opens at Esquire Theatre Sept. 6. (R) Not screened in time for review
This article appears in Sep 4-10, 2013.