The Love Affair (2015)

r/aita - Am I The Asshole For Cheating On My Cheating Wife?

What got me curious about this movie was a list of intense confrontations by ABS-CBN. The scene featured Dawn Zulueta and Bea Alonzo and what completely convinced me was the exchange which goes kind of like this:

“Bitch.”

“Bitch?” Dawn smiled, “Not yet. But I won’t be so nice next time.”

“Is that a threat?” asked Bea.

Dawn’s eyes narrowed. “Are you threatened?”

By the way, I don’t consider that a spoiler since you barely glean anything important from that alone. It’s just some badass dialogue that had great delivery by the actresses.

Now, see, I’m a sucker for scenes like this even if they may not be entirely realistic. Still, I enjoy them so I decided to watch the movie later that night.

The one thing I loved about this movie was how they narrated the events to us. The film smoothly weaves in the things of the past to tell us why the characters are who they are and why they did what they did. Before I knew it, I knew what drove the characters and the vital parts of their backstory that caused them to be where they were in this mess.

This leads me to the elephant in the room and the reason for my headline: everyone here made mistakes and hurt each other, be it intentional or not. Some mistakes were larger and, for some people, unforgivable. This then leads me to the question: “How much is too much and is it ever possible to forgive that much?” The film tackles mistakes, owning up to them, and forgiveness, among many other things, of course. While the themes are great, I also can’t quite find where I fall here since there are just some things you can forgive but have to abandon because they caused you too much pain. This just goes to show the Filipino values that are taught to us by our families. We are all taught to be compassionate, to a fault, and to prioritise our family over anything else which can become problematic.

The thing is, I love the movie for the message it’s sending. It represents Filipino values but I can’t also act like Filipino values are always right. You don’t always have to forgive someone for hurting you, you don’t always have to fight for something that hurt you immensely and destroyed you, and you don’t always have to go back to the one thing hurting you. I’m conflicted about how I feel about the message because I like it but I also can’t completely agree.

Another theme they tackled that I love is the plight of the housewives—the wives who are left pushing their husbands whom they put on a pedestal. What about them? What happens to them? Are their roles and identities reduced to being a wife who cleans the house, raises the children, and supports her breadwinner husband? We see that in Dawn’s character, Tricia, and that’s one of the reasons I can’t hate her for what she did.

Regardless of the characters’ mistakes, I can’t find myself hating one character completely. Why they made their mistakes is just completely human and I understand why they did it. Does that mean that I approve? No. Absolutely not. I don’t like what they did but I can’t get angry at them for it. It just means that I see where they’re coming from. I can judge, though.

The acting is so good but I never expected less from actors of this calibre. I mean, this is Richard Gomez, Dawn Zulueta, and Bea Alonzo we’re talking about. These are three acting powerhouses. I never expected less. The acting was one of the reasons I enjoyed watching this too.

The only other thing I struggle with that I can think of is that sometimes, it sounds like there's a voiceover for one character that just doesn't sound right. If it isn't a voiceover, then what the hell is that dialogue delivery? Another thing is the scene on the beach where there are just these cross-fades and the music that begins playing just comes off as cheesy. They're not so bad that it's unbearable but it was just the kind that makes my brow raise in near-secondhand-embarrassment. The rest of the movie is great and doesn't involve cheesy scenes and songs.

In the end, I loved the film. I loved watching it because I enjoyed the plot, the themes, and the character arcs. The problem here lies with me and my beliefs and values contradicting the theme of the movie which isn’t the movie’s fault. It’s more so myself. Still, it’s a good watch.

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