Adoration (known in North America and the U.K. as Adore) is a 2013 drama film directed by Anne Fontaine. It is Fontaine s first English-language film. It stars Naomi Watts, Robin Wright, Ben Mendelsohn, Xavier Samuel, and James Frecheville. The film tells the story of a pair of middle-aged women who are life-long friends and have sex with each other s teenage sons, and the resultant emotional consequences of their ongoing affairs. It is based on a 2003 novella by British writer Doris Lessing called The Grandmothers.

The film premiered at the 2013 Sundance Film Festival under its original title Two Mothers.

Plot

In New South Wales, childhood friends Roz and Lil and their families live next door to each other. Roz s son Tom and Lil s son Ian, who are both 18, are also best friends, and the four of them spend all their time together.

Roz s husband Harold is offered a job in Sydney, and goes there to make arrangements, even though Roz does not want to move. That night, Ian kisses Roz, and although she is hesitant the two of them end up having sex. Tom witnesses Roz coming out of Ian s room. Confused and frustrated, Tom tries to seduce Lil, who pushes him away, and he tells her what he witnessed. That night, he stays at her house again, and they have sex.

Roz goes to Lil s work and they discuss what happened with their sons. They agree that they both crossed the line, and that it should never happen again. They get together with both of the boys and tell them that these things need to end. Ian still has feelings for Roz, and eventually, they renew the relationship; they then learn that Lil and Tom never stopped sleeping together. Both Roz and Lil admit that they re happy, and they agree to keep going. When Harold returns, Roz tells him that neither she nor Tom can move with him to Sydney.

Two years later, Roz and Harold are divorced, and Roz and Lil have continued their secret affairs. Ian now works with his mother for a successful yacht-building company, and Tom is studying theater. Harold invites Tom to Sydney to direct one of their plays and Tom accepts, staying with Harold and his new family. While in Sydney, he meets Mary, who is auditioning for the lead role. The two begin a relationship, and Lil reluctantly accepts that he has moved on. Roz and Ian are still together, although Roz believes that Ian will not be attracted to her for much longer. Finally, the mothers agree to end their affairs with the boys. Ian is upset, and storms out.

Some time later, Tom marries Mary. Ian meets a girl at the wedding, Hannah, and decides to have sex with her to get back at Roz. That night, he comes to Roz door and begs to be let in, but Roz turns him down, crying quietly in her room. Ian goes surfing but suffers a broken leg in the process. He refuses to see Roz, but Hannah comes to visit him and nurses him through his physical therapy. They begin a relationship, but when Ian and Tom meet up for lunch, Ian mentions that it is going nowhere, and that he ll have to break it off. One day, Hannah shows up at Ian s work and tells him that she is pregnant.

Years pass, and now Ian and Tom are both married, and they both have daughters, Shirley and Alice. Mary and Hannah, Tom and Ian s wives respectively, are ignorant of the affairs. They all spend a day together at the beach, and while most are in the water, Ian and Roz share a quiet moment. That night, they all eat dinner together, during which Tom gets drunk and takes a walk to clear his head. Ian follows him and sees him having sex with Lil. Enraged, he tells Mary the truth. The wives are horrified, and leave with the children.

When Tom returns later, he finds Roz sitting alone in her room, and she tells Tom that she doesn t think that Mary, Hannah, or their granddaughters will ever return. Lil tearfully insists that she and Tom tried to stop, but could not keep away from each other. Roz has no words for Lil.

Time passes, and Ian goes for a swim in the ocean until he comes to a free-floating dock in the water, the same dock where he first began his flirtation with Roz, and Roz and Lil used to swim to as girls. He climbs on board and sees that Tom, Lil, and Roz are there. After telling them good morning, he lies down beside Roz.

Cast

• Naomi Watts as Lil
• Robin Wright as Roz
• Ben Mendelsohn as Harold
• Xavier Samuel as Ian
• James Frecheville as Tom
• Jessica Tovey as Mary
• Sophie Lowe as Hannah
• Gary Sweet as Saul

Reception

Critical response

The film has received mostly negative reviews. Of 75 reviews counted by Rotten Tomatoes, 33% were positive, with a rating average of 4.70/10. The site s consensus reads: Naomi Watts and Robin Wright give it their all, but they can t quite make Adore s trashy, absurd plot believable. Metacritic counted 24 reviews with an average score of 37/100, indicating generally unfavorable reviews .

The Guardian s Damon Wise, in positive review that awarded the film 4 out of 5 stars, wrote the film is An incredibly provocative piece of work, featuring a brave and vulnerable performance by Naomi Watts (who seems perhaps a little too young) and a career-high acting masterclass from Robin Wright (who is cast perfectly).

Writing for RogerEbert.com, critic Christy Lemire praised the photography and Wright and Watts acting, but critiqued the story s descent into melodrama. Lemire added, Adore is decadent fantasy fulfillment masquerading as a declaration of feminist independence. Somewhere in here is a message about the importance of remaining sexy and vital in your 40s—about asserting your own identity once more after decades of being defined as someone s wife and someone s mother. In a review for Grantland, Wesley Morris called the film an enjoyably shallow movie.

Accolades

Adoration was nominated for the following awards:

Award	Category	Nominee	Result
AACTA Awards (3rd)	Best Adapted Screenplay	Christopher Hampton	Nominated
	Best Production Design	Annie Beauchamp	Nominated
	Best Costume Design	Joanna Mae Park	Nominated
	Best Actress in a Leading Role	Naomi Watts	Nominated
FCCA Awards	Best Actress		Won

Production

Adoration was filmed in New South Wales. The houses and main beach scenes were filmed at Seal Rocks, with some beach scenes filmed at Sugarloaf Point Lighthouse beach. Scenes for where the characters worked were filmed at Shelly Beach and the pub scenes were filmed in Balmain. Parts of the film were also shot in Sydney.

Year	2013
ReleaseDate	2013-04-03
RuntimeMins	112
RuntimeStr	1h 52min
Plot	A pair of childhood friends and neighbors fall for each other’s sons.
Awards	Awards, 1 win & 4 nominations
Directors	Anne Fontaine
Writers	Anne Fontaine, Doris Lessing, Christopher Hampton
Stars	Naomi Watts, Robin Wright, Xavier Samuel
Produced by	Dominique Besnehard, Francis Boespflug, Philippe Carcassonne, Sidonie Dumas, Michel Feller, Barbara Gibbs, Troy Lum, Andrew Mason, Naomi Watts
Music by	Christopher Gordon
Cinematography by	Christophe Beaucarne
Film Editing by	Luc Barnier, Ceinwen Berry
Casting By	Nikki Barrett, Antonia Dauphin
Production Design by	Annie Beauchamp
Art Direction by	Sophie Nash
Set Decoration by	Sara Mathers
Costume Design by	Joanna Mae Park
Makeup Department	Michal Bigger, Melissa Chew, Ziggy Golden, Anna Gray, Tia Stephanou, Shane Thomas, Dion Marc
Production Management	Sylvie Barthet, Ludovic Brun, Guy Courtecuisse, Philippe Desmoulins, André Labbouz, Simon Lucas, Nathaniel Purdon, Cécile Rémy-Boutang, Perry Stapleton, Anna Steel, Fiona Young
Second Unit Director or Assistant Director	Nerida Groth, Scott Lovelock, Mathieu Schiffman, Chris Webb, Adam Smillie
Art Department	Christopher Bruce, Katherine Campbell, Jodie Cooper, Ed Cotton, Dane Eade, Tania Einberg, Greg Hajdu, Mark Harman, Steven Jones-Evans, Matt Jordin, Robert Moxham, Mick Owen, John Pickering, Jocelyn Thomas, Roland Vetter, Jamie Cranney, Dane Eade, Ben Evans, Eli Faen, Jenny Hitchcock, Geoff Kemmis
Sound Department	Craig Beckett, Francis Byrne, Pascal Chauvin, Simon Courtecuisse, Mark DeSimone, Philippe Dongé, Thomas Gastinel, Jean-Pierre Laforce, Peter Miller, Marc Mnémosyne, Michel Monier, Elizabeth Nebout-Mevel, Bridget O Driscoll, Julie Roué, Brigitte Taillandier, Franck Tassel, Francis Wargnier
Visual Effects by	Ben Blick-Hodge, Trish Cahill, Soren Dyne, David Gross, Nichole Walkling
Stunts	Dean Gould
Camera and Electrical Department	Simon Allan, Ian Barton, Richard Brown, Inaki De Ubago, Chris Follett, David Griffiths, Josh Hamill, James Hopwood, Miles Jones, Lawton Lonsdale, Gerard Maher, James McKay, Matt Nettheim, Alex Petosevic, Rick Rifici, Marc Spicer, Matt Toll, Viliami Topui, Charlie Whitaker, Meg White, Nick Wright
Casting Department	Sarah Nathan, Alanna Perry, Natalie Wall
Costume and Wardrobe Department	Adam Dalli, Yolanda El Khouri, Kate Marinovich, Fiona Nichols, Xanthe Heubel
Editorial Department	Barbara Albucher, Veronique Algan, Sandrine Boulet, Arnaud Caréo, Varujan Gumusel, Julia Jackson, Thomas Jodeau, Jane Leblond, Julie Marceau, Matthieu Monteux, Basia Ozerski, Fabien Pascal, Sandrine Therien, Mathilde Van de Moortel
Location Management	Peter Lawless, Albany Asher, Daniel Power
Music Department	Elaine Beckett, Christo Curtis, James Ezra, Christopher Gordon, Alex Henery, Andrew Kotatko, Michael Lira, Magic Fire Orchestra, Antony Partos, Nicholas Rowse
Script and Continuity Department	Sophie Fabbri-Jackson, Judy Morris
Transportation Department	Dunstan Foss, Peter Giuliani, Kobi Graham, Daniel Kay, Zac Kostyrka, Peter Livesey, Mikki Pallas, Adrial Young, David Young
Additional Crew	Jean-Marc Balmayer, Elise Barrow, Fabrice Batieau, Charlotte Bayle, Jeanne Billaud, Amanda Birchnoff, Sandrine Boulet, Adam Butler, Nicholas Byers, Steve Campton, Nick Carroll, Ghislaine Cauet-Martinotto, Olivier Chavassa, Annie Clapton, François Clerc, Nick Cole, Jane Corden, Adrian Cordero, Thomas Doustaly, Marine Forde, Cécile Gaget, Dean Gould, Angie Hampson, Katie Harris, Meredith Hussey, Nini Le Huynh, Julia Jackson, Delphine Joly, Antoine Le Carpentier, Caroline Liu, Peter Livesey, Killian Maguire, Catherine McDonnell, Judith Miller, Reza Mokhtar, Brigitte Monkerhey-Couét, Christine Moran, Pierre Moreau, Richard Mugridge, Fiona Nix, Lauren Porcelli, Pat Powell, Mathilde Renwick, Danielle Roffe, Cécile Rémy-Boutang, Mathieu Schiffman, Jérôme Soulet, Ariane Toscan Du Plantier, Georgia Williams, Rebecca Wong, Carl Blacklidge, Kieran Cato, Sean Mulcahy, Stephen Rutter
Thanks	Rachel Okine
Genres	Drama, Romance
Companies	Gaumont, Screen Australia, Ciné@
Countries	Australia, France
Languages	English
ContentRating	R
ImDbRating	6.2
ImDbRatingVotes	34703
MetacriticRating	37
Keywords	revenge sex,sex with friend's mother,forbidden love,older woman younger man relationship,cowgirl sex position