Lantana

Something close to a masterpiece
In this starkly realistic examination of love and infidelity among the thirtysomething crowd from down under we learn that you may desire to cheat on your spouse, but it's better if you don't.

Leon Zat, a police detective played with an original and striking demeanor by Anthony LaPaglia, cheats on his wife and finds that his adultery compromises not only his marriage but his performance on the job. He becomes irritable and flies off the handle at things of little importance, and becomes consumed with guilt.

He is not alone. The marriage of John Knox (Geoffrey Rush) and psychiatrist Valerie Somers (Barbara Hershey) is falling apart as Knox seeks something from the outside and Somers is torn apart with the suspicion that he is having a homosexual affair, perhaps with one of her clients. Meanwhile Jane O'May (Zat's adulteress played by Rachael Blake) finds that she needs a man, or maybe two, other than her estranged husband. Even Sonja Zat (Kerry Armstrong)...

Subtle, Affecting Drama
One of the defining characteristics of the human condition is the inevitability of change, both physically and emotionally. Though most would deny it, one is not the same person at forty years of age that they were at twenty; the emotional growth one undergoes over a period of time dictates that it cannot be so. Unlike the changes one experiences during puberty and adolescence, however, that emotional growth is unceasing. It may be said, in fact, that "change" within that context is the only real constant in life; and the effects of this perpetual state of flux on any particular individual is determined by that individual's experiences and derived from a personal frame of reference. And the challenge of coping with the changes in our own lives forms a common thread that binds us together as a species, and it is those challenges and the ways in which we respond to them that forms the basis for director Ray Lawrence's affecting drama, "Lantana," in which he explores the disparate...

C O N N E C T I O N S
The year 2001 will go down in film history thus far at least, as the watershed Year of the Adult Thriller and "Lantana" is the latest example of this sub-genre. Others this year would be "Burnt Money," "In the Bedroom," "Dinner Rush," and "L.I.E." to name several.
All the Adult Thrillers have one or more of the following in common: a crime (usually a murder), several plot lines, mis-connection among the various characters, though they may be connected by marriage or birth and literate scripts involving adult material.
"Lantana's" central character, Leon Zat (Anthony LaPaglia) is a police detective conflicted about his impending middle age, his marriage and his recent affair ("2 night stand") with Jane (Rachael Blake) who has just broken up with her husband. Leon's wife,Sonja (Kerry Armstrong)knows something is wrong and is seeing a psychiatrist, Valerie Somers (Barbara Hershey) who turns up missing one...

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