The central issue with Adore is that it never quite decides what it wants to say. Does it want to be a serious drama about grief, loneliness, and the blurred lines between maternal and romantic love? Or is it a glossy, soft-core fantasy about older women and younger men? The film straddles both lanes uncomfortably.
Y Tu Mamá También (for the sexual tension), The Reader (for taboo romance), or glossy dramas about beautiful people making terrible decisions.
Rating: ⭐⭐½ (2.5/5)
Adore is a beautiful, frustrating, and utterly strange film. It is too melodramatic to be a serious art-house hit, yet too slow and contemplative to be a trashy thriller. For viewers willing to suspend modern ethical lens and embrace the film as a fable about obsessive love, there is a hypnotic, tragic quality to it. You will likely find yourself shouting at the screen, but you probably won’t look away.