Neeson gives heartrending and terrifying performance in ‘The Other Man’

Irishman shows why he's one of the most respected actors in the world

What would you do if you discovered photographic proof on your husband or wife’s laptop that they had been conducting a secret affair? Would your whole world collapse? Would you seek vengeance?

Or would you lie awake at night torturing yourself over how it could have happened and how you could have missed all the warning signs in the first place?

In “The Other Man,” which opens this Friday, Liam Neeson plays Peter, a well-to-do husband who is startled to discover incontrovertible proof that his beautiful wife Lisa (Laura Linney) had been conducting a years-long affair with a handsome stranger named Ralph (Antonio Banderas) who lives in Italy.

Shocked by the unexpected news, his life becomes an out of control rollercoaster, whirling between anger, self-recrimination and the desire for revenge.

But as the film opens we first see the happily married couple in their element – he’s the CEO of a successful software design company, and she’s a fixture in the world of high fashion. From a career point of view, and in their obviously contented personal lives, both appear to have it all.

After 25 years of marriage Peter and Lisa are still inseparable and still devoted to each other. Even sore points like Peter’s less-than-perfect relationship with his daughter Abigail (Ramola Garai) cannot dent the enduring ties between them.

But every marriage has its secrets, and in Lisa’s case they turn out to be more wrenching than most. Early on in the film she disappears (was it a suicide, a murder, or did she simply walk out for good?), and when Peter is going through her abandoned things he finds a note in the heel of a pair of red shoes.

It reads “Lake Como,” and it has obviously been put there for him to find. The words mean nothing to him however; he’s never been to that part of Italy.

It’s only after weeks pass that he finds a password-protected file on his wife’s laptop. He tries every formulation he can think of until he at last remembers the note in the shoe, and types “Lake Como.”

Immediately he’s looking at photographic proof of his wife’s infidelity - and he also gets his first look at his rival (Banderas).

When he opens his wife’s email account he finds emails from Ralph, who has apparently been trying to revive their relationship.

Madly, in the persona of his wife, Neeson writes back to Ralph trying to discover more about him. Soon he even travels to Italy where he successfully attempts to befriend him.

Day by day he slowly teases out the story of the affair from the unsuspecting stranger, never revealing his true identity.

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Nster.com