Best Adultery Movies
Ranked by how strongly each film carries the visual signature of adultery cinema — measured across 3,989 indexed frames from 59 films, against a 408,752-frame catalogue baseline. Not by box office, and not by vote.
Adultery films over-index on sand, mirror and hat — the objects that make the genre recognisable before a line is spoken.
- 1
Revolutionary Road (2008)
Sam MendesDP Roger DeakinsIMDb 7.3TMDB 7.0See in full on FrameThrower →
It's 1955. Frank and April Wheeler, are in the 'seven year itch' of their marriage; they're not happy. April has forgone her dream of being an actress, and Frank hates his job. One day, April suggests they move to Paris as a means to rejuvenate their life.
- 2
Belle De Jour (1967)
Luis BuñuelDP Sacha ViernyIMDb 7.6TMDB 7.3See in full on FrameThrower →
Beautiful young housewife Séverine Serizy cannot reconcile her masochistic fantasies with her everyday life alongside dutiful husband Pierre. When her lovestruck friend Henri mentions a secretive high-class brothel run by Madame Anais, Séverine begins to work there during the day under the name Belle de Jour. But when one of her clients grows possessive, she must try to go back to her normal life.
- 3
8 1/2 (1963)
Federico FelliniDP Gianni Di VenanzoIMDb 8.0TMDB 8.1See in full on FrameThrower →
Guido is a film director, trying to relax after his last big hit. He can't get a moment's peace, however, with the people who have worked with him in the past constantly looking for more work. He wrestles with his conscience, but is unable to come up with a new idea. While thinking, he starts to recall major happenings in his life, and all the women he has loved and left. An autobiographical film of Fellini, about the trials and tribulations of film making.
- 4
The Killing (1956)
Stanley KubrickDP Lucien BallardIMDb 7.9TMDB 7.6See in full on FrameThrower →
After just being released from a five-year stint in prison, Johnny Clay has assembled a five-man team, including two insiders, to carry out what he estimates will be a $2 million heist at Lansdowne Racetrack, the take to be split five ways, minus expenses. Besides Johnny, none of the men truly are criminals in the typical sense. In addition to the other four team members, Johnny has hired two men outside of the team to carry out specific functions for a flat fee; the other four will not meet the two men for hire or know who they are, while the two men for hire will not be told of the bigger picture of the heist. None involved are to tell anyone, even their loved ones, about the job. Each of the five have a specific reason for wanting his share of the money: Johnny, in wanting to get married to his longtime girlfriend Fay, the two who have known each other since they were kids, realizes that to live comfortably, he has to shoot for the moon instead of carrying out the penny-ante stuff that put him behind bars; Marvin Unger, a bookkeeper who is bankrolling the plan, is doing it out of his friendship and loyalty to Johnny; Randy Kennan, a crooked police officer, is already late with his repayment to a loan shark; Mike O'Reilly, one of the track's bartenders, wants to be able to provide better overall care, most importantly medical, to his bedridden wife, Ruthie O'Reilly; and milquetoast George Peatty, one of the track's ticket clerks, is trying to buy back the love of his shrew of a wife of five years, Sherry Peatty, if he ever had her love at all. The elaborate plan requires meticulous timing by all seven men. Beyond any unforeseen problems causing the plan to fail, what the other four team members are unaware of is that weak-minded George told Sherry of the broad issue that he will be involved in a heist in an effort to hold on to her emotionally; she, in turn, told her boyfriend Val Cannon, with Sherry and Val having their own ideas of absconding with the entire take of the heist after the fact.
- 5
The Seven Year Itch (1955)
Billy WilderDP Milton KrasnerIMDb 7.0TMDB 7.1See in full on FrameThrower →
With his family away for their annual summer holiday, New Yorker Richard Sherman decides he has the opportunity to live a bachelor's life - to eat and drink what he wants and basically to enjoy life without wife and son. The beautiful but ditsy blond from the apartment above his catches his eye and they soon start spending time together. It's all innocent though there is little doubt that Sherman is attracted to her. Any lust he may be feeling is played out in his own imagination however.
- 6
The Piano (1993)
Jane CampionDP Stuart DryburghIMDb 7.5TMDB 7.4See in full on FrameThrower →
It is the mid-nineteenth century. Ada cannot speak and she has a young daughter, Flora. In an arranged marriage she leaves her native Scotland accompanied by her daughter and her beloved piano. Life in the rugged forests of New Zealand's North Island is not all she may have imagined and nor is her relationship with her new husband Stewart. She suffers torment and loss when Stewart sells her piano to a neighbor, George. Ada learns from George that she may earn back her piano by giving him piano lessons, but only with certain other conditions attached. At first Ada despises George but slowly their relationship is transformed and this propels them into a dire situation.
- 7
Jules and Jim (1962)
François TruffautDP Raoul CoutardIMDb 7.7TMDB 7.5See in full on FrameThrower →
In pre-WWI Paris, two friends, Jules (Austrian) and Jim (French), fall in love with the same woman, Catherine. But Catherine loves and marries Jules. When they meet again in Germany after the war, Catherine starts to love Jim - This is the story of three people in love, a love that doesn't affect their friendship, and about how their relationship evolves with the years.
- 8
In the Mood for Love (2000)
Wong Kar-WaiDP Christopher DoyleIMDb 8.0TMDB 8.1See in full on FrameThrower →
Set in Hong Kong, 1962, Chow Mo-Wan is a newspaper editor who moves into a new building with his wife. At the same time, Su Li-zhen, a beautiful secretary and her executive husband also move in to the crowded building. With their spouses often away, Chow and Li-zhen spend most of their time together as friends. They have everything in common from noodle shops to martial arts. Soon, they are shocked to discover that their spouses are having an affair. Hurt and angry, they find comfort in their growing friendship even as they resolve not to be like their unfaithful mates.
- 9
Anatomy of a Murder (1959)
Otto PremingerDP Sam LeavittIMDb 8.0TMDB 7.8See in full on FrameThrower →
James Stewartas Paul "Pauly" Biegler
Lee Remickas Laura Manion
Ben Gazzaraas Lieutenant Frederick "Manny" Manion
Frederick Manion (Ben Gazzara), a lieutenant in the army, is arrested for the murder of a bartender, Barney Quill. He claims, in his defense, that the victim had raped and beaten up his wife Laura (Lee Remick). Although Laura supports her husband's story, the local paper has reported that the police surgeon can find no evidence that she has been raped. Manion is defended by Paul Biegler (James Stewart), a humble small-town lawyer and recently deposed district attorney. During the course of interviews, Biegler discovers that Manion is violently possessive and jealous, and also that his wife has a reputation for flirting with other men. Biegler realizes that the prosecution will try to make the court believe that Laura had been drunk and was picked up by the bartender and then her husband killed him and beat her up when he discovered they had been together. Manion pleads "not guilty" and Biegler, who knows that his case is weak, tries to find evidence that will save Manion.
- 10
Mike NicholsDP Haskell WexlerIMDb 8.0TMDB 7.7See in full on FrameThrower →
A history professor and his wife entertain a young couple who are new to the university's faculty. As the drinks flow, secrets come to light, and the middle-aged couple unload onto their guests the full force of the bitterness, dysfunction, and animosity that defines their marriage.
What adultery films are made of
How much more often each element appears in a adultery frame than in an average frame from the catalogue. A ratio, not a share — sand is not in most frames, it is simply far more common here than anywhere else.
- sand1.9×
- mirror1.9×
- hat1.8×
- bed1.8×
- glass1.7×
- curtain1.7×
- necktie1.6×
- fedora1.6×
How adultery films are shot
Weaker signals than the objects above, and worth saying so: most dramatic genres skew dark and night-heavy, so these numbers separate adultery from the catalogue far more than they separate it from its neighbours.
- 86%eye levelvs 69% baseline
What breaks the pattern
Stealing Beauty (1996) is the least typical film here — it carries the least of what the rest of this list is made of. Which is either a failure of the genre label, or the most interesting film on the page.
Method
Every frame in the FrameThrower catalogue is tagged for shot size, lighting, time of day, camera angle, colour and the objects visible in it. This page aggregates those tags across 3,989 frames from 59 films carrying the adultery label, and compares each figure to the same measurement across the whole catalogue (408,752 frames). Films are ranked by how closely they match the theme’s over-indexed elements, weighted by how distinctive each element is; one film per series. Only films with at least 20 indexed frames and 500 TMDB votes are listed.
Machine-readable: /api/list/adultery
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