Ethan Frome

Hailed by critics nationwide, ETHAN FROME is the classic Edith Wharton tale of blazing passion and forbidden desire! Screen sensation Liam Neeson (K-19: THE WIDOWMAKER, SCHINDLER'S LIST, HUSBANDS AND WIVES) stars as Ethan Frome, a man torn between his joyless marriage to one woman and his lustful desire for another (Patricia Arquette -- STIGMATA, TRUE ROMANCE, TROUBLE BOUND). His actions soon lead to a forbidden triangle between one love that is, and one that will never be. See what all the heat is about in this timeless story of love, betrayal, and desire!

Here's the film of a novel nobody liked in high school (but probably succumbed to when they read it in later life, as they should). Based on the book by Edith Wharton, it's one of those repressed romances of longing and regret carried out in real time and real life. Liam Neeson plays the humble Ethan, manipulated into marrying a plain and sickly woman (Joan Allen, every bit as good as she is in The Contender), who still manages to dominate him. When she grows so ill that Ethan requires help to care for her, they import her poor cousin (Patricia Arquette), who sparks thoughts in Ethan that never occurred to him with his wife. Neeson has a great fire within, as he confronts an array of possibilities that simply remain out of reach because the alternative is unthinkable in this tight-knit New England community. Arquette bubbles with life, while Allen can freeze blood at 100 paces with one of her icy glances. Slow-moving at times but worth it for the final payoff. Directed by John Madden (Shakespeare in Love). --Mark Englehart