Last Night

Stars: Keira Knightley, Sam Worthington, Guillaume Canet, Eva Mendes, Griffin Dunne

Director: Massy Tadjedin

Or: Temptation for Two. Sonorous piano music accentuates the slowness of the narrative (such as it is) as three-year-marrieds Joanna (Knightley) and Michael (Worthington) have a row at a party over his attentions to curvaceous work colleague Laura (Mendes).

The following day, Michael and Laura set off for a presentation in Pittsburgh, while Joanna remains in New York and is collared by her Parisian ex-lover Alex (Canet). Both Michael and Joanna unwisely spend time with their respective temptations: will they or won't they? It isn't giving much away to say that one does and one doesn't, but you may have fallen asleep before it's all resolved.

Knightley's performance is pretty decent, Canet is all sly Gallic charm and Worthington displays marginally more facial movement than The Sphinx. Mendes does what she can with a rather thankless role. And do people really re-introduce themselves by saying 'You still smell the same'?

It's not difficult to see why this has been on the shelf for a couple of years, but Knightley and Canet do just about make the most of their rueful romance. Never mind. As Bogey once said, they'll always have Paris.

David Quinlan

USA 2009. UK Distributor: Optimum. Colour by deluxe.
92 minutes. Widescreen. UK certificate: 15.

Guidance ratings (out of 3): Sex/nudity 1, Violence/Horror 0, Drugs 0, Swearing 1.

Review date: 29 May 2011