Diksha Sundriyal
Netflix’s ‘Loving Adults’ is the story of a couple, Christian and Leonora, trapped in a marriage without love. Christian wants a divorce, but Leonora is not ready to let go of him. To make him stay, she threatens to out his past crimes to the police. Having been cornered, he decides to kill her. But his life takes a rather disastrous turn when the murder doesn’t pan out as he’d planned. Focusing on Christian and Leonora’s motives, the film explores the complicated nature of marriage and the meaning of love from its distorted lens. If you loved it, we have a few suggestions regarding movies like ‘Loving Adults’ focusing on the correlation between marriage and murder.
6. The Gift (2015)
In ‘Loving Adults’, the continuing theme is that even when you are married to someone, there might be things about them that you don’t know. Everyone hides their dark secrets from their spouse and trouble arises only when these secrets are let out. Something similar happens in ‘The Gift’. Starring Jason Bateman, Rebecca Hall and Joel Edgerton, it follows the story of Simon and Robyn, whose marriage goes through a rough patch, when their paths cross with Gordon, Simon’s high school classmate. It turns out that Simon is not as good of a person as Robyn thought him to be.
5. Chloe (2009)
Starring Julianne Moore, Liam Neeson, and Amanda Seyfried, this film shows how a little doubt can turn into a huge problem. Catherine had been in a happy marriage with David until she started to suspect that he was being unfaithful to her. She hires a woman named Chloe to seduce David and see what happens. This was meant to be a test of her husband’s loyalty, but soon, Catherine herself is seduced by Chloe and begins an unexpected affair with her, until she realizes that Chloe is not being completely truthful to her.
4. In Secret (2013)
Based on the novel by Emile Zola and starring Elizabeth Olsen in the lead role, this film follows the story of Therese, who is made to marry her sickly cousin at the behest of her aunt. With nowhere else to go, Therese is trapped in a loveless marriage and her prospects look rather bleak. That’s until she meets Laurent, Camille’s childhood friend. As Therese and Laurent indulge in a secret love affair, things start to take a dark turn when the thought of murder is slipped in between.
3. Dial M for Murder (1954)
Directed by Alfred Hitchcock, ‘Dial M for Murder’ begins with a man finding out about his wife’s affair. It happened a year ago, but the revelation still hits him so hard that he decides to kill his wife. This way, he can have his revenge and his wife’s wealth. He just needs someone to do it for him. Soon enough, he comes up with an immaculate plan to kill his wife and not implicate himself in any way. But on the night of the murder, things don’t go as well as he had planned.
2. Lady Macbeth (2016)
With Florence Pugh in the lead role, this film focuses on a woman named Katherine’s endeavor to get rid of the marriage that she was forced into. When her husband and father-in-law go away for some time, leaving her free to explore her freedom, she meets a man named Sebastian and indulges in an affair with him. Eventually, her husband and father-in-law return, but by this time, Katherine is too used to her freedom and doesn’t want to go back into captivity. A string of murders ensues.
1. Gone Girl (2014)
Talk about getting stuck in a marriage you desperately wanted out of, and ‘Gone Girl’ pops into one’s mind. Based on the novel of the same name by Gillian Flynn, the David Fincher-directed psychological thriller follows the story of Nick and Amy. In the beginning, Amy goes missing, and the search for her leads their marriage to come under public scrutiny, something that Nick tries his best to keep in a positive light because it looks like Amy has left behind enough evidence to prove that she was in danger with Nick. What follows is a series of twists and turns that give us a glimpse into the dark side of marriage.
Read More: Where Was Netflix’s Loving Adults Filmed?
