The 2011 drama “The Other Woman” from IFC Films was written and directed by Don Roos based on the novel by Ayelet Waldman. Starring: Natalie Portman, Scott Cohen, Lisa Kudrow, Elizabeth Marvel, Daisy Tahan, Charlie Tahan and Lauren Ambrose.
Emilia Greenleaf (Natalie Portman) feels like she is frozen in time, at the second that she realized her baby was not breathing. Now she’s gone and she barely had a chance to know her and she can understand why even though the doctors explained the cause of death of her first child. The first day that she met Jack (Scott Cohen) she had no idea the role he would play in her life.
Jack was her boss, and she was excited about her new job, but didn’t realize that they would become romantically involved. Jack was married to Carolyne (Lisa Kudrow) and had a son. They didn’t plan to fall in love, but they did and eventually they married, but Carolyn was extremely bitter about the divorce and the fact that Emilia became pregnant so early in their marriage.
But Emilia was delighted and when she gave birth Jack was overjoyed to have a daughter and Jack, Jr. (Charlie Tahan) was curious about being a big brother. Now all of that was gone and Emilia feels lost in her relationship with herself and her family. As the weeks turn into months, Emilia is still grieving and trying to understand why her daughter died. It seems that no matter what he is told, this is the question that is preventing her from moving forward.
While most of the adults Emilia knows are kind and understanding, it is Jack Jr., who begins to force her to think about putting the baby’s things away, take stock of her life and move on. She begins to see that she has been so caught up with her pregnancy and the baby that she forgot that she is his stepmother but really doesn’t know that much about him.
But Carolyne resents her son becoming comfortable with Emilia; she blames her for destroying her marriage instead of seeing how her behavior opened the door for the other woman to walk through. But it is Jack who refuses to overlook Emilia’s qualities and the real value in the budding relationship between his son and his second wife that brings her back to reality.
