This is an old favorite of mine and I am surprised here

I watched this again last night, after many years. I watched it a number of times in the first couple years it was out.

This is my first trip to these boards for this movie and am quite surprised by many people's interpretation of this movie and the characters.

I think one of the main reasons I loved this movie so much is because it showed that normal people can do things we all think we are uncapable of, if given the right set of circumstances. That stuck with me.

Connie was not out looking for an affair. It was happenstance that she quite literally ran into this guy that gave her chills like she had not felt in some time. We saw over the next day or two that she could not stop thinking about him and was easily convinced to come over to his place. Even then she knew what she was doing was wrong, but could not stop herself.

Edward was a normal, common family man. He was not aggressive, he was not even assertive most of the time. When he went to Paul's house it was out of a sick sense of curiosity about who his wife was sleeping with. What did this guy have that he did not? You can tell by the questions he asked. Does she like your apartment? Does she like this neighborhood? Do you take her out on dates?

Edward did not go there to murder him. He was as shocked as the rest of us were when he smashed that snow globe on Paul's head. You can see that in his body language. When he gets down on the floor and right up in Paul's face, in disbelief that he was actually dead. Knowing his wife was not only had sex with this man, but the intimacy of her giving him a gift that Edward had given her was too much for him in that moment. Edward was not a violent man and would have never committed murder under 'normal' circumstances. Just like his wife, and most people, he was a normal person that did a horrendous thing.

I was also surprised to see people calling Paul a predator and a rapist and even a couple people suggested he drugged Edward, which is ridiculous.
Paul was caught off guard when Edward came over. He didn't know what to do/say. You can tell he is stunned a bit and just trying to treat him with concern. Sure, he had sex with a married woman. But he didn't know Edward, what kind of man he was, what their marriage was really like. He never did anything that suggested he wanted to break up their family. He was a single guy, fairly recently out of likely an unhappy marriage, that was playing the field.

Why would Paul drug Edward anyway? What would that have even accomplished? Paul was not going to kill Edward. Like seriously, what would the motive even be?

I think this movie and story was very well done and will always be a favorite of mine. A perfect case study in how even the most normal people can fall from grace.