Chloe Explained: Sex Work, Power Dynamics, and Female Intimacy

Director Atom Egoyan’s Chloe is the type of film that oozes sexual tension. Julianne Moore and Amanda Seyfried especially give knockout performances. Based on a French film, the erotic thriller also has a lot to say about sex work, aging, and intimacy in general. The clever use of power dynamics and the ending deserve unpacking. This is the type of movie where the two leads try to best each other and maintain power. More than a decade after its release, Chloe maintains its allure.

A Rocky Marriage

Moore plays Catherine Stewart, a doctor who feels like she’s past her prime. After her husband David (Liam Neeson), a professor, misses a flight home and thus, his surprise birthday party, Catherine is convinced he’s cheating on her. She has a right to be suspicious. He flirts with nearly every woman in sight and admits that later on. More importantly, however, she sees a text on his phone from one of his students, Miranda (Meghan Hefferen). Her text reads, “Thank you for last night.” With a picture and a text message like that, who wouldn’t be suspicious.

Catherine has other reasons to doubt her husband’s claims that he’s innocent. He constantly arrives home late. At one point, he tells her he won’t be home on time because he has more “boring curriculum committee crap.” As a professor, I understand committee work and constant meetings, even meetings about meetings. Believe me. However, I’ve never once had a curriculum meeting at night that kept me away from my significant other. Further, it’s clear their marriage is sexless. This, too, is another source of Catherine’s frustration and their general marriage woes.

On top of that, Catherine fears that as she ages, her husband no longer finds her desirable. At one point, she confesses to David that she feels invisible, adding that as he becomes older, he becomes more desirable. “I think I’m 19, and when I look in the mirror, I’m a person who doesn’t know how to seduce you,” she tells him. It’s one of the film’s most powerful moments, a well-scripted commentary on gender, aging, and mortality. Egoyan reinforces this theme of sexual invisibility by loading several frames with mirrors. Catherine is frequently aware of her physical appearance/age.

Enter Chloe

We’re introduced to Seyfried’s character Chloe through a rather brilliant opening monologue about her sex work. She begins, “I guess I’ve always been good with words. In my line of business, it’s as important to describe what I’m doing as it is to do what I’m doing.” This opening line is especially important because it foreshadows and positions the type of relationship she and Catherine will soon have. She continues, “Am I your secretary or am I your daughter? Maybe I’m the seventh-grade math teacher you always hated. If I do it just right, I can become your living, breathing, unflinching dream, and then I can just disappear.”

This is one loaded opening monologue. But it shows the power Chloe has and depicts her as a storyteller of sorts. When Catherine eventually pays Chloe to seduce her husband in order to catch him cheating, Chloe shares lurid details about their meetings in a greenhouse. Catherine gets off on this. It’s the most intimate moment she’s had in some time.

This is reinforced through the type of setting Egoyan uses. The first time Chloe shares a story, she’s seated close to Catherine in a restaurant. Outside, it’s icy and gray, perhaps reflecting the loveless marriage Catherine has and the cold distance between her and David. But inside, Catherine is lured by Chloe’s ability to tell a steamy story. At one point, Catherine’s gaze even shifts to a couple seated across from them, smiling at each other, leaning over the table, clearly still in love. Eventually, this leads to an affair between Catherine and Chloe.

Did David Actually Cheat?

Initially, like Catherine, as viewers, we follow Chloe’s story. Thus, it’s easy to believe that David did cheat on Catherine. However, there are several clues early on that he didn’t. We never actually see an affair occur in the present. The shots of the greenhouse are only shown when Chloe tells the story. Even then, David isn’t shown fully in frame. Much later in the film, Catherine invites both David and Chloe to a restaurant, so she can confront them both and lay everything on the table. However, David doesn’t recognize Chloe. Chloe leaves immediately, realizing she’s been caught. Catherine knows then that Chloe has spun a tale the whole time.

However, it’s clear that Chloe desperately wants intimacy, which she shares with Catherine, at least one time. She also understands the power she has over Catherine. She can ensnare her and hold her attention by making up stories about having an affair with David. It’s what keeps Catherine coming back.

The Power Reversals Explained

The film really does an excellent job exploring sex work and switching power dynamics. Chloe is a complex character. Catherine uses her, but she also uses Catherine. She also lashes out when Catherine tries to pay her off and calls their relationship a “business transaction.” Rightfully so, Chloe slams the term and adds that what she and Catherine felt together was real, even if lasted only a night. There’s also an argument to be made that Catherine simply used Chloe and hurt her only to save her failing marriage. Her initial power over Chloe is reinforced during an early scene when Catherine observes Chloe walking down the street. We see Chloe through Catherine’s gaze, as she looks through the window, down at Chloe. This also foreshadows the ending.

Yet, by the film’s last act, the roles are reversed. Chloe has power over Catherine by seducing her son, David (Max Thieriot). She does this to hurt Catherine, and it works. This ultimately leads to a final confrontation between the women. With David looking on, Chloe demands that Catherine kiss her. She does, but when she realizes David is watching, she pushes Chloe away. She stumbles towards a bedroom window and falls out. However, the shot shows her fingers gripping the wall, eventually letting go. I read that scene that she purposely let go, fearing she’d never have anything real in her life, no chance for true connection and a relationship. Catherine used and exploited her.

Even if Chloe died, however, her presence looms in the film’s closing shot. Chloe and Catherine first met in a bathroom stall at a swanky restaurant. Catherine hears Chloe crying in a neighboring stall. A few minutes later, Chloe drops an ornate silver hairpin, which she eventually passes on to Catherine as a gift. In the last frame, the camera zooms in on Catherine wearing the hairpin at David’s graduation party. It’s evident she still feels some connection to Chloe.

Chloe contains one of Seyfried’s best performances. Her character manages to frighten and draw empathy from the viewer, often within a single scene. Additionally, the film never trivializes or shames sex work, and it also has a lot to say about power dynamics, aging, and gender disparity.