Little Children

Who are the little children of the title? Those allegedly at risk from the sex offender newly released in the contemporary paranoid American middle class suburb? The young children of the illicit lovers - or the lovers themselves? Kate Winslet plays Sarah who doesn't fit in among the other mothers, whose older husband is getting his kicks from the internet, and becoming disengaged with the lapsing feminist he rescued from Starbucks. Brad/Todd (Patrick Wilson) is a dissatisfied house husband of beautiful filmmaker Kathy (Jennifer Connelly) who uses sport as a way of deferring the law exams he's too scared to resit. Drawing parallels with Madame Bovary, Sarah and Brad begin an affair, which ends less tragically but is still tainted with the book's knowing cynicism. Unusually, the novel's inner thoughts are translated as a third person voiceover - a frustrating device which does not lift well off the page, although its observations are much of the quality and interest. Uncomfortable viewing/reading at times, this deals with hard issues in a way that avoids judgment or easy answers, but is ultimately a little unsatisfactory.