Shocking. Sad. Heart Breaking. Scandalous. Infidelity. No matter how you put it, cheating is a universally condemned and frowned upon an act that breaks not just the relationship of two people but also the bond of trust they share. In movies, it is no different – a movie about cheating is just as emotionally scarring to the viewers as it is to those who are cheated on.
So, after a recent break-up, we reflected on movies about cheating – how can people do this to each other? What is it that makes them cheat? However, these movies are not always about sex. They can instead tell each side of the story of the relationship, what led to the affair, whether it was justified, and the consequences. Many of these films give audiences a fantasy or a warning story while saying something about their lives.
Now there are so many movies about cheating husband or cheating wife out there! But, if you love adultery movieswith a twist, check out this list of great movies about cheating and infidelity of all time! From psychological dramas to romance films, these movies will have you on the edge of your seat.
15. Unfaithful (2002)
| Rotten Tomatoes: | 50% |
| Currently available on: | Amazon Prime Video, HBO Max |
| IMDb Rating: | 6.7 |
| Genre: | Drama, Romance, Thriller |
| Cast: | Richard Gere, Diane Lane, Olivier Martinez |
| Director: | Adrian Lyne |
Not the best movie, but ‘Unfaithful’ brilliantly touches on the themes of love and unbelief in an extremely moving way than most movies about cheating. The story is about a pair whose marriage is almost destroyed when the wife gets so enthusiastically moved by a stranger she meets one day.
However, the movie has a troubling atmosphere which is expressed throughout the narrative by the seething stress. It has been widely criticized that its focus on this plot has gone from sapid melodrama to emotional and sexual tension, no matter how contented it is with its very life or reality underneath every man.
14. Brokeback Mountain (2005)
| Rotten Tomatoes: | 87% |
| Currently available on: | Netflix, Amazon Prime Video |
| IMDb Rating: | 7.7 |
| Genre: | Drama, Romance |
| Cast: | Jake Gyllenhaal, Heath Ledger, Michelle Williams |
| Director: | Ang Lee |
The unforgettable drama of Ang Lee’s cowboy romance is the story of repressed wishes and forbidden love. This movie tells the story of 2 shepherds, Ennis and Jack, in the Wyoming Mountains, who develop a complex emotional and sexual relationship in the summer. Ennis would marry his fiancee, and Jack would fall in love with a wife he would marry later.
Years later, however, they meet again, feelings are slowing, and their married lives are finally tearing up. The story is controversial, as expected, as American society frowns upon homosexuality and homosexual relationships. Nevertheless, it is a tragic yet equally romantic tale of two-person people who never got their happy ending.
13. The Graduate (1967)
| Rotten Tomatoes: | 87% |
| Currently available on: | Amazon Prime Video |
| IMDb Rating: | 8.0 |
| Genre: | Comedy, Drama, Romance |
| Cast: | Dustin Hoffman, Anne Bancroft, Katharine Ross |
| Director: | Mike Nichols |
The iconic drama of Mike Nichols’ Romance of Ages has spoken over a generation and continues to make us laugh and cry to the same extent. A 21-year-old college graduate who does not know what to do with his life attractively tells the story of an older woman, the wife of his business partner’s father. Mrs. Robinson is an unhappy wife, emotionally distant from her husband, and sexually unsatisfied.
Uncertainties are felt in relationships as we see Benjamin in love with the daughter of Mrs. Robinson and run away with her on a journey without a real destination in the middle of her marriage. The futility of the relationships is what the Graduate can brilliantly illustrate. There is no perfect relationship in the film, and all of them somehow have bad relationships. But ultimately, it is human only to wish, wait, and desire.
12. The Last Seduction (1994)
| Rotten Tomatoes: | 94% |
| Currently available on: | Amazon Prime Video |
| IMDb Rating: | 7.1 |
| Genre: | Crime, Drama, Romance |
| Cast: | Linda Fiorentino, Peter Berg, Bill Pullman |
| Director: | John Dahl |
This erotic neo-noir thriller by John Dahl tells the story of an unhappy husband persuading her husband to sell cocaine and then flees with everything. She then stops in a little city in Chicago, starts dating a man she uses, and exploits her sake. Linda Florentino’s character is a mortal woman with manic, psychopathic traits, a manipulative character, and a seductive attraction coupled with insanity and manipulation.
Overall, The Last Seduction is one of the best movies about cheating and infidelity of all time; showcasing love and revenge, two of the most powerful forces in any human life.
11. Y Tu Mama Tambien (2001)
| Rotten Tomatoes: | 92% |
| Currently available on: | Amazon Prime Video |
| IMDb Rating: | 7.6 |
| Genre: | Drama, Comedy |
| Cast: | Maribel Verdu, Gael Garcia Bernal, Daniel Gimenez Cacho |
| Director: | Alfonso Cuarón |
‘Y Tu Mama Tambien’ is certainly better than most of the movies on the list, but it’s so low because the movie’s main theme is not infidelity. It’s just a part of weaving the story. Y Tu Mama Tambien is one of the film experiences we had the most emotionally. It is impossible to put into words the sentiments it evokes.
The film tells the story of two adolescents who go with their wives on a road trip. Behind the pure energy and animation of the film is a lot of sadness and pain. In all his pains and eccentricities, Alfonso Cuaron captured Mexico and made it more professional.
10. American Beauty (1999)
| Rotten Tomatoes: | 87% |
| Currently available on: | Netflix, Amazon Prime Video |
| IMDb Rating: | 8.3 |
| Genre: | Drama |
| Cast: | Kevin Spacey, Annette Bening, Thora Birch |
| Director: | Sam Mendes |
Moving on to another one of the best movies about cheating and infidelity of all time is the American Beauty of 1999. This movie will let you learn to master the art of empathy with your age and experience. And this is the heart of a richly faced drama such as ‘American Beauty.’
The film focuses on a man in a mid-life crisis who loves the best friend of his teenage daughter. He grew increasingly remote from his wife and desperately wanted to revive the lost atmosphere and energy. It is dark yet deeply tragic because you see these people and almost feel their emotional space. It was a truly unforgettable film that deserves all the love it receives.
9. Little Children (2006)
| Rotten Tomatoes: | 80% |
| Currently available on: | Netflix, Amazon Prime Video |
| IMDb Rating: | 7.5 |
| Genre: | Romance, Drama |
| Cast: | Kate Winslet, Jennifer Connelly (Alita Battle Angel 2), Patrick Wilson (Conjuring 3) |
| Director: | Todd Field |
This dark, disturbing drama, directed by Todd Field, tells a woman who is unhappy with her worldly life and after-marry existence. She discovers her husband’s addiction to online pornography. She then develops a connection with Brad, a married student of law. Brad lives happily married, but his clashes and obsessions are profoundly interwoven.
Their relationship becomes more complex and exciting as they understand the pain, anger, conflicts, and desires. It is a shocking, dark examination of loneliness, isolation, and suppressed desires.
8. Amores Perros (2000)
| Rotten Tomatoes: | 93% |
| Currently available on: | Netflix, Amazon Prime Video |
| IMDb Rating: | 8.1 |
| Genre: | Drama, Thriller |
| Cast: | Emilio Echevarría, Gael García Bernal, Goya Toledo |
| Director: | Alejandro G. Iñárritu |
This fiercely ambitious movie tells three interconnected stories about love, unfaithfulness, guilt, and redemption. Susana, Ramiro, and Octavio are the three characters in the first story. Susana’s sister-in-law is Octavio, but she’s madly in love with her and hopes to get her out of the hell in which she lives. Octavio wins several dog battles, raises money to help him run away from them, and gets Ramiro beaten.
But when Ramiro hits back, things turn around, and he takes all the money, as Susan finally runs away with him. The thematic ambition of ‘Amores Perros’ combines unique stories about different lives in Mexico City. The raw emotional power of every story creates an emotional cinematic experience, as Inarritu instills in the film so masterfully a touch of humanity that, at the very end, it soaks you in feelings.
7. The Painted Veil (2006)
| Rotten Tomatoes: | 74% |
| Currently available on: | Warnerbros, Netflix, Amazon Prime Video |
| IMDb Rating: | 7.5 |
| Genre: | Drama, Romance |
| Cast: | Naomi Watts, Edward Norton, Liev Schreiber |
| Director: | John Curran |
This incredible movie about cheating in a relationship, ‘The Painted Veil,’ depicts them as two wonderfully defective people struggling to cope with marriage problems. Walter is a quiet, introverted person who does not know how to express his love for his charming young wife.
Kitty develops a relationship with the more charismatic Charley because of their increasing emotional detachment from Walter. This Walter discovered and faced his wife, threatening her with divorce or accompanying her to China’s plague-infected village. Both Edward Norton and Naomi Watts are brilliant as they depict their character with amazing acting.
6. Revolutionary Road (2008)
| Rotten Tomatoes: | 67% |
| Currently available on: | Netflix, Amazon Prime Video |
| IMDb Rating: | 7.3 |
| Genre: | Drama, Romance |
| Cast: | Leonardo DiCaprio, Kate Winslet, Christopher Fitzgerald |
| Director: | Sam Mendes |
Few films have shown the pain and harshness of love so that, in its unsettling truthfulness, you are devastated. The Revolutionary Road, in its portrayal of marriage realities, is brutally unflinching and the same.
Frank and April, a happily married couple, start to taste the bitterness of marriage when their ambitions and dreams come into conflict as they progressively retreat into a coat of anger and obsession. In their portrait of the lead couple, Kate Winslet and Leonardo DiCaprio (The Right Stuff) are stunning and look real and convincing.
We always believed happiness is something you should earn but never actually achieve. It doesn’t come naturally to every situation or person. Overall, this is one of the best movies about cheating, which touches on universal themes, including death, time, family, poverty, and love.
5. Fireworks Wednesday (2006)
| Rotten Tomatoes: | 100% |
| Currently available on: | Amazon Prime Video |
| IMDb Rating: | 7.7 |
| Genre: | Drama, Mystery, Romance |
| Cast: | Hamid Farokhnezhad, Hediyeh Tehrani, Taraneh Alidoosti |
| Director: | Asghar Farhadi |
“Fireworks Wednesday” is one of the earliest works of Asghar Farhadi and probably the one most overlooked in his outstanding work. This movie about cheating is about an Iranian couple of married upper class who shattered their lives with a disturbing revelation, leading them to a seemingly peaceful life.
The wife suspects the husband of an affair, but nobody believes her. Then, in a shocking scene, Farhadi changes their views as we learn the truth behind the man. It’s a riveting, mentally and emotionally damaging story.
4. Hannah and Her Sisters (1986)
| Rotten Tomatoes: | 91% |
| Currently available on: | Amazon Prime Video |
| IMDb Rating: | 7.9 |
| Genre: | Comedy, Drama |
| Cast: | Mia Farrow, Dianne Wiest, Michael Caine |
| Director: | Woody Allen |
Hannah and Her Sisters is yet another one of the best movies about cheating and infidelity of all time in a relationship with Woody Allen. He better understood than most filmmakers the complexity of relations and the frailties inherent to human nature. He’s about people in his movies. People in their own lives try to find meaning but don’t know what they want from life.
‘Hannah and Her Sisters’ is one of the more mature and funniest tragic movies by Woody Allen, exploring married life’s weaknesses. Over two years, this film reviews the lives of three sisters and their partners. The narrative shows and skins layers off their characters as Elliot, Hannah’s husband, is drawn to Holly’s sister.
Elliot is torn between Lee and Hannah and has difficulty understanding love. Things become even more complicated as Mickey, the ex-husband of Woody Allen, tries to mend his broken relationship with Hannah’s sister Holly. It is a profoundly reflective film on the complexities of love and the complex nature of human relationships.
3. The Bridges of Madison County (1995)
| Rotten Tomatoes: | 90% |
| Currently available on: | Netflix, Amazon Prime Video |
| IMDb Rating: | 7.6 |
| Genre: | Drama, Romance |
| Cast: | Clint Eastwood, Meryl Streep, Annie Corley |
| Director: | Clint Eastwood |
So, moving on to the third-best movies about cheating and infidelity of all time, Bridges of Madison County is a stunningly nuanced and complex drama exploring the theme of infidelity and love. It tells the account of a married woman who loves a photographer but has to decide about her life within a few days.
Francesca lives a happy married life, but inside her is a sad person who must live with the fact that she has lived her whole life for the people around her and not for herself. Again, the movie is beyond brilliance, and the direction of Clint Eastwood gives the film a distinctly human touch that makes it so emotional.
2. Eyes Wide Shut (1999)
| Rotten Tomatoes: | 75% |
| Currently available on: | Netflix, Amazon Prime Video |
| IMDb Rating: | 7.4 |
| Genre: | Drama, Mystery, Thriller |
| Cast: | Tom Cruise, Nicole Kidman, Todd Field |
| Director: | Stanley Kubrick |
Stanley Kubrick’s last masterpiece is a stone-cold classic that is a profoundly disturbing exam of marriage, sex, infidelity, and love. The story revolves around Bill, who is shocked to admit that she once fancied a naval officer she met on holiday. Devastated, Bill then goes into the darkest pit of sexuality, discovering an underground secret society that is not known.
‘Eyes Wide Shut’ creates a dreamlike world full of nihilism, visually astonishing and thematically complex, deepening the devastating reality of marriage, love, and sexuality. The work of the movie characters is impeccable, and the odd surreal approach of Kubrick turns this movie into a profoundly troubling introspective journey.
1. In the Mood For Love (2000)
| Rotten Tomatoes: | 90% |
| Currently available on: | Amazon Prime Video |
| IMDb Rating: | 8.1 |
| Genre: | Drama, Romance |
| Cast: | Tony Chiu-Wai Leung, Maggie Cheung, Ping Lam Siu |
| Director: | Kar-Wai Wong |
What else might have topped the list of the best movies about cheating and infidelity of all time? Wong Kar-magnificent Wai’s melancholic romanticism between two victims of infidelity dramatically embeds desires, faith, destiny, and time.
This best cheating movie depicts the story of Chow and Su, who fall in love because their partners left them all in the dark web of isolation, which encircles their existence, to live in isolated spaces. They are time and destiny victims. Wong Kar-wai infuses the film with an emotional, melancholy tone to become the best cheating 2000s movie.
Conclusion
Betrayal is always a brutal and devastating event, and sometimes a fraudulent person gets hurt, too. However, unfaithfulness has brought some very attractive and dramatic films to Hollywood. However, there are plenty of movies that put cheating in the spotlight. But these selective movies about cheating and infidelity of all time have given us insight into the pain and betrayal one feels when things (hopefully) won’t work out between them and their significant other.
Frequently Asked Questions:
Q1. Which is the Best Movie About Cheating & Infidelity of All Time Streaming on Amazon Prime Video?
The 1995 Romance/Drama movie, The Bridges of Madison County, is the best movie about cheating & infidelity that streams on Amazon Prime with 90% Rotten Tomatoes ratings.
Q2. Is There Any Good Movie About Cheating & Infidelity Available on Netflix?
American Beauty (1999) is the best movie about cheating & infidelity on Netflix, with an 8.3 IMDB score. We have provided the list of the top 15 Best Movies About Cheating & Infidelity of All Time in this post. You can watch these movies on Netflix, Hulu, or Amazon Prime.
