Damage

Damage is a British-French drama about Stephen Fleming, a respected politician whose life unravels when he begins an affair with Anna Barton, the woman his son Martyn intends to marry. What starts as a chance meeting grows into an overwhelming obsession that Stephen cannot control, and he risks his marriage, his family and his public standing to keep it hidden. Anna remains determined to go ahead with her wedding to Martyn, which turns the relationship into a slow-burning tragedy for everyone involved. The screenplay by David Hare adapts Josephine Hart's novel of the same name.

Louis Malle directed and produced the film, the thirteenth of the thirteen features he made. Jeremy Irons plays Stephen, Juliette Binoche is Anna and Miranda Richardson plays Stephen's wife Ingrid. Rupert Graves appears as Martyn, with Peter Stormare and Gemma Clarke in supporting roles. The film was released in December 1992 and runs 111 minutes.

Made for about 11 million dollars, Damage took roughly 31 million dollars worldwide, a solid return for a drama of its scale. Its ratings sit close together on IMDb, at 6.7 from about 22,000 votes, and on TMDB, at 6.6 from a much smaller sample, while the critics' rating of 6.8 from 25 reviews places professional opinion slightly above the general audience response.