Nobel Prize winner Doris Lessing died recently. Could the adaptation of her novella, THE GRANDMOTHERS, have had anything to do with it?

Renamed ADORATION, it stars Naomi Watts and Robin Wright as a pair of yummy mummies living in an idyllic Australian coastal location, Seal Rocks.

Watts’ character is recently widowed; Wright is still wedded to Ben Mendelssohn, though estranged as he has taken a job in Sydney.

Each of them has a son to whom the other is having an affair. The boys are played by Xavier Samuel and James Frechville.

It is Oedipus once removed and the sex is blinding.

Director Anne Fontaine and her cinematographer Christophe Beaucarne , who collaborated on the sumptuous COCO BEFORE CHANEL, again have made a ravishing to the eye film – the locations are beautifully shot and the characters, especially the two leads glow.

Unfortunately there’s something clunky about the script which is somewhat a surprise as it comes from Christopher Hampton, responsible for DANGEROUS LIAISONS and ATONEMENT. The dialogue is diabolical.

Such is the splendour of the location, the narrative flaws are pleasantly pasted over by the pictorial power of the piece and the serene performances of Watts and Wright.