Betrayal
We watch this story unfold, and as it does we see multiple betrayals happening between many different characters. Leon's partner lies for him to Sonja about his whereabouts. Protecting him from her finding out about his affair. Jane then invites Nick over for coffee and Paula, his wife is betrayed by this as she knows that Jane is having an affair with a married man and sees it as a betrayal of her trust and their friendship. And one of the worst betrayals in the film is that of John to Valerie. She calls multiple times for him to help her as her car has broken down on her drive and she's stranded. He is at home and chooses not to answer any of the calls even as he hears them on the answering machine. By not picking up the phone Valerie ends up dying in the Lantana bush because he didn't want to face the difficulty of connecting with his wife as they've grown apart severely since the loss of their daughter.
Adultery
At the beginning of the film, we see that Leon has started an affair with Jane, a woman from he and his wife's dance class. He carries on with it until she wants more from the relationship. We listen in on Valerie in her therapy sessions with patients as they discuss sleeping with people who are married, or that they know their spouse is cheating on them. Valerie's own marriage has suffered from adultery as John admits to Leon that he cheated on Valerie later in the story. This theme permeates the character's journey's as each one is effected in some way by the act of adultery. They are either directly effected as Sonja and Valerie are by the infidelity of their husbands or they are indirectly effected as Paula is when Jane invites Nick over for coffee. The trust between the two women have been broken and Paula can only protect her marriage from this point on with Jane. We also see the indirect effect with Leon's partner who has to lie to Sonja about his whereabouts, but later must admit to her that she knew. The theme unwraps the truth of adultery in that it breaks trust between people, and when this trust is broken there is an inability to to be close or really connect unless there is a tremendous amount of work done between the two people to regain it once again.
More Under the Surface
The opening shot of the film shows us one of the main themes of the picture: there is destruction and death going on beneath the surface of what seems pretty and nice. Every character has a life they lead day to day and then there are the struggles they must manage or push down internally in order to get by or pretend that everything is "good." We see Leon has deep emotional issues as he slams into another man and breaks his nose while jogging. He erupts at the man even though it was his fault, and then screams at Sonja back at their home when she is only trying to help him. He doesn't want anyone near his emotional wounds. We find out that he is numb, he doesn't feel anything anymore and he admits this to Sonja as the reason why he is having an affair.
We also see Jane has a desire for passion in her life, but instead of finding it through her husband she chooses to leave him and pursue another man, Leon in order to be lit up. There's something missing inside of her and she searches for the answer externally rather than searching it out within herself. John as well has fallen out of love with Valerie. He tells Leon that marriage isn't about love, that it isn't enough. It needs trust and connection, challenge and a desire for one another. He doesn't have that inside of him any more and it's the reason why he doesn't answer Valerie's cry for help. It's the reason she loses her life.
