5 to 7
Brian Bloom (Anton Yelchin), a struggling 24-year-old writer in New York City, meets a 33-year-old French woman named Arielle Pierpoint (Bérénice Marlohe). They feel powerfully attracted to one another. After their second meeting, Arielle reveals that she is married to a diplomat, Valéry (Lambert Wilson), and they have two young children. Arielle and Valéry have an agreement that each is permitted to have extramarital affairs as long as they are limited to the time between 5 and 7 p.m. on weeknights. Brian is perplexed at this information and tells Arielle that he cannot continue the relationship with her, believing it is an unethical affair. Arielle says that, should he change his mind, she will continue to smoke on Fridays at the same place they met.
After three weeks Brian decides to meet again with Arielle. She gives him a hotel key and in the evening at the hotel room they consummate their relationship. They begin to meet regularly at the same hotel room in the evenings. Valéry, who is aware of Brian's affair with Arielle, approaches him on the street and invites Brian to his house for dinner. At dinner, Brian meets Arielle and Valéry's children and is introduced to Valéry's lover, a 25-year-old editor named Jane (Olivia Thirlby). Arielle later meets Brian's parents, Sam (Frank Langella) and Arlene (Glenn Close). Upon learning that Arielle is a married mother of two, Sam tells Brian that he disapproves of the relationship, while Arlene accepts that they love each other despite the circumstances. When Brian is invited to a New Yorker ceremony to receive an award for one of his short stories, he is joined by Arielle, Valéry, Jane, and his parents. Jane tells Brian that her boss Galassi (Eric Stoltz), a publisher, has read his story and wants Brian to write a novel.
Brian meets Arielle at the hotel and asks her to marry him, giving her a ring. She rejects his proposal and tells him that their feelings have always been different due to their age difference. Brian insists that he is truly in love with her, and Arielle reluctantly accepts his proposal, telling him to meet her the next day at the hotel. Valéry shows up at Brian's apartment that night; he slaps Brian and expresses anger at Brian's betrayal of the rules and boundaries of an open marriage. He then gives Brian a check for $250,000 for "expenses" and leaves. The next day, the hotel doorman gives Brian a letter from Arielle in which she explains that although she loves him deeply, she cannot leave her husband and children, and asks him not to contact her again.
Jane later ends her relationship with Valéry because it feels like a betrayal of her friendship with Brian, and Brian's first novel is published by Galassi. After some years, Brian is walking down the street with his wife, Kiva (Jocelyn DeBoer), and their baby son. They run into Arielle, Valéry and their now-teenage children outside the Guggenheim. Valéry asks about Jane, and Brian tells him that she is married with a son. Arielle shows Brian subtly that she still wears the ring he gave to her before they part again.
romantic