Afterglow (film) - Plot

Plot

The film is about two families who are unhappy with their respective relationships: the first couple are young ambitious businessman Jeffrey Byron and his sexually frustrated wife Marianne and the second of older repair contractor "Lucky" Mann and his former B-movie actress wife Phyllis, who are unhappily married and living in Montreal, Canada.
After 15 years of marriage, Phyllis tells her husband that he is not the father of their daughter but rather that she had conceived her when he was away on Navel duty. She'd engaged in relations with attractive co-actor Jack. Lucky is deeply shocked and surprised by this, leaving the house for some fresh air and reflecting upon their relationship. Ultimately he goes to the bar and drinks in excesses. After coming home Lucky rails on his wife for being unfaithful, and for her betrayal throws household items at her. Upon hearing all this, their teenage daughter Daisy leaves the house the very same night. Her absence intensifies their negative relations and Luck and Phyllis decided to stay together on certain terms, namely sleeping in different rooms and not with one another or others). Some weeks pass, and they receive a letter from Daisy in which she writes that they are not fit to be her parents and she never wants to see them again. Consequently, Lucky and Phyllis sell their house and came to Montreal, Canada, where the letter was post marked in order to find her (though the viewer only comes to know this later in the film).
Byron is working hard to provide for his family and to lead a more comfortable and luxurious life. Due to excessive work pressure and not being ready to have children, he avoids sex with his wife. However, she desperately wants to have a baby which causes much tension in their life. One day Byron returns from the office, to find that Marianne has arranged a candlelit dinner and sweet music. She marked per period dates and times of her fertile eggs on the calendar in order to have sex with him on these dates so that she can conceive a child. But he is too tied to sex. He added a trip plan for Lekh Lenore hotel in between these dates so that he can attend an important business meeting there and after meeting could spend some romantic moments with his wife in the lap of nature away from the his busy city & business life, which also falls in between dates marked by the Marianne on the calendar. He told her about the visit but not about his plans for her. But when he closed the door of the room leaving her unsatisfied, she warned him that she is going to have a baby with or without him. But he did not take her very seriously at that time.
Next day When Lucky arrives to Byron's apartment to make some minor repair, Marianne becomes obsessed with him due to his talking style, and decided to have a baby from him. She gave him the work to create nursery for child & to make a door between bedroom and the baby room, so that she can spend more time with him. Soon after everyday balance breaks and Lucky & Marianne begin an affair. They have their first sex in pool of the house. She started ignoring her husband and has unprotected sex with Lucky several times between her due period dates so that she can conceive a child. Byron sensed some foul play due to sudden change in Marianne behavior towards him and her absence from the house. He tried to spy on his wife, but in vain. Phyllis continues her search for her daughter in the streets of Montreal. One day she watched her daughter standing on the bridge of the river, she tried to reach her but Daisy left before she could reach the spot. She goes to a bar to have a drink in order to lessen the sorrow of her failure. There she noticed that her husband and Marianne are also having drinks in the very same bar and taking about how beautiful it is to cheat on one’s spouse. Later Phyllis meets Byron who gave her a lift in his car due to non availability of Taxi, to her home. During the way he offered her to spend a weekend with him at Lekh Lenore hotel as a friend as he discovered about affair of her wife, but she refused politely. But latter on she agrees to spend the weekend with him when she found that now her husband is spending most of his time with Marianne(without knowing that she is Byron’s wife).
On the day fixed for the trip to the Lekh, Byron took her with him on place of her wife who doesn’t bother about him at all and fully smitten with Lucky. Phyllis left a note at home for her husband that she will return in a few days. She goes with Byron and stayed at hotel but in different rooms. There another married person (who is actually Byron’s business client) tried to flirt with her. On dinner after taking a few drinks she told her story why her relation is so bitter with her husband (here she tells about her pregnancy from Jack & the other things), but then she leaved for her room. She tried to call her husband but phone came engaged as Lucky is also trying to call Marianne at the same time, but marine is outside the house. When Byron phoned to his wife, she quickly picked up thinking that it would be of Lucky and called him as “Lucky darling”. It upsets the Byron and he went to the room of the Phyllis. But as soon as he entered the room, bell rang again and Byron’s client, appeared at the door with a bottle of wine. He asked her to make a choice between him and Byron. She responded him positively by Taking the bottle of wine and telling him that “she may accept his offer to know more about each other some other night”. It upsets the Byron and he decided to leave her room and left the hotel in the next morning with her. During the way Byron asked her why all the couples can’t happily live in a chaste relations with their spouse, for which she had no reply.
After not receiving phone from Marianne, Lucky went to her place in the late night and have sex again. In the morning she reshuffled all the furniture of the house and put up her paintings all over the walls (which Byron disliked). Then she told Lucky that she needed a divorce from her husband. But he told him that he can’t marry her as he is already married from last 24 years and can’t leave her wife as he still love her very much. But she told him that more often marriages did not work good and single mother brought up the child its own. Then why she needs Byron to bring up her baby. But he told her to think about it again. He said “I think women should stay women”. Then he narrated to her his own story how he came to know about betrayal of her wife and how his one quick, spontaneous, thoughtless, & wrong reaction made under the moment of passion spoiled his happily married life for forever. Even today, after passing of 8 Years, he is facing the consequences of that decision. Then he takes her to the bar of the hotel for some drink.
While returning, Byron and Phyllis also stayed in the same bar for a drink and found that Marianne was already there with Lucky. It provoked the Byron, and him & Lucky had a fight. On this the security of the hotel throws the Lucky out of the hotel. Phyllis leaves with Marianne for house in a taxi, but without Marianne knowledge that she is Lucky’s wife. In the way Phyllis asked her how she feels with Lucky. She replied “he is most fucking man she had ever met in her life.” Then she asked her how many men she had met till so far in her life and Marianne replied “two”. Then Marianne asked the Phyllis whether she had sex with Byron, but she told her that she didn’t as her husband loves her very much and strongly believes in the chaste relationship. Marianne invited her in the house for a drink and which she accepted. Marianne gave her a tour to the house. When they go to the child room created by the Lucky, Phyllis found her husband pent and Marianne nighty there as well as the decorating texture similar to that one as was used in her daughter’s room. Phyllis asked her whether she is pregnant. She replied that she has a strange feeling from a last few days (indicating that she is pregnant) then Phyllis asked her whether she knew who is father of the child. She happily named “Lucky”.
Phyllis asked her whether she had told him about it but she replied negatively. Phyllis suggested her to do so without delay (so that she wouldn’t have to face the same consequences as Phyllis did on revealing the true father of the child) and Marianne promised to tell him about it as soon as possible. When Phyllis is about to leave Byron just arrived. At the same moment Lucky also arrived there in search of his wife and they had a fight again. Phyllis leaved alone in the lift telling Lucky that she wouldn’t want to see him again as she knew what he had done here. Lucky left in hurry just behind her. Marianne asked to Byron “How Phyllis knows the Lucky’s name?” He told her that he is her husband.
In the Night, Marianne came to the Byron in order to repair their relationship but as soon as she touched him, Byron retracted and tried to leave the room. She tried to stop him by saying that “We were really good together… We were good together…” But Byron left the house in anger by saying that “we all go a little mad sometime in our life.” Then Marianne realized about her mistake, which now can’t be undone. She take a bath in the pool of the house and whole night deeply think & analyzed about her spoiled relations with her husband due to her worst decision made under momentary loss of passion; consequences of her adultery with Lucky; her and her fore-coming baby’s future with Byron in light of the story of Lucky & Phyllis, and arrived at a harsh decision. Byron goes to a bridge in order to get some fresh air and accidentally fell down resulting in fracture in his right leg. In the morning, Marianne packed up her things and went to the Helen ( Secretary of the Byron & their mutual friend) and told her that they had separated and perhaps her “baby” may be the last connecting link between the two (though knowing that it is the only reason for their separation and they will never be together again). Previously knowing about their differences on having a baby, When Helen asked her who is the father of the child she deliberately lied to her and named Byron. She said goodbye to her and left the Byron forever even without facing him or telling him about her pregnancy. Lucky found his daughter near the river and he tried to bring her back home by heartily apologizing, but she denied. When Byron came back from the hospital he found that Marianne had already left him for forever. The film ends with the reconciliation between Lucky & Phyllis (Due to realization by the Phyllis that it was her fault i.e. of having extramarital relations, having child from that relation and then putting the condition of no sex etc. which put their married life in such a mess) while Daisy is watching it from the window while standing in the lawn of their house.