Fidelity (2000) Plot Summary Explained

Clélia lands a lucrative position at La Verite as a photographer, which represents a significant career opportunity in Paris. Her mother accompanies her and emphasizes that honor should guide her choices, hinting at their complicated past with Rupert MacRoi. The job provides her with the financial stability and professional exposure she needs early in her career, though it places her in a morally dubious work environment.

Foreshadowing: Earlier in the timeline, Clélia is shown giving a TV interview about her photography books, showing she already had artistic credentials before taking the tabloid job.

• Clélia
• La Verite
• tabloid
• job
• photographer
• career

During the hockey assignment for La Verite, MacRoi forcibly drags Clélia through the showers among naked players, asserting his power over her. This traumatic encounter creates a complicated power dynamic. Afterward, Clélia chooses to have sex with one of the players, which appears to be her way of reclaiming some control over her own body and the situation, though it also blurs professional boundaries significantly.

Foreshadowing: The timeline establishes early that MacRoi has purchased the hockey team, putting him in a position of power over Clélia's assignment.

• Clélia
• hockey player
• MacRoi
• showers
• sex
• power dynamic

Clélia marries Clève despite the chaos because she genuinely falls in love with him after meeting him at his publishing office. Even though Clève declares his love publicly at MacRoi's dinner party, causing his fiancée Genièvre to leave and his father to collapse and die, Clélia remains committed to him. Clève gives his mother's engagement ring to her, and she accepts, symbolizing her choice to build a life with him despite the surrounding tragedy.

Foreshadowing: The timeline shows Clélia meeting Clève and becoming lovers before any of the dramatic dinner party events occur, establishing their genuine connection first.

• Clélia
• Clève
• marriage
• love
• engagement ring

Némo, the fellow photographer who has persistently pursued Clélia, begins snapping pictures through windows and eventually enters their home to photograph Clélia and Clève having sex. This invasive surveillance stems from a mix of desire and manipulation. Némo is shown to be calculating in his interest, and his actions represent a serious violation of privacy that creates ongoing tension in the marriage.

Foreshadowing: Earlier, Némo shows calculating interest in Clélia at the newsroom and delivers their wedding photos, establishing his obsessive fixation.

• Némo
• spying
• photographs
• windows
• surveillance
• privacy

Clélia calls La Verite to inform them of her brother-in-law the bishop's affair with a married woman, turning it into a public scandal. This occurs when Clève plans to join his bishop brother in Brittany. By exposing the scandal, Clélia attempts to shape the narrative and complicate Clève's obligations, likely hoping to keep him closer to her in Paris rather than having him leave for Brittany.

Foreshadowing: The timeline establishes that Clève's bishop brother has a dalliance with a married woman that becomes public, creating the opportunity for Clélia's call.

• Clélia
• bishop
• Brittany
• scandal
• La Verite
• affair

MacRoi is killed during a publicity session outside the La Verite offices when snipers target Némo. During the chaos, Némo's motorcycle catches fire, and a shard of glass strikes MacRoi in the eye, killing him. Clève is also injured in the chaos. This violent death occurs after Clélia has gone to Némo's house and gunfire interrupts their moment, marking a dramatic turning point.

Foreshadowing: Earlier, Némo is attacked by a gang hired by organ traffickers, and Clélia asks him to reveal the underworld he's investigating, building tension toward this violent climax.

• MacRoi
• death
• glass
• shard
• snipers
• publicity

After Clève dies of a apparent heart attack on the steps of MacRoi's funeral, having given his wedding ring to Clélia, Clélia is left distraught. She exits the ambulance and leaves the city, alone. His death, combined with her firing from La Verite by MacRoi's daughter who reorganizes the company, represents the complete collapse of her personal and professional life in Paris, prompting her disappearance.

Foreshadowing: The timeline shows Clève becoming convinced Clélia is having an affair, fueling mistrust and danger before his sudden death.

• Clélia
• Clève
• death
• funeral
• leave
• Paris
• ambulance

Years later, Némo is interviewed on television about a new photography portfolio dedicated to Clélia, who has vanished from public life. A few years after that, Clélia sees a MacRoi Production film about her life directed by Némo, titled The Princess of Cleve. She places her wedding rings on a tree branch as the ghost of her husband smiles, whispering forgiveness, suggesting she has finally found peace and closure.

Foreshadowing: Throughout the story, Clélia feels haunted by lines from an Auden poem about ghosts, and she sees the ghosts of her mother and father smiling at her at the train station, establishing the supernatural element that culminates in this ending.

• Clélia
• Némo
• years later
• film
• Princess of Cleve
• forgiveness
• rings