Let’s be honest — Affair (2010) is the kind of movie that makes you question not only the characters’ decision-making but also the filmmakers’. Directed by Nayato Fio Nuala (who apparently directs as often as most people breathe), this Indonesian horror slasher-slash-romantic-tragedy is like watching a soap opera get lost in a meat grinder. There are love triangles, brain tumors, fake pregnancies, real pregnancies, mutilation, and a suitcase full of regret — and that’s just the third act.
The film tries to be a tragic romance drenched in psychological horror but ends up feeling like a daytime drama that wandered onto the set of Saw after taking too many sedatives. The premise alone sounds like it was pitched during a fever dream: two childhood friends, one fake illness, a love triangle that should’ve been a simple therapy session, and a dismemberment scene that feels like the world’s worst group project.
💔 The Setup: Soap Opera from Hell
We open on Reta (Sigi Wimala) and Santi (Garneta Haruni), childhood best friends reunited in college — a setup that sounds wholesome enough until you realize the movie’s called Affair, not Reunion of Healthy Boundaries. Reta instantly falls in love with Daniel (Dimas Aditya), who — surprise! — happens to be Santi’s boyfriend. Santi, instead of addressing this like a normal adult, decides to hide her relationship and quietly spiral into emotional chaos.
But the plot takes a turn for the melodramatic Olympics when Santi learns Reta has a brain tumor and only three months to live. Naturally, Santi decides that the best way to comfort her dying friend is to loan her boyfriend out like an emotional therapy pet. Daniel, to his credit, initially refuses, proving he has at least a molecule of dignity left. But Santi keeps pushing until he finally gives in, probably realizing he’d rather fake affection for a terminally ill woman than keep having this conversation.
🧠 The Brain Tumor That Wasn’t
If this sounds like the setup for an overwrought tearjerker, buckle in — because it’s about to turn into an anatomy lesson. Reta’s supposed illness becomes the foundation for a year-long relationship between her and Daniel. But Reta, defying both medical science and narrative logic, doesn’t die. In fact, she looks radiant — like she’s been living off green juice and spite.
Santi starts to suspect that maybe — just maybe — her best friend isn’t dying after all. So she pressures Daniel to come clean about the original relationship and the fact that she’s pregnant with his child. What could go wrong with that plan? Everything, as it turns out.
During Daniel’s birthday party (because nothing says “romantic milestone” like confession and betrayal cake), Reta overhears them discussing the pregnancy. Instead of confronting them directly, she does what every emotionally stable person in this movie does — she escalates. Reta claims Daniel proposed to her and that she’s pregnant too. Oh, and by the way, that brain tumor? Total scam. She faked it.
Yes, she pretended to be terminally ill to steal her best friend’s boyfriend. That’s not a plot twist — that’s a psychiatric diagnosis waiting to happen.
🔪 The Descent into Madness (and Luggage)
At this point, you’d think the movie couldn’t get any more ridiculous. You’d be wrong. Santi, understandably upset but also unreasonably homicidal, decides that the best way to resolve her emotional turmoil is to kill Reta. She does so in a fit of rage, mutilates the body, and — because this movie has all the subtlety of a hammer to the head — stores the chopped-up remains in a suitcase.
This isn’t metaphorical baggage. This is literal, bloody Samsonite baggage.
Daniel, in a rare moment of self-awareness, regrets everything — but instead of calling the police, he decides to help Santi dispose of the body. Because when your girlfriend dismembers your ex, the logical next step is clearly to go on a road trip with her and the evidence.
Unfortunately (or perhaps mercifully), they get into a car accident and Daniel dies. Santi, however, survives and casually walks off into the sunset — dragging the suitcase full of body parts like it’s her emotional support luggage. If the movie ended there, it might’ve been tragic, but in Affair, it’s just Tuesday.
🎭 Performances: Cry, Scream, Repeat
Sigi Wimala gives Reta an almost convincing sense of frailty early on — until the script reveals her “tumor” is about as real as the character motivations. Once the twist hits, her performance turns cartoonish, the kind of “evil grin acting” that belongs in a telenovela rather than a psychological thriller.
Garneta Haruni, as Santi, has the emotional range of a blender — switching from guilt to rage to dead-eyed murder with the grace of a malfunctioning GPS. Dimas Aditya’s Daniel exists mainly as a plot device with hair — the human equivalent of a piece of furniture that occasionally sighs.
The real standout here is the suitcase. It’s in the movie’s final third, quietly upstaging everyone else by simply existing and holding the only tangible evidence that something interesting once happened.
🎬 Direction and Tone: Death by Mood Lighting
Director Nayato Fio Nuala tries to infuse the film with gravitas through moody lighting, whispered dialogue, and lots of slow-motion shots that scream, “Look, it’s art!” Unfortunately, no amount of artistic lighting can disguise the fact that the plot feels like a rejected Lifetime script that wandered into a horror festival by mistake.
The pacing is a disaster. The first half is a slow-burn drama that drags like a wounded snail, and the second half goes full slasher without earning it. The tonal whiplash is so severe you’ll need a chiropractor.
The editing is equally baffling — one moment, characters are whispering in dim rooms about love and mortality; the next, someone’s being stuffed into carry-on luggage. It’s like watching two different movies spliced together by someone who thought “continuity” was a rumor.
🩸 The Horror That Isn’t
Despite being marketed as a “horror slasher,” Affair has all the scares of a mid-range perfume commercial. The gore is sparse, the kills are poorly staged, and the film seems more interested in the melodrama than the mayhem. The one big shock — Santi killing Reta — lands with the emotional resonance of a soap opera cliffhanger. You half expect a “TO BE CONTINUED” title card and a commercial for detergent.
Even the final image — Santi walking away with the suitcase — feels less terrifying and more absurd. You almost expect her to check it in at the airport:
“Anything to declare?”
“Just trauma and a torso.”
💀 Final Thoughts: The Horror of Poor Writing
Affair wants to be tragic, romantic, and horrifying all at once but ends up achieving none of the above. It’s a film that mistakes absurdity for depth and melodrama for emotion. The story could have been an interesting exploration of jealousy and guilt — but instead, it’s a parade of bad decisions and worse dialogue.
If you stripped away the murder subplot, this would play exactly like a low-budget Indonesian soap opera titled When Friendship Goes Stupid.
It’s not scary. It’s not sexy. It’s just… confusing. You can’t tell whether to laugh, cringe, or call a counselor.
🧳 Verdict: Bring Your Own Suitcase
If Affair were luggage, it would be the kind that loses a wheel halfway through the trip — noisy, unstable, and impossible to steer. It’s a film that tries to unpack love, death, and betrayal, but ends up packing body parts instead.
Final Score: 1.5 out of 5 brain tumors — fake, bloody, and dramatically overpacked.
