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Fidelity takes some odd turns in the comedy-drama "The Lovers," an incisive look at marriage, romance and getting old that is by turns funny and painfully real.

Michael (Tracy Letts) and Mary (Debra Winger) have been married for decades, with a home in an anonymous midsize town. They each have nondescript jobs in offices. And they have a son, Joel (Tyler Ross), away at college.

Michael and Mary have one more thing in common: They are each having an affair with an artistic type. Mary is sleeping with Robert (Aidan Gillen, aka Littlefinger from "Game of Thrones"), a self-absorbed writer. Michael is running around with Lucy (Melora Walters), a high-strung modern dancer. And, in an unspoken pact of willful ignorance, neither Michael nor Mary seems to know about the other's extramarital activities.

One evening, after each of them promises their lover they are on the verge of coming clean with their spouse, something unusual happens: Michael and Mary wake up snuggling each other. Snuggling leads to sex, and these middle-aged marrieds find themselves falling in love again. This new wrinkle seems like good news, except for one dilemma: How do they break it to Robert and Lucy?

Things come to a head on one weekend when both Robert and Lucy apply pressure for Mary and Michael to make a decision. As it happens, it's the same weekend Joel returns home for a visit, introducing his girlfriend, Erin (Jessica Sula), to his parents.

Writer-director Azazel Jacobs (whose last movie, the coming-of-age drama "Terri," debuted at the 2011 Sundance Film Festival) locks in with precision on the tiny details of a marriage over time. The movie depicts a couple so determined not to offend or cause discomfort — if you made a drinking game based on the phrase "I'm sorry," you'd be passed out in the first 30 minutes — that they have suffocated their own and their mutual happiness.

Winger and Letts give a pair of quietly moving performances, showing the layers of marital atrophy that have put Mary and Michael where they are now. They also reveal the spark that brought them together, a hint of the creative rebel they now seek in Robert and Lucy.

"The Lovers" ends with a melancholy twist, one that could prompt arguments among couples who watch it. Jacobs doesn't provide easy answers for this rocky marriage, but he does serve up some intriguing questions.

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'The Lovers'

A long-married couple, each with lovers on the side, find themselves falling in love again in this well-acted comedy-drama.

Where • Area theaters.

When • Opens Friday, May 26.

Rating • R for sexuality and language.

Running time • 94 minutes.