The other work that comes to mind isn't a film its a TV show :
Desperate Housewives
1. Gabby had an affair, and ended up realizing how destructive it was and went back to Carlos. She cheated again on her second husband WITH Carlos, but that gets complicated. In each case the affair was not treated as a love story but more as a childish escape.
2. Linette had an EA with her chef at her restaurant. The chef was shown as a creep. Tom, her husband was the quiet hero throughout the whole affair. Again this showed the affair as a childish escape, even a desperate one.
3. The husband stealer Edie is very often portrayed in a bad light, thank God.
4. Rex cheated on his wife because he was unsatisfied sexually, but it was a prostitute, and again he never left his wife. His wife just never completely forgave him until after he died.
There's more, the whole EA with the creepy Pharmacist etc...all good stuff. I have yet to see an affair on that show presented in a good light. Not always shown as addictive or destructive and hurtful, BUT at least its not just some tragic love story to make you want to puke.
