Heartburn

In Heartburn, Nora Ephron portrays infidelity as a destructive force that retroactively corrupts memory and identity. Because her seemingly happy marriage is foundational to her sense of identity, the affair causes Rachel to lose trust in Mark as well as herself. His betrayal overturns the personal history she has constructed for herself by making her question her judgment and every detail of their shared past.

The corruption of Rachel’s past begins the moment she discovers her husband Mark’s affair and intensifies as new information reframes her understanding of her own life, suggesting that the true damage of betrayal lies in the systematic dismantling of a once-trusted reality. The initial evidence appears in a book of children’s songs, an object of innocence that is instantly tainted by the “disgusting inscription” Thelma pens in the book. This discovery initiates Rachel’s painful reevaluation of her marriage, where innocuous events are suddenly cast in a sinister new light. For example, Mark’s frequent summer trips to the dentist become evidence of calculated deception. This retroactive poisoning of memory makes it impossible for Rachel to look back on her life without questioning what was real. She reflects that the infidelity has caused a kind of “low-level brain damage” (64), a state of chronic uncertainty where every memory is suspect and her own perception can no longer be trusted.