Sentimental bullcrap

Yep. Women are martyrs, men suck. Welcome to romantic fiction fantasy world.

I don’t agree.

She committed adultery, but there is an awareness that she did something wrong. Otherwise, she wouldn’t have stayed with her family and her husband, nor would she have kept the affair secret until her death. The adultery was something she couldn't help herself from doing. It was more a reaction to the dullness of rural Iowa, the faults of her husband, the lack of communication with her children etc. It wasn’t really Eastwood that attracted her more than it was the dislike of her current life.

Her story inspired her kids to work on their marriages so that neither they nor their spouses would end up doing what Francesca did.