End Of The Affair


Starring Ralph Fiennes, Julianne Moore, Stephen Rea. Directed and Written by Neil Jordan.

Maurice Bendix (Fiennes) is a writer of some renown, currently bitter at the world. Two years earlier, he had begun an affair with Sarah (Moore), trapped in a loveless marriage with a decent British cabinet minister Henry (Rea) so consumed with his work that he barely pays any attention to her. Meeting at a party thrown by Henry, Henry encourages Maurice to take Sarah to a showing of a movie made from one of his books. When Maurice explains they've changed the story from his book, Sarah already knows much of the book, and his other books, by heart. There love grows, her saying that no matter what, whether they never see each other again, their love will never stop. It is made all the more powerful because bombs blow up all around them in World War 2 London. One day a bomb blows up Maurice's apartment knocking Henry unconscious. When he comes to a few minutes later, Sarah tells him she can never see him. She gives him no reason why.

A year later, Maurice meets a disoriented Henry walking aimlessly in the rain. Henry's worried there's something wrong with Sarah, and that she's seeing another man and he's thinking about hiring a private eye to watch her. Maurice, intrigued, hires one when Henry decides not too. Maurice is also wondering if Sarah has another man, and he still wants to know why she broke it off with him. But his jealousy and curiosity may have unexpected results.

From the novel by Graham Greene, End Of The Affair is a dreary, bitter take on marriage and love relationships. And not in a good way. Each character is consistently unhappy. Bendix, obsessed with Sarah, is unhappy until he possesses her, worried that she'll leave him when he does have her, and bitter when she leaves him and when he thinks she may be having an affair with another man. Henry does love his wife but cannot physically express it, and feels inadequate and forever anxious she's going to leave him. While somewhat happy during her affair with Bendix, Sarah constantly worries it can't go on and as a Catholic, feels guilty for her betrayal of her husband, and angry he has been unable to touch or physically love her. The film's story did not feel very real. Some films are meant to be fantastical, Magnolia's rain of frogs being an example, but this is supposed to be a drama grounded in reality. And the way in which the husband and lover easily communicate with one another, even when the husband knows of the affair feels artificial. I will not divulge the ending, but the contrived last act of the film, with the film's overall gloomy tone might have been expected, seems forced and a bit too negatively convenient.

The performances are not part of the problem. Stephen Rea is controlled and entirely sympathetic as the wronged husband who knows his wife has been unfaithful, but knows his lack of attention as a husband is the main reason why. Moore is coolly elegant as the wife who longs for passion and romance in her life, and can no longer believe her husband can deliver. Fiennes, as he is for many of his films, is the sultan of sullen, but as always his intensity and excellent delivery is topnotch. If you need to feel depressed and bitter, End Of The Affair would be for you.




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